Would you dare?
by Sonya06
Summary: What if Kagami Taiga had a twin? And what if that twin happened to be a challenging girl, who decided to attend Touou Academy as the second manager of basketball team... Is she capable of managing the problematic ace? And is he capable of handling her?
1. Chapter 1: New beginnings

**Author's note:** English is not my first language, so I'm sorry for any mistakes. My friend goes through the chapters to check it for me , but there still might be some faults. I hope I'll manage to keep everyone from KNB in character.

Also, events of one day are separated by "######", while days are separated by a horizontal line.

Disclaimer: I don't own Kuroko no basket, but I do own my characters. (And I write this disclaimer here only once.)

* * *

 _Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end. **– Seneca**_

 _At every step the child should be allowed to meet the real experience of life; the thorns should never be plucked from his roses. **– Ellen Key**_

 _Elegance isn't solely defined by what you wear. It's how you carry yourself, how you speak, what you read. **– Carolina Herrera**_

 _Listen to the desires of your children. Encourage them and then give them the autonomy to make their own decision. **– Denis Waitley**_

* * *

The last competition.

The last performance.

The last applause.

She wanted it to be her best.

She bowed down when music stopped out of habit. Her heart was thumping in a familiar way, adrenaline and joy running through her veins. But this day, there was something more; her heart breaking. She was leaving a part of it behind and it hurt so damn much. The moment she'd step out of that patch of light, it'd all end.

Tears stung in her eyes, but she refused to let them out.

 _You decided it for yourself. Don't you dare cry, Aya, it's the right choice._ She told herself.

The most difficult part of all this was, however, still awaiting her.

* * *

 _ **Several months later...**_

It was her second day at Touou, and she was pretty much lost in this huge institution. She had to come super early if she wanted to look for the office where Harasawa Katsunori sat. After several tries, she finally found a door with his nametag on it.

 _How classy, he has his own office._ She thought.

She knocked on the door and without waiting for an answer she invited herself in. "Hello. You wanted to see me?" She asked, but it was more of a statement than a question.

The dark-haired middle-aged man didn't bother to look up at her. "Sure, you can come in. Make yourself at home." He said sarcastically.

"Gladly, Katsunori." She smiled and remained standing opposite him, waiting for him to actually look at her.

He could hear a smirk in her voice and tone. He expected to see several students that morning and he didn't remember this particular voice. What a stupid idiot would call him, a teacher, by his name? He looked up at the stupid girl, and had to double take when he saw her. Two toned black and deep dark red hair, braided into a French braid; reddish-brown eyes and a perfectly shaped figure were something he didn't quite expect to see.

"A-A-Aya!" He stuttered and blinked. Yes, he had expected her to come. Yes, he'd known her since the cradle. No, he hadn't expected this. This was not the six-year old rascal with short hair and scraped knees, he had hoped to see. This Aya was a teenager, almost a grown woman. "When did you become an adult?"

"There were circumstances... Oi... Don't look so stunned, ol' man, it's weird." She was glad to see him after such a long time. There was a lot they had to catch up on and a lot to talk about. It'd been almost eight years since their last meeting after all.

######

When she walked into her classroom a few minutes before the bell rang, it was almost full. Some people whispered about her, mostly due to her rather fiery appearance (they were far from being used to it) and the way in which she carried herself. She was light on her feet, walking with her back straight and head held high. She had an air of self-confidence surrounding her. Every step looked like a part of some highly refined dance. The students in her class looked at her in awe and wonder. Aya was embodied elegance – many girls gave her envious looks, but she ignored it.

She greeted everyone she had spoken with the previous day with a smile, exchanged some words and headed to her seat. The overly shy girl, Ohno Kiku, who sat next to her and whom Aya wanted to befriend, wasn't there yet, but a boy sitting behind her was there already.

Finally she could have a good look at him. He was looking out of the window lazily, lost in his own thoughts, or maybe not thinking about anything. He was tall, muscular and tanned, or dark skinned, she wasn't sure. In combination with his navy blue hair, dark eyes and what seemed like an ever-present frown, he appealed almost intimidating and scary. Not to Aya though. She had faced people much more intimidating and scary than the boy was.

On the contrary: _He's kinda hot,_ she thought. Too bad, she couldn't remember his name.

As if feeling her steady gaze, he turned to look at her. "What?" He asked in a husky voice and eyed the girl up and down. There was no saying he didn't like what he saw. He stopped on her boobs for a moment too long (evaluating her cup size – not that he really could), to go unnoticed, but she didn't seem to be bothered or embarrassed by it. Strange... He thought.

It wasn't like he hadn't noticed her the previous day – she was sitting in front of him – but he wanted to avoid the overflowing energy and enthusiasm she emanated.

"I don't remember your name from yesterday..." She said bluntly and her reddish-brown eyes were burning as she was trying to remember. "Would you mind refreshing my memory?" She asked with a polite smile.

Just when she spoke directly to him, he noticed her strange accent. Not too foreign, but not exactly Japanese.

He couldn't remember her name either... But he wouldn't go as far as asking her. "Aomine Daiki." He answered simply.

"Aomine... Daiki..." She repeated slowly, as if tasting his name. "I'd swear I've heard your name somewhere before."

"Like yesterday during homeroom?"

Aya chuckled. "I guess so." Aomine Daiki sure had a sense of humour. "I'm Kagami Aya by the way. It's nice to meet you, finally."

His eyes ran all over her again and then he said; "Sorry, I'm not into socializing much."

"Yeah, I could guess that." She smirked, and when he gave her a questioning look, she pointed at his forehead, "that frown of yours speaks loud and clear."

"Hmph." He turned his attention back to the trees swaying in a spring breeze.

Aya was trying to evaluate him. Her eyes darting all over him, but she wasn't sure what to think of him. He seemed bored, lazy, uninterested. And he wasn't paying attention to her anymore. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, showing off some refined muscles and she noticed calluses on his palms, and there was the way he walked... That could only mean he did some sport, and she had an idea what sport it might've been. Plus he must've been good at it, because he had a presence much greater than a high-schooler should have.

"You play basketball?" She made her 'lucky' guess.

He snapped from his daydreaming and looked at her again. "How...?"

"Just a hunch but I see I was right!" She said happily with a satisfied smile. _Now I know where I've heard his name. Katsunori mentioned him before. The problematic ace to be..._

"Hmph... What was your hunch based on?" Not sure how to feel about the girl, he was carefully watching her expressions. He was in the class with her for two days, and she noticed that much.

"Your built, those forearms and calloused palms. The way you move and the keychain." She shrugged nonchalantly.

For the first time, Aomine felt self-conscious about his calluses and that darn keychain he got years ago, but couldn't get rid of. He frowned at his bag, where the said keychain in the shape of basketball was hanging. Then he looked back at her. "Acting like you know much?"

"Oh?" Aya didn't expect him to be so unapproachable. _So different from Taiga._ "Do you even like basket?" She blurted out.

His eyes darkened when he looked into hers. "That's none of your business."

For a moment she could see a storm going on in those dark blue orbs of his. It was like a stormy sea, dark blue waves crashing into each other and swirling around. The intensity of it took her breath away.

 _Hmmmm..._ "If you say so. Sorry for bothering you." She turned away from him. She understood the signal to leave him alone.

Just when the bell rang, a small, short-haired girl with thick framed glasses entered the classroom. No one paid attention to her, but she seemed to be very stressed about it. Her bag looked big on her and her eyes were glued to the ground.

She headed to her seat – next to Aya – as if it was the only safe place in this classroom. One step away from her spot, she tripped over her undone shoelaces and started to fall down.

Aya reflexively sprang up to catch her, or at least soften the girl's fall.

The sudden clatter of chairs made people to look at them.

They both managed to stay on their feet – the glasses' girl was relatively light, and Aya had a good coordination and lean, but firm muscles acquired by years of relentless practise.

"Are you alright?" Aya asked her.

"Y-y-y-yes!" The girl sprang upwards, her eyes wide – it was the first time someone had caught her, or helped her... The redhead was like some knight from a fairy tale. She bowed down. "T-t-thank you, Kagami-san!"

"It's nothing." Aya smiled at her, taken aback that the girl remembered her name. "You should tie your shoelaces, though." She pointed out.

The girl's cheeks turned bright red, and she glanced at her shoes – those weren't school issued indoor shoes, but black, ankle-high converse. She immediately bent down to tie it, almost hitting the desk with her head in the process.

"T-t-thank you again." She breathed out when she got up – shoelaces tied already.

Aya chuckled. "No need to be so nervous, Ohno-san. I don't bite." _Most of the time._

"Y-y-yes." The girl stammered nervously again and finally managed to sit down, putting her bag on the desk.

Aya wanted to ask something more, to talk with the shy girl more, but a teacher came in and classes started.

######

Around 25 guys and a girl gathered inside the gym. They all wore their uniforms, because all clubs' practises were supposed to start the next afternoon. The third and second years were already chatting vividly, some of the first years too, but they mostly just stood around awkwardly, not sure what to do as they waited for the coach.

Aya came in a little bit later, she forgot to watch the time while talking with a girl from another class. When she entered the gym, everyone looked at her curiously. Aya had a tendency to stir awe and wonder in people around her. And it was no different in this team.

She recognised some boys from her class, surprisingly lot to top it, but most of them were still strangers to her. There was also a pink-haired girl who ran up to her immediately after seeing her. Probably the one Katsunori had mentioned previously.

"Another girl on the team! I can't believe it." She exclaimed smiling happily. "I won't be the only one doing everything!"

Aomine's eyes widened as he recognized the redhead. Who would have thought she'd be on the basketball team? Even if he acted disinterested, he tagged along behind Satsuki. He wasn't in a mood to talk with the others and this turn of events was unexpected.

"Glad you are happy. I'm Kagami Aya." She bowed slightly, fighting the urge to offer a handshake.

"Momoi Satsuki. I'm Aomine-kun's childhood friend." She said enthusiastically.

"Oh. Interesting." Aya wondered why she would tell her that, but whatever. The pinkette was cute, slender but she had, for a Japanese girl, unusually huge breasts – probably two or three cup sizes bigger than Aya's – and it made Aya recall Aomine's judging gaze on her breasts. _Was he comparing?_

"Were you a manager in your middle school as well?" Satsuki asked fishing for any information she could get, so she could run some background check on Aya. Professional curiosity, as she liked to call it.

"No. I wasn't in any school club." She answered; not lying but not giving a completely clear answer either.

"Eeeh? Then why have you decided to join a basketball club now? It's not that easy. If it's just out of obligation, you could've picked a literature club or something where you don't have to do much." She blurted out without thinking about her answer properly.

"Because I like basketball and because Harasawa-sensei specifically asked me to." Aya answered with an amused smile. She wondered whether Satsuki always spoke before thinking, or if it was just a one-time slip.

 _What an idiot.._. Aomine facepalmed inwardly.

"O-oh. Sorry I thought..." Satsuki blushed, embarrassed that she, firstly spoke without thinking and secondly jumped into an unfavourable conclusion about Aya. If the coach asked her to join the club, she must have been good at the job.

"Sometimes you shouldn't think, Satsuki." Aomine said lazily.

"Aomine-kun...!" She gasped in surprise, not expecting him to say that.

To everyone's surprise (because the boys were definitely listening by now), Aya just laughed it off. "Don't mind. You are free to think whatever you want 'bout me, we just need to work well together, right?"

"But I want to be your friend too..." Satsuki muttered.

"That's fine by me." Aya grinned. "So? Were you in a basketball club before?"

"Yep, for three years in my middle school, it's not as easy as it might look."

"I guess it's not. So, tell me, what exactly is expected of me? Katsunori didn't really tell me much."

 _Katsunori...? As in Harasawa Katsunori – sensei ?_ Satsuki processed this reluctantly, but spoke about their duties to come and her experience and whatnot. They still had some time, and she was glad that Aya was asking questions.

"Aomine-kun will try to ditch practises, so if you are in his class, drag him with you whenever you'll have the chance." Satsuki said seriously, "it's one of your duties."

"Why would he," Aya looked at Aomine, but spoke as if he wasn't even there, "ditch practises?"

"'cause it's boring. And I don't need it." Aomine jumped in, with a wide yawn. "I can't possibly get any better."

"Hmmm... Can't or don't want to?" Aya asked but didn't wait for an answer and turned back to Satsuki, cutting off any answer Aomine might've given. "Attending practises is his responsibility, not mine. I can't practise in his stead, and so, if it's his choice to ditch... I don't care."

 _I'm off the hook!_ Aomine's mood lightened up and he smirked. He wouldn't have to deal with Aya's nagging at all. Her question got him unprepared, but he didn't have a reason to bother himself with it. Not when things couldn't possibly turn out better for him.

Satsuki wasn't that happy to hear this; she didn't understand Aya's reasoning. "I don't get it..." She admitted.

"One should know how to face and deal with consequences of one's choices." Aya explained her thoughts; though she wasn't sure it got through. "That's responsibility you have in everything you do, be it grades, be it sports, be it life; no one should make decisions for you. That's how I was brought up at least." She shrugged, as if the last sentence explained everything. "If he decides to not practise, he should be prepared to face the consequence of being defeated at some point."

Satsuki had to ponder this for a moment. If Aya really meant it, she was more mature than she appeared to be. And if she was really brought up like that, she must have been slapped by life several times too. Pretty hard – that's what Satsuki felt after hearing the explanation and closely examining Aya's eyes and expression.

They were silent for a moment, but a moment long enough to notice that the others were talking about them. Whispers among the boys got gradually louder as they thought the girls were preoccupied by talking.

"Are we really gonna have two managers?!" Someone asked.

"How lucky!"

"At least we have managers!"

"They look good."

Satsuki tried to ignore it, but she blushed slightly. Aya just raised an eyebrow at her.

"Ne... Isn't the redhead in our class?" Another pointed out. Aya knew the voice from her class. _Kano Hideki, I believe._

"Ah right! She is. Her accent is off though." A boy standing next to him answered.

"Does it matter, Ryuu? You notice unimportant things!"

"Oh? And what is important, mister wise?" His friend mocked him.

"She has exquisite butt and legs, for example."

"Oh my!" Aya reacted to this comment and she turned to face him with an amused grin on her face. "Thank you, Kano-kun! My butt hasn't been called exquisite yet!" She didn't mind those talks too much, she was used to it; in a way. Compared to what she'd already heard, Kano's comment was funny and relatively innocent.

Kano blushed and looked away; mortified that she even remembered his name. Girls were supposed to feel embarrassed or shy, after hearing someone talking about them like that. Kagami completely contradicted his ideas. And not just his. Even Satsuki blinked at her in surprise.

 _What the...?_ Aomine thought and stared at his classmate in disbelief.

Kano blinked again. Then something hit him... She teased him back... Then it was... okay? He looked at her, with a grin of his own. "Glad to make you happy, missy." He bowed in a prince like style, to lighten up the suddenly awkward atmosphere.

Aya laughed at his gesture and it helped to completely disperse any weird mood that might have been there. _I'll probably have to be careful with my tongue..._

"Seriously?" Harasawa strolled in, shaking his head in exasperation. He overheard Aya-Kano's exchange. "You are not in America anymore, Aya. Keep that in mind." He said, looking at Aya with hard eyes.

"Oh, we were just joking. Don't be so grumpy." She said familiarly, smiling at Harasawa with an innocent smile.

"I can remember your definition of 'joking' pretty well, thank you." For some reason he referred to all Kagamis not just Aya, and she understood that much.

"Well, just because you are bad at joking, doesn't mean we all have to be so serious." Aya, on the other hand referred to the entire team of boys who, by now stared curiously between her and their serious coach, suddenly being not so serious.

Harasawa gave her a long unimpressed look. Yeah, he knew he sucked when it came to jokes, he only had his occasional sarcasm. No, he wouldn't argue with Aya about this. "Whatever, Robin, just don't cause me any trouble." He sighed; thinking when would be a good time to regret inviting her into his team.

 _Oh, I haven't heard that nickname in months..._ "Can't promise you that." She smirked with a mischievous light in her eyes, which made a chill run down his spine. "By the way... Shouldn't you clear our relationship for them? They seem to jump to very wrong conclusions." She added, noticing confused glances and blushing cheeks of some boys.

As if he could read their thoughts he sighed and scratched the back of his neck. "Okay, I hoped to wait with all introductions, but... This is Kagami Aya." He pointed his arm in Aya's direction and she bowed with a smile. "She is my god-daughter, my niece, my family. I've known this little devil since cradle. And I invited her here as a manager to help me deal with you."

She rolled her eyes, at his notion. That didn't have to be so explicit.

"You have a god-daughter?!" Wakamatsu pointed a finger at him. "You?!"

His grey eyes pierced his overly loud vice-captain. "I don't see anything too weird about that."

"Me neither. He is not as lone-wolfish as he seems to be, Wakamatsu-senpai." She smiled at the blonde, who was now looking at her in confusion – how did she know his name?

Some more questions came up, and after it quieted down, all members assembled in a half circle around the coach. New members sitting in the first row, the others were sitting behind them.

"For all the first years, I'm Harasawa Katsunori – coach of this team." He introduced himself. "Today, I will give you the basic information, the first years will introduce themselves, and then you are free to leave, or practise – if you feel like it. Understood?"

"OSSU!"

He was monotonously explaining what he expected from them and what a usual training regimen of the club was. He didn't care about the bunch of teenagers in front of him, not really. His task was to guide them so they could become better. The results were completely up to them. With Aya there though, he felt more at ease and he was panicking at the same time. She could push them if needed. She could also cause as much trouble. But mainly he hoped she'd miraculously figure out how to handle Aomine, because he didn't think he could do it, and neither did he trust Satsuki with this.

"Now we could go to introductions of the first years. Imayoshi-kun, I leave this up to you." When he was finished with stating all information necessary, he gave the word to the captain of the team.

Imayoshi stood up, followed by a big, almost white haired guy. They went to the coach to face everyone.

"Hello everyone, I'm the captain of this basketball club, Imayoshi Shoichi." He introduced himself and then pointed his hand at the boy standing next to him, "and this is Wakamatsu Kousuke, the vice-captain. If you need anything, you can turn with your questions to us."

"Seems like some psychology club..." Aya muttered so only Aomine could hear and he smirked at her comment. Maybe the redhead wasn't as bad as he had first thought.

After few more words, Imayoshi took the list of applicants and a pen. "I want you to state your name, class and position played or preferred. If you are in a basketball club for the first time, state your reasons and position that interests you."

There was a beat moment of awkward silence, because no one wanted to speak up first.

Aya rolled her eyes and despite the fact that she had already been introduced, she took initiative. "Kagami Aya, class 1-3. It's my premiere in a school club; I am here to be a manager. When I play it is either a point guard or a shooting guard position."

"You play?!" Wakamatsu asked her too loudly again, with his eyes wide. It was starting to be too much, she was a niece of their coach, she played... What else?

"Yeah, is that wrong in any way?"

The vice-captain flushed, and scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. "No." He muttered.

Imayoshi smiled at her (she had a good way to shut the blonde up), relieved he didn't have to point at people to make them speak. "Thank you, Kagami-san. Next."

Another beat moment of silence.

"Aomine Daiki, class 1-3, power forward." He rumbled lazily, slightly surprised that he was the tallest one from the bunch of first years.

Whispers broke among the other players, because not everyone knew him, some of them had just heard rumours: "Aomine Daiki?" ... "From the generation of miracles?" ... "The ace of the generation of miracles?" ... "It's him." ... "That Aomine Daiki?"

Aya glanced at him curiously. Aomine just stood there, numb, immovable; he didn't care. He ignored it all.

 _What is the generation of miracles?_ She wondered and shot a sharp glare at Katsunori, who ignored it. He hadn't had enough time to explain that to her yet. Or maybe he decided not to bother himself with it.

"Oya~ Welcome, Aomine-kun. I'm glad you decided to join us." Imayoshi said a bit slyly, from which Aya understood they'd already met before. And that the captain was craftier than he appeared to be.

"Next!" He said, this time hoping for an instant reaction.

"Momoi Satsuki, class 1-1, manager." She was next to Aya, so she took initiative next.

Thanks to that, all the other boys got more coordinated, taking turns:

"Ah, sorry. I'm Sakurai Ryou, class 1-3, shooting guard." The boy was relatively short and plain looking – brown hair and big brown eyes, darting around the room. He was playing with his hands and fidgeting nervously, looking almost fragile. Aya, Satsuki and the coach just hoped that this wasn't how he acted on the court.

Another, not that tall player spoke up next. "Hasegawa Akio, class 1-1, point guard." He was more confident, and seemed to be a calm type of a player.

A preferred position of this one was obvious even before he spoke up. "Oyama Isamu, class 1-2, center." Oyama was a bulky, muscular boy, with very short dark hair and thick eyebrows. He appeared rather scary, but his chocolate-brown eyes had a certain gentleness in them, which made him approachable.

"Kano Hideki, class 1-3, small forward. But I only started playing in the second year of junior-high school." The boy was leaner than rest of the boys. His longer hair was a complete mess, held up from his eyes by several hairpins. Aya liked the humorous spark in his greenish eyes.

"That's not a problem." Imayoshi smiled, and looked at the next boy.

"Ishii Ryuu, class 1-3, power forward." He said in a confident voice. Dark hair and eyes he had, gave him an air of mysteriousness and some healthy slyness.

"Naito Shouhei, class 1-5, point guard." Intelligence in his eyes indicated he was probably a good point guard. He didn't stand out much, and Imayoshi had a feeling that this boy would become an official point guard of Touou at some point.

"Arai Souta, class 1-4, shooting guard." The last one was the most ordinary looking guy, with nothing interesting in particular. He looked introverted and too thin to be able to keep up with the rest of the team.

"That's all, I believe." Imayoshi sighed almost sadly. "I've expected more applicants –"

"Oi, what's with this class coordination!" Wakamatsu was staring at the list. 5 out of 10 new attendants were in the class 1-3.

"I'm sorry!" Sakurai bowed deeply, as if it was his fault that majority ended up in the same class. "It's strange, right? I'm so sorry!"

"O-oi... It's not your fault." Wakamatsu said almost apologetically. What was wrong with this first year?

Imayoshi coughed to get back the team's attention. He was already getting tired. "Now, when we are done with the introductions, I have a question for the girls. Which one of you is going to be the first manager?" He looked at them expectantly, half expecting an argument to break out.

Aya turned to Satsuki with a question in her eyes. She still didn't know what exactly her duties were.

"Only one of us can be on the bench during official matches. That's the only difference in the duties." She explained with a smile.

"Oh. Then you do it. You are already used to it, right?" Aya proposed without a second thought. Being on the bench meant being in the spotlight. She didn't want that.

"Well, that was quick. It's decided then. Momoi Satsuki-san will be the official manager of the Touou's basketball team." Imayoshi made the note. From the first impression the girls gave off, he considered Satsuki to be less unpredictable, and thus he was glad it turned out like this.

Harasawa clapped, to stop their talking and ended the assembly: "Now since everything necessary has been said, you can either: stay and get to know each other, or wrap it up. Practises start tomorrow afternoon at three-thirty p.m., be sure to attend."

Without wasting any more second, "Let's go, Satsuki." Aomine said and already started heading towards the exit. "I'm tired."

"Ah... Aomine-kun! Wait!" She called after him, but he didn't stop. "Kagami-chan, I have to go. If there is something interesting, please let me know. Ask my number from the coach, it was on my application form." She said in one breath with an apologetic smile and ran after Aomine.

"And there goes the only other girl." Aya sighed and turned around. She saw some boys taking Aomine's example and leaving immediately. Some, she believed they were second years, took out balls and started playing some three-on-three, or one-on-one, just for fun.

It made her smile.

"Wanna play?" Imayoshi's voice came from behind her and she almost jumped in surprise. Good for her, she managed to play it safe.

"I'd like to, but I was thinking about meeting the other members, Captain. Would you introduce them?"

"It'd be my pleasure, dear second manager~" He smiled at her.

 _He accentuated ' **second manager** '. What an ass._ Aya thought, and couldn't omit it. "You have a foul personality, right?" She asked bluntly, earning various surprised looks from those who heard her.

Imayoshi's smile froze on his face. How did she...?

"HAHAHAHA!" Wakamatsu laughed when he heard that. "She's read you well, captain!"

"Oya~ what a surprise." Imayoshi voice was still pleasant, but there was a quiet threat there somewhere.

Wakamatsu backed away, paling a bit. Their captain could be scary.

"Honestly, I don't care." Aya spoke up again. "It surprised me a bit, but you seem you know how to handle your team, Captain-san~."

He narrowed his eyes at her, but didn't comment it. _Dangerous girl._ He thought, when his instincts told him to be wary of Aya.

Introductions went quite well. Some boys were rather shy when Aya eyed them from head to toe, as if judging their worth, because she was most likely doing just that. Other than that, she was friendly, outgoing and smiling at everyone. They liked this cheerful manager. She chatted with those who stayed, while the others played mini games – all in their uniforms, since no one bothered to bring the change of clothes for an assembly meeting.

At some point, when only nine players remained and wanted to play some five-on-five, Aya joined the matches as a substitute point guard for the first years. And to everybody's surprise she wasn't half that bad. Her passes were accurate and easy to catch, and she managed some shots as well.

Players and positions were following:

Team Newbies 1st years – Oyama Isamu (190cm) – Center, Kano Hideki (181cm) – Small forward, Ishii Ryuu (186cm) – Power forward, Sakurai Ryou (175cm) – Shooting guard, Kagami Aya (168cm) – Point guard. Average height = 180 cm.

Team Seniors 2nd and 3rd years – Wakamatsu Kousuke (193cm) – Center, Susa Yoshinori (190cm) – Small forward, Yamaoka Tarou (194cm) – Power forward, Tada Shun (190cm) – Shooting guard (original position: Small forward), Imayoshi Shoichi (180cm) – Point guard. Average height = 189,5cm.

"I didn't think you could actually play." Ishii pointed out.

Despite the fact that their team was composed of only the first years, and their average height was much lower, they weren't too bad. Although, they still lost, but that was to be expected when they went against the Touou's current regulars.

She remembered Ishii from the class, he sat at the back with Kano, and they seemed to be good friends. "You just thought that I'm the one with a weird accent and nice legs, right?" She teased, taking off her sweater. The game went from lazy and slow to something quite high paced, and she was starting to sweat.

"A-ah... Kano said that!" He defended himself, which earned him a glare from Kano.

Aya just laughed at it. "I still have a long way to go to be good." _Why am I playing in my uniform?_ She wondered.

"You are plenty good, Kagami-san. You are just unfortunate to play against me." Imayoshi complimented. She played a point guard, which meant she played against him, and still managed to get passes through, or to outrun him. Some of her moves were street ball, but some were strange and tricky, like he'd never seen on a court before. But it was to her advantage. Her agility was impressive too. However, Imayoshi was just expert at riling people up and when it came to height and strength he was definitely in advantage.

She frowned. "I'm still not good enough. I'm not good against fakes, and I miss a lot."

"It's just the beginning of the year, you'll probably get plenty chances to improve." Imayoshi pointed out. "And since you are not bad, you'll probably play with us more often."

"You don't mind if a girl plays with you?" Aya asked dubiously. She didn't mind playing with boys. For her it was a challenge and an entertainment to play against those who were much stronger and much bigger, but it was probably a nuisance for them, since they had to pay more attention than usual.

After drinking some water she was ready for another round. All the first years seemed pumped up for another match.

"Not at all." Imayoshi chuckled.

"You are not bad." Wakamatsu looked somewhere above her head and scratched his cheek. "True, I have to be more careful not to run you over, but... it's a nice change of pace."

"Are you blushing?" Tada Shun – Wakamatsu's classmate and the best friend – teased.

"HA?! No way! You are imagining things!" He burst out at his friend.

"Pffft." Aya laughed at their antics, slowly starting to like the team. "Why don't we mix teams up for the next match?" She asked. It was given that they weren't done yet.

"Right. We don't want to lose, just because we are shorter!" Kano Hideki exclaimed.

"Hai, hai." Imayoshi had an amused smile on his face. Getting this many interesting first years, and not only Aomine Daiki, was good.

They mixed up, changed positions to make it more interesting and played another game. And then another. Until, it got dark outside.

"I think you should wrap it up." Harasawa said, leaning against the gym door. He wanted to go home a long time ago, but he noticed lights on in his gym and decided to check it out. Curiosity won over his desire for a glass of whisky and a good movie. Surprised to see them playing, he'd watched several mini games.

"All right! Don't forget to stretch when you get home!" Wakamatsu shouted.

Imayoshi glanced at a clock that showed it was almost eight p.m., it was a long time since he'd stayed in the gym for so long. How unusual. He thought, and glanced Aya's way.

She was smiling, wiping her face with a small towel she miraculously fished out of her bag and chatting with Ishii and Kano.

The coach came closer to him. "Don't look so surprised." Harasawa smiled. "That's Aya. You will fall in her pace in no time."

"Oh... I thought you didn't like her, judging by your previous reaction." This was getting interesting. Imayoshi wasn't really fond of poking a bear, but it got him curious.

Harasawa frowned. "That's not completely true. It's not just Aya, all the Kagamis are hard to predict and difficult to handle. When it comes to Robin..." His voice softened at the nickname. "I can't figure her out. I never could. It's pointless to try. You just have to get used to it." The coach said quietly. "Dealing with her, I mean."

"Hmmm..." There was no one Imayoshi couldn't figure out. "Sounds interesting."

They cleaned up the gym, said goodbyes and parted ways. Aya, however, stayed behind. There was so much more she wanted to talk about with Katsunori. After an hour of detailed description of the Touou's basketball style and the regulars and the Generation of miracles, and after lending her around dozen of DVD's from Touou's and Teiko's games, Katsunori offered himself to drive Aya home. He didn't want her to go home alone in the dark. Although he was pretty sure, she could handle herself.

######

 ** _Few hours earlier..._**

"Wait up!" Satsuki called out to Aomine. His legs were too long for her to keep up with.

"Hurry. I wanna be home already." He said in his fed up voice, but stopped to wait for her anyways.

"Gee'," she pouted. "Why couldn't we stay for a little longer?! I wanted to meet them all!" Her managerial part of the personality cried to stay and see how good those guys were, to get to know them and analyze them.

"Y' could've stayed, Satsuki."

No, she couldn't. Leaving him alone to ponder his superiority again wasn't exactly good either. Not that she would tell him that. "I probably should have. At least Kagami-chan stayed behind." She thought back to the red haired girl. "Ne? What do you think about her?" She asked with a genuine interest.

Aomine shrugged. "Nothing much. She'll leave me be which is great." He said what came to his mind after recalling the girl named 'Kagami Aya'. Then he added: "and, she is hot."

Satsuki huffed in annoyance. "I didn't mean it that way. What do you think of her personality, traits..." She was looking at her feet, thinking carefully of the day's events. Observing others was one of her strong points. And she made sure to observe Aya carefully. Something about the way in which Aomine reacted to Aya, the subtle change in his expression whenever she spoke up her mind, made Satsuki think that if there was anyone to shatter Aomine's mask, it was probably Kagami Aya.

 _Oh, I know that twinkle._ He thought not sure if it was a good sign or a bad premonition. "Why do y' want my opinion anyways?" He asked with a raised eyebrow, suspicious about Satsuki's intentions. If she was asking him that, she was about to turn all stones she could to figure out their redheaded second manager.

"Because, despite this entire act of yours." She threw her arms up to show her frustration – something she wouldn't do when the others were around. And even if their friendship was tattered and they didn't speak that much anymore, she had moments when she decided to forget the bad parts, and just talk to him like she'd had usually done. "You are actually quite good at judging people. And whatever you say, you are still my friend, and I want your opinion. Genuine one. Not driven by your hormones."

Aomine let out a long sigh. It wasn't nice what had happened, and he didn't want of it, but it was too late to patch everything up. He had drifted too far away. Still... "She is observant and she reminds me a bit of Kise, unpredictable, but less flashy, less whiny version of Kise. Errr... Maybe flamboyant, rather than flashy and she seems to be a good person."

"Hmmmm... I have the same feeling. I'll try to dig out more about her. Why did coach mentioned America in connection with Kagami-chan, and what is that 'Robin'... Since, you are in the same class with her..." Her voice trailed off and she glanced at Aomine expectantly.

"NO! Not a chance! I'm not gonna spy on her on anything! Got that?"

"Reaaally~?"

* * *

 **A/N:** Aaand... that was it for the first chapter. A little bit long, but the story will most likely be moving forward slowly. I'll try to update once a month, and I hope I will finish this (though it might be a long time project). So far, I have several more chapters written - all of them are at least this long.

Let me know what you think and remember, reviews are appreciated, but never necessary.

-S.


	2. Chapter 2: Back to the roots

**A/N:** Sooo, the second chapter. I'm posting it way sooner, but well...

Everything _" Written like this"_ indicates that they are using a foreign language - this goes for the other chapters as well (originally I used a completely different font). And I use cursive for _"phone calls"_ and _inner thoughts_. I hope it's not too confusing.

* * *

 _There's something about having a sibling that you know will always stick with you. **– Bishop Briggs**_

 _In some ways, siblings, and especially sisters, are more influential in your childhood than your parents. **– Deborah Tannen**_

 _Sometimes siblings can get in each other's space. – **Gisele Bundchen**_

 _Finding good players is easy. Getting them to play as a team is another story. **– Casey Stengel**_

 _We've been conditioned to think that quitting is a failure, a form of failure. How do we know that that's true? **– Stephen J. Dubner**_

 _When you dance, your purpose is not to get to a certain place on the floor. It's to enjoy each step along the way. **– Wayne Dyer**_

* * *

"Tadaima." She called out, when she finally arrived at home after the very exhausting and unofficial first practise.

"Okaeri'." Taiga greeted her. "Where have you been for so long? I was starting to worry." A concerned expression he'd had, cleared instantly when he saw she was all right.

"In school." With a nonchalant shrug she sat down to take off her shoes. "I played basket with those who stayed behind."

 _Oh, so that's it..._ Her answer was completely rational. There was one thing he didn't quite get... "In your uniform?" He asked with a raised eyebrow, eyeing her sweat drenched shirt, and a missing ribbon. Although he was sure she'd give him some rational answer again.

"I didn't bring a change of clothes. It should have only been an assembly meeting, buuut... You know me. I don't really care about clothes."

"And there you told me you wouldn't go to Seirin because of the uniform!" He pouted slightly.

 _URGH! Not again..._ What she had told him, came back to bite her. She knew it would happen, because it was only a half of the truth. "It's different! Seirin's girls' uniform is hideous!"

"How is that any different?!"

"That's what boys will never understand!" She exclaimed, and closed a shoe cabinet. "I care what I wear! But when there's something I want to do I don't care what I'm wearing at the moment. If I wanted to jump into the ocean I would do just that, uniform of no uniform. So when I wanted to play basket I did just that!"

"Maaah, geeez. You could have said so from the start." He scratched his head.

"I have!"

"You girls are so confusing..."

A smell of something burning crept into the hallway. Taiga's face paled. "Fuck!" He turned on his heel and sprinted to the kitchen to save whatever food he was preparing.

Aya followed after him, expecting to see a burnt mass, but to her surprise it wasn't that terrible. "What are you cooking so late?" She asked him curiously.

"I guessed you didn't have a dinner, and I was hungry. You'll see, after you take a shower." He sounded disappointed, covering his creation with his body. He looked at her over his shoulder and added: "You stink."

"HA?!" She yelled, vein popping on her forehead, ready to smack his head. She had put on a deodorant after the practise, and she was sure she did not smell of sweat.

"You stink." He repeated – knowing exactly that she thought of hitting him, but he couldn't help himself and teased her again anyways. "Now go. Shoo." He waved his hand to make her go away. Whatever he was cooking, he didn't want her to see.

With a royal eyeroll, she gave up. "Whatever. I'll be back in twenty minutes."

Taiga just shook his head. Too bad, she hadn't gone to Seirin. His team was not half that bad. Except that small blue-haired ghostly guy, Kuroko Tetsuya, who managed to surprise him (ehm, scare the shit out of him) several times every day. He couldn't wait to talk it over with Aya. And he was interested in what kind of day she had had at Touou.

But before that, he had a dinner to save.

Aya came to the kitchen with her hair damp, wearing shorts, knee-high fluffy socks and a black tank-top. She leaned over Taiga's shoulder, to see what he was serving. "Oh, tonkatsu? It smells delicious now!"

"Ah." He was so focused he didn't notice her until she spoke up. But while Kuroko scared the shit out of him, Aya didn't have that effect. For some reason they always knew, if unconsciously, when the other was close by. "Thanks. Would you take it to the table?" He asked, handing her a plate and a glass of tea.

They intensely discussed the day's matters with their mouths full, not caring about occasional mess or half-choking with the food. Taiga vividly described those teammates he remembered and the words Kuroko had told him yet again. They talked about the generation of miracles – about the little they knew about them. She mentioned Harasawa, and they talked about him for a while; remembering some of the funny pranks they'd pulled on him years ago.

Dinner was eaten, and time kept dragging on and on, so Aya got up and took the dirty plates to the sink to wash them. Taiga took a dishtowel and helped her. They worked in a perfect sync. When they were done, Taiga went to pick up some movie for the night and Aya went to her room to prepare things for the next day.

After a moment of staring, she picked up her phone and dialed Satsuki's number she'd gotten from the coach. Satsuki picked it up almost immediately.

 _"Hello. Momoi Satsuki here."_ She introduced herself, with a slight discomfort in her voice, which wasn't surprising, because it was past 11PM.

"Hey. It's Kagami Aya. Sorry for bothering you this late... I got the number from the coach, I hope you don't mind."

 _"Oh, Kagami-chan. No, not at all. I told you to ask for it anyways. What is it?"_ She asked, already relaxed.

"I talked with Katsunori 'bout the generation of miracles and all that. You know them all, right?"

 _"Yes."_ Satsuki's voice got sadder for a reason Aya couldn't understand. _"A lot of things happened there."_

"I can imagine that." Aya's thoughts trailed off to a few months ago. In sports, many things could happen.

 _"Anyhow, is there something in particular you want to know?"_

"I'm not sure. I talked with the guys and Katsunori gave me some DVD's of Touou's and Teiko's games, so I'll probably watch it till the end of the week."

 _"Oh. I knew it! I should've stayed longer! That idiot just had to leave immediately!"_ She pouted and hit some poor pillow.

Aya chuckled. "Why did he leave anyways? I mean, he might be a prodigy and all... But..."

 _"That's complicated. Aomine-kun, I mean. I've known him for so long, I kind of get what's going on in his head, but he closed himself off. It worries me."_

"... You love him?"

 _"WHAT?!"_ Satsuki almost choked. _"Not at all! We are like siblings! We know each other too well, and while we are similar at some traits, we can't stand the others. And the thought of dating him is disgusting. Eww... Not a chance! Plus, I'm in love with Tetsu-kun."_

"Tetsu-kun?"

 _"Kuroko Tetsuya-kun. He is just so... Nah, I'll tell you about him tomorrow. Is there something interesting that happened today?"_

Aya blinked. Was it the same 'Kuroko' mentioned by Taiga? She wanted to know. There was so much she wanted to know, but she'd figure it out one step at the time. "We played some mini matches, when only 10 people remained. I didn't take any notes, since I played the tenth player, so I don't have notes from that time, but from before... I hope I took them properly."

 _"You played? And they didn't hurt you?"_ Satsuki remembered when she'd tried to play with the guys back in Teiko – impossible – but it had been fun at last.

"Well, I used to play quite a lot in my free time in America, so I was really happy, when I could join. Although basket –"

 _"Ayaaaa! Come on, I wanna watch it already!" _Taiga shouted across the entire apartment. He was getting impatient.

Aya pulled the phone from her mouth for a moment. _" I'm on the phone! Just wait! I'll be right there!" _She yelled back in English out of habit.

"Sorry! I have to go." She apologised without finishing what she'd started.

America?! Satsuki was just blinking at her pillow, trying to figure out whether it was a boyish voice or not, which interrupted them, and Aya's sudden use of English, very fluent and quick English. It was rather surprising.

When Satsuki remained quiet for couple of seconds, Aya decided to end the call. "See you tomorrow then."

 _"Ah... See ya."_

Aya ended the call and stomped to the living room. Angry. _"Are you stupid, or what?! You know I hate it when you do that! Thank gods it was just Satsuki."_

Taiga rolled his eyes and continued to use English as well. _" As if you'd call with anyone important."_

 _" It's around 7AM in L.A. The working day is starting. I could as well call with someone important, you know."_

 _"He said he wouldn't bother you with work while you are in high-school, no?"_

 _"And you've believed that? Silly..."_ The tone indicated she was done with answering any other questions.

She shook her head and sat down next to her brother, stretching her legs over him. He frowned and did the same, knowing damn well he was heavy. Expecting some retaliation he tensed a bit, but Aya didn't react and just started the movie.

Did something happen? He thought observing her absent-minded expression.

It didn't take long, and she got pulled into the movie just like him, enjoying it.

* * *

Aya barely got any sleep, since she was too interested in watching the DVDs Katsunori had given her. Despite that she joined Taiga for their usual morning run. It was the last one, considering morning practises they would have to attend from now on. Only after that did they ate breakfast and went to school.

They walked together for several minutes, and then parted. Aya had to take a train and Taiga had a bus to catch.

"Kagami-san! Wait up!" Someone was calling out her name.

"Ah, Ishii-kun. Good morning." She greeted him, when he joined her.

"Good morning." He greeted her back, catching his breath after chasing her. To his surprise, the redhead walked in a rather quick pace. "You live nearby?"

"Apparently. Did you stretch properly yesterday?" She asked with a raised eyebrow, noticing how he winced after his short run.

"Uhm... I fell asleep immediately after I got home. The practise was harder than I had expected."

"That's why I told you to stretch." She shook her head. "And it wasn't even an official practise. We just played around."

"I'm already scared of what's to come." He mumbled.

"You'll play matches again today. Katsu-... The coach wants to see how good you are and what to improve." She was so used to using Harasawa's name that she kept forgetting to address him formally at school or when talking with the other students.

"Are you not sore?" Ishii asked her, surprised. There were no hints that her muscles hurt, she was moving about the same as the previous day.

"Not at all. I'm used to that amount of practise." She said with a smile.

"Eeeh? You are?"

Hand on her hip, Aya asked in confident voice: "What's so unbelievable about a girl exercising?"

Ishii blushed in embarrassment, when he realized that this girl probably had more stamina than him. "... Nothing at all..."

They boarded a train and talked all the way until they reached the school. It was easy to talk with Aya. And Ishii enjoyed her company. This girl would definitely be a good friend of his.

"I'm going to cafeteria to buy some coffee. See you in the class." She told to him and took off.

Ishii went to the class, and before he could even sit down (next to Aomine) Kano's hand surrounded his shoulders in a friendly gesture. "I've seen you come together with Kagami-chan~. Where is she?" Kano teased him.

Ishii knew where his friend was heading, but he was already used to it and knew how to avoid getting embarrassed most of the time. "We bumped into each other at the station. She went off to cafeteria... And I have a girlfriend, you know... Too bad you had to take your siblings to school. You could've join us otherwise."

Kano pulled a sour face. "Tell me about it. I had to go with Shouhei."

A sigh escaped Ishii's lips. The three of them, Ishii, Kano and Naito, were friends since forever, they grew up in vicinity, but Shouhei and Hideki were just too different. At least they had a truce, or something along the lines. "Shouhei is our friend you know..."

"I know, I know. But he is so distant. I feel like an idiot when talking to him." Hideki pouted.

"Because you are."

"Oi! What was that?"

"Mornin'." Aya greeted them. "Good to see you so lively, Kano-kun. I hope you did your stretches properly."

"Ah... Mornin' Kagami-chan. Nope..." Kano scratched the back of his neck sheepishly . "I'm sore all over." He grunted. "I went to sleep right after I'd gotten home."

Aya sighed and put her bag on the desk, quietly saluting to Aomine and Ohno Kiku. Aomine didn't even glance at her to approve of her arrival. And Aya didn't care one bit.

"And you, Sakurai-kun?"

The boy sitting in front of her, turned around a bit startled that she actually asked him something. "Y-y-yeah. I stretched properly."

"At last one of you is thinking." She shook her head in disappointment. "Improper stretching or lacking warm-ups usually leads to injuries. And sore muscles... Make sure not to omit it next time."

"You mean... you are not sore at all?" Kano blinked at Aya.

Oh they ask the same things! Her eyes twinkled playfully. "From what? It wasn't a real practise yesterday, just playing around." She repeated the same thing she'd said to Ishii.

"Huh?!" He threw his arms up. If that was not a real practise than what the hell was awaiting them in the afternoon?

"Senpais were just testing you. Don't tell me you didn't notice. Changing pace of the game often and forcing you into formations, or positions you weren't used to. They wanted to see how well you can adapt. All of them are current regulars. And so far, Sakurai has the greatest chance - out of the three of you - to become a regular soon." She explained to Kano and took a slow sip from her coffee. If she was dead tired, she didn't show it.

"Eh?" Sakurai stared at Aya wide-eyed. "But I missed so many shots. I'm sorry for that!" He added suddenly.

"True, but you mostly missed the shots Tada-senpai forced you to shoot. He is much taller than you and no one makes 100% of their shots anyways."

"Sorry! I'll get better next time! For sure!" He said quickly, almost biting off his tongue.

Aya laughed. "Good motivation you have there."

"What do you mean by the three of you?" Ishii asked with narrowed eyes, already guessing the answer.

"Aomine is already considered a regular. He was recruited by the coach, and has sports scholarship."

"Eh?" Kano couldn't believe it. So far he'd never heard about someone good enough to have a sport's scholarship. "You do?" He turned to Aomine, who was acting ignorant.

"Yeah. What of it?" He asked lazily. "Envious?"

Kano snorted. "As if!"

 _So he is listening..._ Aya gave Aomine an unimpressed look and turned to Ishii and Kano. "I want to see how well you'll work with Naito-kun being your PG. You were on the same team in your middle school right? You should be able to coordinate better with him, than you did with me." She changed the subject.

"Hmmm... True, we are used to his passes." Ishii smiled.

"K-k-kagami-san. You play b-basketball?" Ohno asked with a trembling voice. She wanted to join the conversation, but she didn't know how. So far, she just observed them and listened. Those two boys were scary. Still... You have to speak up... she told herself and tried to muster up the courage... Her voice was too quiet though.

"Sure." She smiled at Kiku, catching her question. "Although I'm a manager I played with these guys, plus Oyama-kun from class 1-2, yesterday. They missed one player for a proper game, so..."

"U-uhm..." She didn't know what more to say. "T-t-that's great." She mumbled awkwardly.

"Oh, and you are?" Ishii asked the girl with interest. He almost didn't notice the quiet girl at all.

"O-o-ohno K-kiku." She stumbled at her own name, her cheeks turning red.

"Nice to meet you, Ohno-chan. I'm Ishii Ryuu, these are Kano Hideki and Sakurai Ryou, well, and Aomine Daiki. We're all in the basketball club." He introduced all of them enthusiastically.

Aomine glanced at him, clicking his tongue in annoyance, and continued to ignore them. ...or pretend to ignore them. It wasn't like he agreed to be Satsuki's eyes and ears, but the story of Kagami playing with the boys got his attention. He couldn't quite picture her playing basketball. Maybe he would attend the afternoon practise to see the level of his teammates. As long as they were at least decent, he didn't care, who they were... Not that they would be any challenge.

A teacher walked in and stopped the group's chatting. Classes started.

######

"Eeeeh! You have a girlfriend?!" Wakamatsu yelled in shock, everybody jumping at his sudden loudness.

Ishii flushed. "Keep it down, will ya?" He scolded his senpai in embarrassment, although there wasn't much to be embarrassed about. The gym was full of boys, and the only girls were Aya and Satsuki. The latter was too preoccupied by meeting all the second and third years she hadn't met yesterday, and Aya was somewhat okay. Ishii didn't mind her knowing, because he considered her his friend.

"B-b-but!" Wakamatsu tried to add something, when Susa smacked the back of his head.

"Will you shut up for a while?" Susa asked in annoyed voice, implying that Wakamatsu had been annoying even before his yelling.

"But he is just a first year! And he already has a girlfriend!"

"What's so weird about it?" Aya asked him, suddenly appearing at his side, not quite understanding Wakamatsu's problem.

"We are senpais! We are supposed to... Ehm!" He scratched his slightly blushing cheek.

Susa elbowed him. "Shut up, before you embarrass yourself in front of our new manager... Or freak her out."

Something clicked in Aya's head, she grinned foxily and she just had to ask: "Does it mean you've never had a girlfriend, Wakamatsu-senpai?"

"Eeeh?" He jumped, taken aback by the girl's teasing. And by the fact that she guessed right. "W-w-why would you think that?! Of course I..." This time it was Tada, who elbowed him from the other side.

Tada smiled at Aya, and intervened, before Wakamatsu could dig his own grave. "Well, it's not uncommon to not have girlfriends for those who have club activities. We don't have time to properly interact with girls."

"Hmmm... And since girls usually don't interact with groups of big, scary, loud and sweaty guys..." She thought out loud, unintentionally (or intentionally?) stabbing everyone's heart.

"You said it out loud." Ishii whispered to her.

Aya noticed everyone's dejected eyes. "Crap!" She covered her mouth. "Sooorrryyy! I didn't mean it in the wrong way! I'm sure you'll all find wonderful girlfriends!"

Imayoshi laughed at her antics, Ishii joining him. She said it purposefully. They both thought.

The coach clapped his hands, shaking his head in exasperation. "Start warming up. Wakamatsu, take the lead!" He ordered.

"I'm glad you're getting along well with them." He looked down at Aya.

"Of course I am." She smiled, and turned to Satsuki. "Did you find anything interesting in those notes?"

"A lot actually. I can draft a training regime pretty fine. You even analysed the DVDs. I'm impressed. Did you even sleep?"

"Probably just one hour. No big deal, really." She shrugged.

"Sleep properly next time." Satsuki scolded her good-heartily. "By the way, the boy yesterday..." She recalled the voice on the phone.

"Oh... Yeah. My brother. We were about to watch a movie. He is rather impatient." She shrugged and tapped her pencil over a blank page. "So what about your crush?"

 _So a brother, huh..._ "Oh right! Tetsu-kun... I couldn't follow him to Seirin, unfortunately." Satsuki sighed and gave Aomine a quick glare, when he was, as expected, slacking off during the warm-up. "But he is just so great. You know, men are easily predictable, but Tetsu-kun... You never know what he is up to, you can't predict him. He has almost no presence, and he can surprise you, and all that..."

"You like being scared?" Aya asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Sort of. I don't mind it. ..."

Aya listened carefully, keeping an eye on what the boys were doing during the warm-up.

When Aomine saw Satsuki's heart shaped eyes, he knew that Aya had probably asked about Tetsu. He almost rolled his eyes, but he felt relieved; he didn't have to listen to it for the millionth time again.

After the warm-up, Harasawa divided them into teams. He wanted to see them play. Two games went on simultaneously, while the rest of the boys did muscle training on the side.

Aya's eyes were glued to Aomine. He seemed lazy, completely uninterested in the game, but his presence was overwhelming, even though he barely touched the ball, as Naito didn't pass to him that much. Naito made good combo with Ishii and Kano, so he usually passed to his friends.

They are not bad together. Aya noted, carefully observing how Naito passed, so she could adapt to those two if they ever played on the same team again.

"Tch." Aomine clicked his tongue in annoyance. He wanted to show them why he didn't need to practise. After three minutes of not touching the ball, he had enough.

Opponents missed a shot, and even if Wakamatsu tried to get a rebound, Aomine stole the ball first. He didn't bother looking around. Opponents' defence was useless against him. He dashed pass them and dunked. The rest of the match continued in a similar way; Aomine didn't give up the ball once. Stealing it by himself and making all the shots by himself, never passing. Not once. Even when he was in an unfavourable position, he forced a shot (and made it) rather than passing.

Satsuki was frowning, she had a dejected look in her eyes.

The match ended up with the first years – or Aomine - beating senpais by doubling their score.

"OI!" Ishii shouted at him. "What was the meaning of this? We want to play too!"

"Heeh~ Then get the ball yourself if you want to play. I don't pass." He smirked, and landed yet another basket, not even looking at his shot. "Or are you that useless?"

"How did that go in?" Aya asked with wide eyes. Aomine was something else. _Amazing._

"It did. It always does." Satsuki said bitterly. "Aomine-kun is like this, unstoppable scorer."

"Hmmm." Aya mused. "Unstoppable scorer you say... He is actually holding back, am I right?"

"How do you...?" She stared at Aya baffled.

"I can feel it. He is not serious. With his built he can probably do much more than what he is showing. Though, I haven't watched the Teiko's games yet."

"So you can feel it, huh? You are pretty impressive yourself, you know..." Satsuki wanted to investigate more about Aya, but she was interrupted by the coach.

"Oi! Cut it out!" Harasawa yelled at Ishii, who was holding Aomine by his collar and despite their height difference it almost seemed that Ishii was taller.

"Let go." Aomine growled threateningly.

"Aomine-kun!" Satsuki shouted at him.

"I did nothing." He shrugged.

The girls hadn't heard the entire conversation which had led to the situation they now saw.

"Of the court! Both of you!" The coach shouted. "There'll be no fights during the practises!" His voiced thundered, and the boys startled. They'd never seen the coach that angry. He had been paying attention to the other match, and before he had realised it, Aomine and Ishii were about to punch each other. He wouldn't tolerate it. Aomine's arrogance, he could get over it, but fights during the practises... _Thank gods it wasn't Wakamatsu._ The coach thought, well aware of Wakamatsu's very short temper.

They stood next to the managers; Ishii next to Aya, and Aomine next to Satsuki. The girls were an imaginary wall between them.

"You two are out of the matches for today." Harasawa said coldly. "Try to pick another fight and you are off the team."

"You wouldn't put me off the team, ol'-man." Aomine smirked cockily. "You recruited me after all."

The coach narrowed his eyes at Aomine. "Who knows? Maybe I would." He shrugged and turned around. It was below him to argue with a fifteen year old brat. True, he needed Aomine, but if he caused too much trouble, he would ditch him without giving it a second thought. His team wasn't that weak.

"Coach: 1, Aomine: 0~" Aya said with a snicker.

Aomine glared at her over Satsuki's head.

"Don't glare at me. You were being a jerk, you know." She smiled innocently. "And just for your information... When Katsunori is in a bad mood, he wouldn't think twice about ditching you. So... I recommend you to not cause any more problems. If you want to keep your scholarship, that is..."

"Tch. Because you know everything..." He muttered.

Aya heard him – and ignored him. She turned towards Ishii. "And you? What are you? A five year old kid to get riled up by this idiot?!" She hissed. "Whatever he said was on purpose." She shook her head in disbelief. "And there I thought you were the calm type of a person..."

"S-sorry." Ishii scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. The coach scolding him was one thing, Aya scolding him was another. The girl was scarier.

"Keep your excessive energy for your girlfriend next time." She muttered so that only Ishii could hear. And he turned as red as her hair when he understood her innuendo.

Aya just smirked under her nose and shook her head. It was so easy to make fun of these boys.

Aomine's little outburst had a negative impact on everyone. He managed to get hated in the very first afternoon practise...

Several minutes later the coach returned and made the two trouble makers run 15 laps outside. He was more than sure that Aomine would bail, or slack off, but at least Ishii should learn not to pick fights and ignore Aomine.

After practise, the coach called them for an assembly. He didn't announce start-up positions yet, he just warned them about fights and rude behaviour. Then they could either stay for free practise, or hit the showers and go home.

"Kagami-chan!" Hideki called out to her. "Wanna play some one-on-one?" He asked with a smile.

"Sorry! Not today. I have things to do, so I need to go." She said apologetically, but suggested: "We can go to the outside court tomorrow during lunch, if you want."

"Ah. Okay!" He said a bit disappointed.

She quickly went out to wash the bottles and prepare them for the next day.

"And where are you going?" Katsunori asked her with a raised eyebrow, when she returned for her bag.

"Shiranuis'! I've been summoned. If you need to discuss something, give me a call later!" She said in a hurry, took her stuff and left to changing rooms.

"What are you? A devil?" He said to her back, but she didn't hear him. Katsunori shook his head. "Unbelievable." He muttered for himself.

 _What a hurricane._ Aomine thought slightly disappointed. He wanted to challenge her for some innocent one-on-one too. Mostly to humiliate and anger her... Situation played against him, apparently.

######

Aya walked into a relatively big gym, with mirrors around the entire room. The place was so familiar to her. It hadn't changed in the slightest and it brought back a memory from when she had danced for the first time – the three year old Aya watching herself in the huge mirror as she tried to learn her first choreography. Now, she looked at herself and smirked. _Back to the roots you've returned._

It took some effort until she found it after so many years, even thought it was only 10 minutes of walking from their apartment, but she couldn't ignore an S.O.S message from an old acquaintance and a good friend. She made her way to a back door, through changing rooms and into a very small office with one table and two chairs.

A man with black hair and dark brown eyes was staring at some papers, not noticing her presence. He seemed tired, and aged. Well, he was around 28, if she remembered correctly, and he had taken over the dancing school after his grandfather had passed away, so of course he had to be under a lot of pressure.

"You wanted to see me, Shiranui Senri. So, what is it?" She spoke up, her voice startling the poor man.

He looked at her, not recognizing her at first. Then his jaw dropped. "A-a-aya-chan!"

"Okay now... This reaction is starting to be boring." She said teasingly and sat on a chair opposite him, dropping her bag next to her.

"But you look so different!" He gasped. "I haven't seen you in years!"

"True, you don't compete, and you don't really watch it... So, you are the one leading this school now?"

He sighed and looked down. "Rather than school, it's become only a small club. After grandfather had passed away, many people left. So now we have just a bunch of mixed age groups, who are trying to learn something, and I'm trying to teach them."

"Are you dissatisfied? It doesn't seem like money problem, but rather..."

"Well, I don't mind teaching that bunch, I know them well, and they are all nice people. And I always wanted to have a calm life."

"Okay. What is the problem then?" She crossed her arms over her chest and frowned.

"Uuuhm... Miki, my partner, broke her leg on the stairs after yesterday's practise. Don't ask me how. I have no idea how she managed that... And... I don't have a suitable partner to help me with the teaching now."

"And you want me to help you."

"Well... If you don't mind... I know you are probably busy with your school and competitions and all, but..."

"I quit competing. I have a job and club activities, but..." She said calmly and looked at him. "I'm not that busy anymore."

His chocolate brown eyes almost fell out on the table. "WHAT?! You did WHAT?!"

"Oh boy..." She sighed. "I quit competing. I want to have a calmer life too. Until I finish the high school properly at least."

"YOU?! NO! No-no-no-no-no... I can't believe this." He pulled at his hair in despair.

 _Wow, it got him more than Taiga, or me... Poor guy._ "You should watch the news from the dancing world at times. This one is already outdated though. I quit before the winter break, so... Some November, I guess."

"But you were on the top of the world, no? World champion for consecutive of 7 or 8 years. The best of the best. One in a million prodigy! You even jumped up the age category to youth because you had enough points from competitions!"

"... So you do watch the news..." She mumbled.

"No... Hikaru and Kouta bragged. But they didn't say anything about you quitting! Why?"

"My own reasons." She said curtly, and changed the topic. "So when do you train, what exactly do you expect of me and so on... Start talking."

He gulped, suddenly feeling like being on some interrogation, and started spilling everything to her.

"So, to recapitulate. You want me to come here on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays from six thirty PM till eight PM – the only times you practise - to be your co-partner. You will pay me for every practise I teach the same amount you gave the injured girl and you will stay over practise if I need or want to try something else."

He nodded ferociously, praying she'd agree.

"Sure." She smiled at him. The club she was currently in – because she couldn't imagine stopping dancing altogether – was starting to get on her nerves, they admired and idolized and badmouthed her too much, when all she wanted was to train like everyone else. Senri's proposal came in the best possible time, and bonus, the club was literally ten minutes of walking from her home. "One condition though."

"Yes?" He asked warily. Deals with Aya could be as well pacts with the devil.

"You won't use me as your advertisement. You won't tell anyone in the club I was a world champion. If they figure it out, then so be it, but I want to keep as low profile as possible... Thank gods people are not that interested in dance sport to actually recognise someone like me."

Senri's eyes dropped to his intertwined fingers. This was unexpected condition, which he hoped wouldn't come. After several heartbeats, when he weighted pros and cons, he agreed. "As you wish."

"Very well then." She offered him a handshake, which he accepted in surprise and then they bowed. Aya laughed happily. "So... Care to ask me for a dance?"

His eyes widened at her demand and she grinned. They had the entire gym just for themselves, and dancing with Aya was an unbelievable opportunity as well as a challenge. He didn't believe his mediocre abilities were enough to match hers, but she didn't seem to care one bit. She just wanted to dance. And that was something he'd always remembered about Aya. When she was a snotty brat, she danced because she enjoyed it from the bottom of her heart. After she'd won her first world championships, he thought she would gradually lose that joy. But he'd had thought wrong.

The love for dancing had never disappeared from Aya's eyes and she'd never became arrogant. Or at least he didn't feel any arrogance coming from her.

When they entered the mirrored room, she kicked off her shoes, and made several steps as if trying out the wooden floor. There was no music, but Aya seemed to dance to some rhythm, only she could hear. He never saw someone as perfectly fitted for dancing as Aya was. She was perfection itself. Every step she made was wonderful, full of life and energy. She wasn't just following some routine, she was enjoying herself. And she could spread that energy to her audience.

"I guess I should be good to go." She smiled and offered him a palm.

"What do you want to dance?" Senri asked curiously.

"What do you?"

"Anything is fine."

"Even Pasodoble?"

"Urgh..." His face turned sour. He didn't like that one.

Aya chuckled. "No worries, it's not my top favourite either. So, latin or standard?"

"Latin. Hmmm... Let's say... cha-cha?"

"Sounds good to me." She smiled.

They picked cha-cha music with a slower rhythm for the start, because Aya felt like dancing to that one. They'd never danced together before, so learning to coordinate well was the first thing they had to do if they wanted to teach together.

Senri wasn't the best lead in the world, but he was good enough. To his relief, Aya had the ability to lead herself at times he messed up.

Aya was beside herself from joy. A mediocre partner or not, she couldn't care less. Senri was surely good enough to win some local competitions, but nothing compared to the world class dancers. The best part of this whole situation was, that now, she could just dance for herself. It was a liberating feeling, as if her chains – chains she hadn't realized she'd had – suddenly came off and she was free to do whatever she wanted. She had this feeling ever since she'd decided to quit with competing.

* * *

 **A/N:** Little recap: At the beginning we see some sibling interaction between Taiga and Aya, then we see how Touou's team works, and at the end we get to see some more of Aya's previous life. It will be slowly revealed as she interacts with the others more, because... Everything comes out eventually.

I hope you like it, and that it's not too confusing. I went through the first few chapters several times over and over again, not sure if it is ok, I even rewrote it couple of times, and this is the version that satisfies me the most.

Let me know what you think and remember, reviews are appreciated, but never necessary.

\- S.


	3. Chapter 3: Friends or foes?

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone who followed and favourited and reviewed. I hope you'll like this chapter too.

Enjoy! :)

* * *

 _The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed. **– Carl Jung**_

 _People have always found me challenging - I don't know why, when I am only being myself. I don't understand why they find me so annoying but they do. It is pity, but that is how it is. **– Ian Hamilton Finlay**_

 _Talent without working hard is nothing. **– Cristiano Ronaldo**_

 _Only people who have been allowed to practise freedom can have the grown-up look in their eyes. **– E. M. Forster**_

 _Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships. **– Michael Jordan**_

* * *

Getting up for morning practises was hell for most of the boys. It was mostly stamina or power training and drill of fundamentals. Harasawa believed that the more one knew fundamentals the easier it was to move, the easier it was to win. This concept turned out to be effective for the team and Touou had, only after the three years of his coaching, become a nationally recognized team.

He was watching the running boys with satisfaction... until he noticed a certain redhead dashing after them.

"Oi, Aya!" He reached his hand to stop her, but she was already far away. "Unbelievable..." He grumbled

Satsuki chuckled. "She seems to have lots of energy." She mused. So far, she was unable to collect any valid data on Aya. But she was trying to make some assumptions based on Aya's interactions and behaviour at least.

"Tell me about it." He sighed, knowing very well he couldn't stop her. "She is a stamina monster."

After they were done running, the boys were dropping to the ground frantically grabbing any water bottle they could see. They were trying to wipe the sweat off their faces, but it was near impossible since their t-shirts were drenched just as much.

Aya took a small sip of water, ready for more running, almost bouncing up and down from excess energy. Her t-shirt was soaked with sweat as well; she just didn't look like she was tired at all.

"What the hell is with that stamina? Is she an alien or what?" Wakamatsu asked Tada.

"... I'm equally surprised. I noticed it during the matches; I just didn't think she would be so energetic so early in the morning." He mused.

All of them were taken aback; some were just too drained to talk about it. Kano, Naito and Arai seemed ready to vomit; and the other first years were barely catching their breaths.

"And where the hell is that bastard Aomine?!" Wakamatsu asked angrily after checking who was there – it was usually a manager's job to take attendance, and one could get easily overlooked among 25 players. Not Aomine though...

"He probably overslept. Leave it, Wakamatsu." The captain stopped him. Now he understood what the coach had meant by Aya's unpredictability. To think she would actually run all the laps with them...

######

The basketball club members came to the classroom together. Aya entered first, greeting all their classmates with a loud 'Good morning' and a happy smile. The boys were dragging their feet behind her, glad they could sit for the next half a day, before continuing with that hell.

Talking was considered a waste of energy and they slumped to their seats silently, took out one of their bentos and ate breakfast.

Kiku eyed them suspiciously. "K-kagami-san? What happened to them?" She asked in hushed voice.

"Morning practise happened. They need to work on their stamina." She smirked and took out three apples to eat. She was starving too, but she didn't have two bentos, like the boys. "And I told you to call me 'Aya', already."

"Right!" She blurted out and looked away. The girl was still not used to talking with others much. It's only been the fourth day – and someone asked her to call them by their name!

"Heee... What a weaklings."

All of them turned towards Aomine, who strolled to his seat with a mocking smirk. A vein popped on Ishii's forehead and he was ready to snap at him, but...

"...says the guy who didn't show up at all." Aya rebuked first and didn't grant him the satisfaction of an argument with Ishii.

"You've seen me yesterday. Do you really think I need to practise?" He scoffed.

"Everyone needs to practise to stay in shape. If you think you are too good to practise, be my guest. But don't you dare mock those, who actually put in the effort." She said coldly and glared at Aomine. No way in hell she would allow him to insult those who were working hard. Prodigy or not. She didn't care.

Kiku gulped. The tension between those two increased tremendously. She admired her friend for standing up against someone like Aomine, but she was also worried about her.

An amusement flashed in his eyes, and his smirk widened. "What are you, a mother hen?"

Aya snorted at his comment. "I don't have a problem with that."

"Failures really do stick together..." He muttered and sat down.

"What do you even know..." She retorted humorously and bit into her apple. Noticing a girl from a different class passing by the door, she called out: "Hanako!" She got up and left the classroom to chat with her.

######

Aya ignored Aomine's presence behind her the best she could for the rest of the day. The more she interacted with him, the more he pissed her off. So rather than wasting her energy on the idiot, she decided to focus on those, who actually accepted her attention and strange personality (Not that she showed them her true colours yet).

"Kano-kun, you up for that one-on-one you wanted yesterday?" Aya asked him the moment a lunch break started.

He gave her a desperate look. "I doubt I can stand." He whined.

She laughed good-heartily. "Go walk around for a few minutes." She advised him, so his muscles wouldn't stiffen too much.

With tears in his eyes he got up. "Want something from vending machine or cafeteria?" He asked them.

"Milk for me!" Ishii reacted immediately. It was nice that he didn't have to go all the way to the vending machine.

"Tea for me." Aya added.

"U-uhm... I-i-is it okay if – if I ask something?" Kiku spoke up quietly.

"Sure! Just tell him what you want, Kiku." Aya encouraged her.

"S-strawberry juice then."

"Ossu." Kano nodded. "You, Sakurai?"

"Ah. Sorry." He apologised – he didn't know he was included in the group. "I don't need anything."

Kano shrugged. "If you say so..."

"Oi! Bring me tea too!" Aomine demanded bossily.

"Fetch it yourself, Ace-san." Kano said, sticking out his tongue at Aomine. He didn't like his arrogance.

"Tch. What did you say?" Aomine growled at him.

Kano just laughed and ran out of the classroom.

"His legs hurt, huh?" Aya was shaking with laughter. "...Mr. Ace..." She ignored the vein popping on Aomine's forehead, and his murderous glare. Kano just cut him off hilariously.

"Kagami-san." Class-rep walked up to her desk. "Ueda-sensei asked me to make a list of pairs who will be working together on all school projects."

She forced herself to stop laughing. "What? You mean we can't rotate or change partners during the year?"

"It's valid for one semester and then you can choose to switch or remain in the pair." The class-rep shrugged. He wasn't the type to question his teacher's decisions.

There was something suspicious about this. Aya narrowed her eyes at the glasses boy. "Can I choose whoever?"

He looked away.

 _I knew it!_

"A-actually... Ueda-sensei recommended to pair you up with Aomine-san, or Ohno-san. But if I pair you with Ohno-san, Aomine-san should be paired up with Ishii-kun..." The poor class-rep must have been troubled by this for longer than just one class. Of course he'd been too reluctant to approach the bunch with a half-witted decision, but he couldn't just order Aomine to comply. The guy was way too intimidating. But after he saw Aya to interact with him... "You seem to be the most approachable, so I'm asking you." He admitted.

Aomine wanted to leave the class, but when he overheard his name he turned on his heel, to face the poor class-rep. "Four-eyes! You telling me I can't choose a partner myself?!" He snapped at him. If having partner was obligatory, he'd rather be with Sakurai – who looked like he would do anything if ordered to.

The class-rep shivered. He was nowhere as tall or as big as Aomine. "I-it's not like you have any friends here... A-a-and being paired up with someone who sits c-c-close to y-you is good. U-u-ueda-sensei wanted this... A-a-and Kagami-san and Ishii-san had a great score on their previous schools..." He tried to explain himself, but kept stuttering and looking anywhere but Aomine.

"Are you saying I'm an idiot?" Aomine hissed.

"N-n-"

"Yeah. That's exactly what he implied." Aya commented calmly dragging Aomine's attention to herself and away from the class-rep; poor fragile boy, who seemed ready to piss his pants. She could deal with Aomine's glaring without any harm to her psyche.

Aomine was at loss of words. He just glared at Aya more intensely than before. There was nothing he could really retort, because it was mostly true. His scholar results weren't shiny at all. Not that he cared.

Aya sighed, already regretting her decision. She pointed her thumb at Aomine. "I'll take him on. Don't ever think of pairing him up with Ishii, Sugihara-kun. They'll get excluded from school rather than cooperating. Not that it would be much different with me. Buuut... I'll try to be as civil as I can." She smirked.

"R-right. Thank you, Kagami-san!" He bowed deeply and ran off.

"What about me?" Kiku asked stunned about what had just happened.

"Honestly, I think you should be paired up with Ishii. It'll be fine. Go after the Class-rep, he seemed too intimidated to remain here any longer." Aya chuckled in amusement. What sort of a class-rep was he, when he couldn't stand his own against someone like Aomine?

"So you'll take me on, heh?" Aomine asked arrogantly, when Kiku chased after Sugihara (Ishii joining her of course).

"Gladly. There is one thing you should know, though... If you behave like a jerk towards me, I'll behave like a bitch towards you. It's as simple as that."

The confidence in her eyes was something else. Yes, hint of annoyance was there, but Aya wasn't one to run away from a challenge. They'd probably never work well together; she just wanted to see how far it could go.

And so far, it appeared that Aomine was the same. The burning challenge in her reddish eyes was not something he could ignore. "Fair enough."

And there wasn't much of a choice, they'd either learn to cooperate, or they'd get detention after detention.

######

"Aya-chan!" Satsuki jumped at her, the moment they came to the shoe-lockers. "I heard you were paired up with Aomine-kun!"

Aomine was already gone; they had no clue whether he'd show up for practise or skip it.

Aya blinked at her in surprise. "How do you know?"

"I caught him during lunch for a few minutes. He was..." She touched her lower lip, thinking about the right words to describe what she'd felt from him. "...fired up, or how should I put it."

"Already planning how to infuriate me, to the point of killing me..." Aya translated 'fired up' with an eye roll. "Hope I won't kill him first."

"I will!" Satsuki nodded seriously. "You have my permission to hit him, if he is too uncooperative."

"Ah... I-I'm off..." Kiku saluted them.

"Don't you have cooking club?" Aya turned to her friend. In the past three days she used every spare time to talk with the shy girl and find out whatever she could. In the end, the two became friends pretty quickly.

"W-w-e start next week." She shrugged. "I-I h-h-have plenty of time to read now, s-so I plan to make full use of that!" She said enthusiastically and adjusted her glasses, already looking forward to a new book resting on her night table.

"Oh. Tell me if the book was good, later then!" Aya waved her good-bye.

"Hmmm, so she likes reading and cooking." Satsuki made a mental note; maybe the girl would be useful some time.

"It's completely normal, I think."

"Yeaaah. So, are you going to practise with them again?" The pinkette asked curiously. She still hadn't seen Aya play. There was something vaguely familiar about the redhead; Satsuki just couldn't figure out what it was.

"Depends on the situation, if they are too tired I won't. I can't stay over practise today either..." She glanced at boys who were dragging their feet behind, trying to brace themselves for what was to come. "By the way, is Aomine coming, or is he skipping?"

"I told him to come, so I hope he would. Not like he ever listens to me." A sigh she made was much-saying. "Have you seen his games yet?"

"Nope, not yet. I went straight for bed yesterday; I'll try to watch it tonight." Aya wanted to see it so much. She knew it was only a matter of time management, and if she wanted to manage it till tomorrow, she'd have to pull an all-nighter.

"Okay. We'll talk about it later then."

######

 _"Ayaaaa! Where did you put my magazine?!"_ Taiga demanded loudly, when he got out of a shower, and wanted to go read in his bed before sleeping.

 _"The second bottom shelf in the living room, at the right side!"_ She instructed him from her room, equally loudly through the closed door.

She heard some shuffling and something crashing. _" Oh lords..."_ She mumbled.

Then his head peered into her room, waving the magazine at her. _"Seriously... Why do you put my stuff at weird places?"_

 _"I was reading it and put it there. Because it is a book-shelf. And magazine is probably the closest thing to a book you'd read." _She yawned and rubbed her eyes.

"Anyways, how was your first day at work?" He asked and switched to Japanese.

"It's not really a work." She rolled her eyes. "But I guess it was good. The kids are nice, and the elders are trying to keep up. It's peaceful, and I like it. The pay is not that bad either." She smirked. Not that she needed the money.

"Glad you are happy. Is it manageable though? School, basketball club, coaching and all that?" He pointed at the charts and graphs on her laptop's screen. "I thought that father would really stop with this."

"Hmph... Who do you have me for? I can manage." She said proudly, sticking out her chest. Then she just smiled kindly, "at least for now. If it turns out to be too much I'll tell you. 'kay?"

"Sometimes I wonder if you ever sleep." He said softly and shook his head. Did their father even realize all the responsibilities he pushed on Aya to deal with?

"Tonight I won't." She laughed, pointing at the DVDs laying on her desk. "After I finish with this analysis, I have to watch those, so I can return it to Katsunori."

"Want some coffee?" He asked, ready to get up and prepare some for her. He was too dumb (or at least he thought he was) to do their father's work, so the least he could do was assist Aya when she needed it.

"Nah... But..."

"Hmm?"

"Brush my hair, please." The feeling of someone grooming her hair was nice. She liked it. At first Taiga had pulled at it painfully, because he'd never wanted to do 'girly' stuff, but as they got older, he'd become pretty skilled at it. And sometimes, he would even style her hair when she asked him to.

* * *

"Oya, if it isn't Aomine-kun." Imayoshi almost sang when he noticed Aomine leaning against the gym's door. As a captain he was usually the first to arrive.

"Cut the crap." He said, irritated by the third year.

Imayoshi's eyes opened a bit more than his usual slits. "What do you want then, Aomine?" He dropped the honorific; he didn't need to be polite with this brat.

"I won't be showing to practises much." He announced with a yawn, glad it was already Friday. The first week was an exception. Satsuki dragged him to almost every single afternoon practise. Mornings were different, since she couldn't barge into his house that easily. (Thank gods for that.)

"I anticipated that, so?"

"I wanna be fair. So, I'll show you my full throttle, if you stay after practise to play with me, that is." Suddenly, he watched the captain with eyes of a predator.

A chill ran down Imayoshi's spine. Was there something better than what he'd shown so far? He didn't know, but he was curious. He needed to know. As the captain, he needed to know all the players' strengths and weaknesses.

"Very well. But I won't go against you one-on-one. Let's make it three-on-one to make it more interesting."

A smirk appeared on Aomine's face. "You're not playin' around, huh? Fine by me." He grabbed his bag and headed to the changing room.

The first years came soon after; in one group, as usual. Aya and Satsuki departed towards the girls' changing room.

######

"I've watched the games." Aya spoke up, when the door behind them closed. "And I honestly don't know what to think about it. They are all incredible."

A sad expression settled on Satsuki's face, nostalgic even. "I suppose, you are right. They are incredible. It's just... They grew too much too quickly. If you know what I mean."

"Aomine evolved first, right? The older games... he was still playing with his team, but then... Each game was somehow more difficult to watch. And it wasn't caused by the fact that I binge watched it without any sleep." The joke at the end made Satsuki smile.

On Monday, Aya had no idea about the Generation of Miracles, now, after one tiny week, she knew enough to understand at least a little bit. She wouldn't dare to claim she understood Aomine's struggle, or that she could help him, or that she even wanted to. They barely just met and she was already sticking her nose into matters that didn't involve her.

 _Why are you even doing this?_ She wondered. But truth to be told, she knew. It was just her nature; she was someone who poured her heart into everything she did. Be it for herself or for the others.

"There was no team in the end." Aya added quietly.

Satsuki abruptly turned towards her with wide eyes. "You could see that much from only watching their games?" That's not possible...

"I grew up watching Japanese NBL games and then American NBA games. I can read the team's atmosphere. I played whenever I had enough of free time. But as I've already said, basketball was never my first priority. Well, maybe it will be..." She shrugged, pulling a t-shirt over her head, thinking about how much did those loud and sweaty guys grew on her in just one week.

"Oh... I never asked. You lived in America?" _That might explain the lack of data...and her English, and she mentioned it, I guess..._ Satsuki was on the verge of giving up on digging info on Aya. Aomine was probably right and she should just ask. It didn't seem that Aya was a secretive person.

"Yes. For ten years. We lived in New York City and then L.A. I guess basketball grew on me..." She shrugged. "It's not like I could avoid it there."

"That's impressive. Actually, I got into basketball thanks to Aomine-kun. I watched him play, occasionally played too, but I'm no good at all. He's been playing ever since I've met him, even before that. Basketball was Aomine's one and only... I thought it would always be like that. Now, however..."

"He is trying to hate it, he's bored with it. He is a mess. I don't think any pep talk can help him. In my opinion... He is a tremendous idiot." Aya summarized.

"I think..." Satsuki sat on the bench – she was done with changing first, since she only changed her shirt and shoes, while Aya changed wholly into sportswear. "It's good that you came to Touou. I have a feeling that you... maybe you can change him..."

"Or kill him first." She chuckled.

"Pffft... I hope you won't kill him. Who would be my friend then?" Satsuki asked with a pout, but humour flashed in her pink eyes.

"Eh?" Aya blinked in sudden realization. "Are you bad at making friends?"

She flushed and looked away. Why was Aya so damn good when it came to reading people? "I have certain problems..."

"Big breasts and cute face you mean?" Aya asked with a raised eyebrow, and pulled her hair up into a tighter ponytail than she wore during the day. "Welcome to the club then."

"What do you mean? You are great with people. I mean... you know half of all the first years, you have so many friends!"

"Hmmm... Maybe you are right." Aya smiled, but it didn't quite reach her eyes this time.

'But it's not that simple.' Hung in the air unsaid and Satsuki did pick it up. She didn't dare to question though.

######

They barely got into the gym on time. The coach wasn't pleased, he gave them one scolding look, to which Aya just smiled innocently, and Satsuki rather looked away.

For once, Aomine was practising seriously.

At the end of the practise, Katsunori divided them into teams to play a match and this time, Aomine and Sakurai were put together with Susa, Imayoshi and Wakamatsu. Katsunori was thinking about this starting line-up for some time. Sakurai was intimidated by playing with the senpais AND Aomine, he still had a lot to improve, but he could become a good asset.

They destroyed all the other teams by almost, if not, tripling their scores.

"Assemble!" Katsunori called them few minutes before the official end of the practise. "Aomine Daiki and also Sakurai Ryou, from today onward you are regulars of Touou's basketball team. All the others: f work harder, if you want to secure a seat on the bench. That's all."

"You sure you won't ditch me, ol' man?" Aomine teased rudely.

Aya frowned at him. After this practise she realised one thing; she didn't like the direction Katsunori had set for the team. She felt it wouldn't do to any good to the boys. She also felt that it wasn't her place to speak up against him at the moment. And she hoped it would change over the time; preferably without her meddling.

The practise ended and surprisingly, no one was willing to stay overtime. The first years were exhausted from the first week of intense practising they weren't used to, and the seniors just wanted to enjoy their Friday evening.

"Go home alone, Satsuki." Aomine walked up to them, when they were putting bottles away. "There is something I have to do."

"Eh? That's..." She wanted to know, but... "Okay." She said. They were friends; they just weren't that close anymore and she didn't want to make it worse.

He ran off immediately after that.

"He seemed to be concentrating on something." Aya pointed out. She would admit it somewhat suited him more than the laziness he usually showed. "Strange... He didn't pick a fight." She joked.

"He is not that bad!" Satsuki tapped Aya's shoulder.

"Was that supposed to be a punch?" Her eyebrow rose up, and both girls laughed.

They finished the minor cleaning and went home. No one waited for them, but it wasn't a problem. They talked about fashion and whatnot, parting their ways soon.

When Aya arrived at the station her wallet was gone. _Crap! It must have fallen out in the changing room!_ To her luck she was the one who kept the key – in the mornings, she was usually at the gym sooner than Satsuki and had to wait up for the pinkette.

She turned on her heel and sprinted towards the school, hoping she would find it.

"Good." She sighed in relief and squeezed her wallet she found under the bench.

She locked the changing room and turned to leave when she noticed lights on in the gym. _Didn't they say no one was staying over-practise?_

Curious as she was, she climbed the stairs to the second floor. Touou hadn't quite thought of the construction, so you could enter the spectators' area, or the second floor, only from the outside. There was some funny ladder on the inside, but Aya didn't want to disturb whoever was in there. She had the keys from Katsunori – he had given it to her under the pressure of logical arguments she had presented. And a threat she would make a copy of the keys anyways, with or without his permission.

The door didn't squeak, so she quietly entered the second floor.

Her eyes widened momentarily.

Aomine was playing against three third years: Imayoshi, Susa and Yamaoka Tarou (the current power forward of Touou), and Tada-senpai was watching.

Aomine's movements were slightly different from the afternoon. He was quicker, his reactions were better – if that was even possible – and he was winning. Those three never stood a chance. Not really. He blocked them, outrun them, outshoot them, and it looked like a piece of cake for him. There was just one thing much different, from before – his concentration. He was so focused, he didn't reply when they asked him something, but he reacted to every single movement they made. His usual cockiness and the air of boredom and laziness weren't present in his expression.

It almost seemed that he was enjoying the game. Then again, those three didn't present an acceptable challenge. Compared to him they all looked like a bunch of children, who wandered onto the court. No way could he be completely enjoying this.

His usual play was amazing – Aya had never seen such a unique style performed by fifteen year old teenagers. Not even on the streets; because Aomine was a street-baller. She saw similar styles in NBA, but they were all adults with fully developed bodies.

What he was showing now, exceeded even that.

 _Zone?_ Aya thought breathlessly. _So it is real... He can enter i_ t. She caught herself admiring him and shook her head, to remind herself that he was annoying 95% of the time, and the rest 5% he was sleeping, or ignoring her.

"I've had enough." Aomine stopped and made the last formless shoot. "See? Told ya. I don't need to practise. Even the three of you don't stand a chance." He said quietly, with a hint of an emotion Aya couldn't understand. Bitterness, maybe?

The three guys just slumped to the ground, exhausted to the bone.

"Do whatever you want." Imayoshi said, barely breathing. "As long as you show up for the matches, I don't care."

"It's settled then. I'm going home." He said and walked towards the exit.

"What a monster..." Yamaoka said with disgust. He didn't care that Aomine was still inside, sitting on a bench near the door, gulping down water. Even if he had heard, what was there he could retort?

"Hmmm..." Aya's voice coming from above startled everyone. "I haven't quite seen a monster you are referring to, senpai. All I've seen is someone who worked his ass off to get where he is. Personality aside, it is admirable."

Aomine twitched. Was she defending him? Impossible. Even Satsuki thought he wasn't normal. The pinkette didn't have to say it; he saw it in her expression many times by now. And Aya would claim it was okay? He was dumbstruck.

Yamaoka stared at her wide-eyed in shock and surprise. Shock, because he didn't think someone was watching – and she appeared like a ghost. Surprise, because she was talking back to him – and he didn't really know how to react. This manager always had something wild and raw in her eyes he hated, but didn't want to go against at the same time.

"If it isn't Kagami-chan~" Imayoshi smirked. "What are you doing here so late?"

"Forgot my wallet." She shrugged. "I saw the lights on and decided to check it out. I didn't think Aomine would actually play with you, or show you that..."

"Hmmm... Did you know about it?" Imayoshi gave a sideways glance at Aomine, who was listening and pretending he wasn't there; Kagami couldn't possibly see him from above. There was something awfully close to awe, reflecting in the Ace's eyes. _Interesting._

"About what?"

"The zone..."

"That Aomine could pull it off?" She raised her eyebrow and leaned against the railing. "I wasn't even sure it exists. The zone. I had a hunch, or experience..." She mumbled, her experience didn't matter at the moment. "It is sort of a myth, you know. But with his style, I'm not that surprised."

"And you really think he is not a monster?! How can you even say it, after seeing that?! His talent is scary! Impossible! His basketball is messed up!" Yamaoka shook of his confusion, and shouted at her – completely forgetting that Aomine was still there and right at the moment ready to tear out Yamaoka's throat (but too interested in what Aya might say to actually emerge from his "hiding" spot).

She laughed. "Messed up? Are you jealous? Aomine's style is... It's enchanting! It's unusual! It's a damn tricky streetball! True, maybe it's not normal for a fifteen year old brat to have such power. But nothing is impossible. And things like zone don't come cheap... So think what you want, but don't impose it on me, senpai. I have my own head." Aya's voice was full of amusement. She was bold, but not exactly rude.

"So it seems." Yamaoka mumbled, obviously offended by the first year manager.

"You sure are protective~." Imayoshi mused. _Bold and witty. What a dangerous combination._

"Well, Aomine did tell me I was a mother hen." She chuckled, but there was some softness in her eyes. "I can't deny that... Tell me, Captain, what do you really think of Touou's style?"

"Where did that question come from, Kagami-chan?" His usually squinted eyes opened up a little bit.

"I'm just curious. You are the captain. I want to know how you view the concept of a team." She was relaxed and she apparently wasn't hurrying anywhere. The team's situation had been weighting on her mind since the beginning.

"It's every man for himself, basically. If you are in a position to shoot, you shoot, if not, you pass. Expecting help is pointless and the goal is to win. We don't need to be friends for that." Imayoshi summed it up pretty well.

"As I thought."

"You are not fond of it, are you?" This time, it was Tada, who spoke up.

For some reason Aya considered him to be the easiest to talk to from the senpais. He was easy-going, intelligent and ready to offer help whenever needed. His teamwork was solid too and he seemed to like his team and the sport itself.

"I'm a manager, not a captain or a coach." She smiled at him, as she answered. "True, I'm not fan of this sort of 'team', but as long as your non-existent trust won't start eating you up, I won't say a thing to oppose it. After all, even teams with no friendships can work together effectively."

"At least you are honest." Tada smiled at her. After playing with her, running with her, he noticed she was a team player, she was used to cooperate. Then again, she had no problem to work alone if necessary.

"I'd say she is stupidly bold." Yamaoka added, frowning.

 _What a prejudiced prick._ Aya chuckled. "She is still here, senpai."

"Then tell me. What would you do in my position?" Imayoshi's gaze darted to Aomine for a second and then he looked up at Aya again. "Would you not allow Aomine to skip?"

"That's... Forcing him to participate wouldn't do any good." She sighed. The question was hard to answer. "Then again... the same goes for not wanting him to participate at all. It seems that you are not particularly enjoying his presence – and that is by all means Aomine's own fault. Honestly, I don't know what to do. It's my first time dealing with someone like him, and I tell you, I've dealt with all kinds of people already."

"Let's just see how the situation evolves, then. So far he has only one responsibility and that is to show up at our matches and play." Imayoshi shrugged.

"I guess that's the best for now." Aya agreed. It seemed she wanted to add something, when her phone rang.

Everyone jumped at the sudden loud sound. It took her a few seconds to fish the phone out of her bag.

It was Taiga. The ringtone was set only for him, so she'd know right away who was calling her. He was probably worried, because she'd promised she'd be home for dinner, and apparently she was still at school, talking with her teammates.

 _"Sooorrrryyyy! I forgot my wallet in the changing room, but I'm coming home." _The person on the other side had no time to start talking as she blurted out in quick English.

She waved them goodbye, with the phone at her ear backing to the door, and vanishing outside. The keys jingled, the door was locked, and Aya was gone. She'd never noticed that Aomine was there, listening to her every word.

######

"Okaerinasai, Daiki." Michiko greeted her son, who came home much later than usual and didn't even say hello.

"...Tadaima." He mumbled and headed straight for his room, ignoring his mother in the kitchen.

"Stop right there, young man." She was frowning with her hands on her hips. "I don't remember raising you to be like this."

He stopped and turned to face her. If his mother had that tone of voice, there was no running away. "What do you want, mom?"

"I am a very patient and tolerant mother, Daiki, but I want to know what is going on with you! We barely speak. If not for Satsuki I wouldn't know anything." She wasn't angry, merely disappointed and sad.

True, sometimes she didn't have enough time or was too tired to properly care for what her son was doing, but he always had a warm dinner prepared and she could always see right through him. Even if he didn't say anything, she could feel when something was wrong. He was her son after all. And something was being wrong for a long, long time.

"It's not important. Not really." He shrugged.

"It is! Where have you been until now? It's not like you to be so late."

"I stayed over-practise."

Michiko blinked. "WHAT?!" She shouted in shock. "You what?!" Satsuki had been complaining about Daiki completely ditching practises since the second year of the middle school, and now he stayed over-practise?

"Oi, oi... don't yell." He said with a bored expression. "I felt like practising, so I stayed. Not that I will attend anytime soon."

She narrowed her eyes but didn't probe further. It could scare him off to his room, and she wanted to chat about something else. "So... D' you have any friends? Any cute girls in your class?" She asked with a twinkle in her eyes.

Now it was Aomine's turn to get stunned and stare blankly at his mom for several seconds. "Not really." He grumbled and looked away.

Why a certain redhead flashed in his mind, was beyond him.

"Hmmm..." Michiko hummed and took notice of his withdrawal. Usually he would at least mention some big chested girl, even if the chest was the only interesting thing about her.

"What?" He asked harshly.

"Nothing at all." She smiled at him and turned around to finish preparing the dinner. "Dinner will be ready in 20 minutes."

With a nod he disappeared to the safety of his room. He threw his bag into the corner of his room, without any intention of picking it up during the weekend, and slumped on top of his bed. His mind was constantly wondering about what Aya had said and about her in general. Who the hell was she anyways?

She was definitely not counted as a friend and she was not even an acquaintance. She was too enthusiastic, bold, annoying even. But he had to admit she was also challenging and not afraid to speak up her mind, not afraid to go against him, or anyone else for that matter. She was so different from all the other girls. And oh, she looked so good.

Was he crushing on that strange girl already?

Not. A. Chance.

He shook his head and let out a frustrated growl. It was just one week!

 _What the hell is wrong with you!?_ He thought.

* * *

 **A/N:** That's it for now. Yes I know, no romance for now, this is gonna be a slow burn. But... Zone appeared! It was mentioned in the manga that he'd showed it to Imayoshi before, but I don't think Imayoshi would've been enough of a challenge, so... I also want to explore Aomine's private and family life too - there's gonna be more in the future chapters. Generally, I think Aomine is a good person, even though he doesn't show it much, so I hope he is in character so far.

Let me know what you think and remember, reviews are appreciated, but never necessary.

\- S.


	4. Chapter 4: Measurements

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone who followed and favourited a reviewed. It makes me very happy. I have more time to write now, so I'm posting once every two weeks (more often than I promised). This chapter is shorter, but...

Enjoy! :)

* * *

 _A wise woman wishes to be no one's enemy; a wise woman refuses to be anyone's victim. **– Maya Angelou**_

 _I don't usually lose my temper, but if I get angry, it's true - I'm scary. **– Eva Mendes**_

 _Women. They are a complete mystery. **– Stephen Hawking**_

 _She smiled, and I knew... I was in trouble. **– Unknown**_

* * *

The first class on Monday morning being English, was like heaven for Aya. While Taiga constantly complained that 'Japanese English' was unnecessarily difficult, she found it rather easy. True, they paid a lot of attention to grammar and less to speaking and actually using the language, but she at least brushed up what she used automatically.

Their very first group task was to create a short introduction dialogue, to get to know their partners as well as to actually use the language at least a little bit.

She turned around to face Aomine – who was dozing off and watching clouds.

 _Please tell me he was listening..._ "Aomine." She called out to him to get his attention.

"Hmm?"

"We have a small assignment to do within 10 minutes."

"What is it?" He asked, but there was not a shred of interest in is voice. The only reason he answered was the fact that he had overheard her entire conversation she'd had with Imayoshi, and it'd lit some sort of respect towards the girl sitting in front of him.

"We should create a simple introduction dialogue, where we say basic things about ourselves..." After the incredulous look he shot her, she added; "In English, of course."

The class started to buzz, when the students tried to speak English – many of them failing.

"Write whatever. They don't check it anyways."

 _So you expect me to do it on my own?_! She thought, annoyed by his suggestion, but it was too soon to get angry at him. So instead, she said: "If there is only my handwriting it will be obvious at the first glance... And we are supposed to speak."

"Tch. Go ahead then..." He tilted his head. Satsuki had once tried speaking English and it had been terrible. He expected the same from Aya. At last he could make fun of her (not that he'd be any better.)

 _"Very well then..." _She smiled at him, and raised an eyebrow at his stunned expression. _"I'm Aya Kagami. I'm fifteen years old, and I was born in Tokyo, Japan. Nice to meet you!"_

He blinked at her. _No way..._

Her English sounded... Well, like English. There was no hesitation, no fishing for words, no mispronouncing and no Japanese accent. More than anything, Aomine realised that the strange accent she tended to use – and it was weakening every day – was the same she used while speaking English.

"Your turn." She said with an amused twinkle in her eyes.

"Uh... _I'm Aomine Daiki. I... uh... old fifteen year, and ... born in Japan._ " He managed to get out of himself with a terrible accent, and he knew it wasn't correct. He tried to repeat what she'd said, but he hadn't quite caught everything – she'd spoken quickly.

"Uhm... You had English in your middle school, right?" She asked, already dreading the answer he'd give her. She could understand what he said, but it was far from correct and his pronunciation was rather terrible.

Aomine snickered at her dreaded expression. "Yeah." He smirked at her. "But I'm Japanese, so why bother with English?"

Aya wanted to facepalm. Being paired up with Aomine looked like a lot of trouble. "Because it's useful. Any language you learn is useful to you. No way will I let you fail in English."

"Where does that determination come from?" He asked teasingly.

"Hmmm... _I lived in L.A., California, in other words, I lived in America until recently. No way am I going to let you fail in English. It's a matter of pride now._ " She said in English as if continuing with their dialogue. This time, she tried to speak slower – she wanted him to understand at least a bit.

He was staring at her. He heard, but he didn't understand, not really. America what?!

 _"Okay, let's try it another way..."_ She bit the nail on her right thumb and thought for a moment. There must have been something simple he could understand. _"What do you like?"_

He understood that one. It wasn't important at all. "Why are you even trying?"

"Eh?" She blinked at him. "Why not? I'm good at it and I can help you out. Why wouldn't you use that opportunity?"

"It's boring. And I don't need it."

"It's not. And you do!" She exclaimed. If he ever planned on becoming a pro basketball player, he would need at least English...

"Whatever." He grunted. "Do what you want..." That was the moment he looked out of the window and refused any other cooperation.

 _Oh dear..._

Creating a dialogue was left entirely on her. Why couldn't they present it in front of everyone was beyond Aya. So she quickly scribbled down something passable, with some mistakes on Aomine's part, so it wouldn't look too suspicious.

She spent the rest of the class explaining the basic things to him. Or trying to explain... He was outwardly ignoring her, and gazing out of the window – she thought she would throw him out of it at times. There were moments he would look at her, but he had a rather absent-minded look in his eyes, so she wasn't fooled. _What nerve he has..._ Her patience had to go through a very difficult test. How long would it take until she'd blow up... She didn't know.

After classes they were cleaning up. It was so strange she had to mop the floor at their hallway; it was something unheard of in America that students were responsible for cleaning up the school every day. And she was there with Fujioka-san, who wasn't someone who'd talk with her. Aomine hightailed right after the bell rang, Kiku and Sakurai were responsible for duties inside the class, and Ishii and Kano got toilets cleaning (poor guys).

When she was done, Aya went to take her shoes and head home, because she wanted to do some things before the dancing practise. She neared the shoe lockers...

"Ne, ne? Have you seen Ohno running today?" Said one of the girls from another class they had joined P.E. with.

"Don't remind me. That was a horrible sight." The other one said with a disgusted grunt. "You've seen her expression?"

"It made my eyes hurt. She is so disgusting... And that played clumsiness."

"Yeah right? She just wants to be noticed."

"And that redhead jumped for it and takes care of that clumsy mouse. I pity her."

"It seems she doesn't know how to tell the clumsy mouse off."

"Should we make it easier for her?"

Aya remembered those two, but she didn't pay much attention, because the girls gave off unpleasant vibes. Now she understood what it was. _Bitches.._. She thought, but it reminded her of America a lot. _I guess this doesn't change wherever you go._

She didn't feel like listening to that anymore, so she came from around corner; air temperature dropping below zero. They shut up, glancing at Aya with a mixture of curiosity and fear. Her aura was suddenly so unapproachable that the two girls fidgeted around, wanting to speak up, but not finding the courage. _Did she overhear?_

She took her shoes to change them and when she was done, she slammed the shoe locker. It made the girls jump at the sudden loud sound echoing in the hallway. Aya turned to look at them, which pretty much proved that she'd overheard they conversation earlier.

"Thank you for your concern." She smiled sweetly enough to cause cavities, but her reddish eyes were burning with cold fire. "But I can tell people to fuck off by myself." She said in a deadly calm voice and left, leaving the two girls blinking in disbelief.

######

"You seem angry." Senri said fifteen minutes after she arrived at the gym.

She was stretching and warming up, but from hers – sometimes too sharp – movements he could say, she was angry.

"That's a very dangerous thing to say to an angry woman. You know that, right?" She asked with a smile – polite but completely fake – that made a chill run down his spine.

"Yes, ma'am." He said immediately and went to warm-up as well.

He just hoped that Aya would feel better when the first members of the club would arrive. They were very happy to have a young girl teach them dancing – mostly because she was just amazing and kind, and could explain things in a ways Senri had never even thought about. And kids loved her even more. They could feel her love for dancing was genuine, and she was spreading that love towards them as well.

Aya huffed and looked at herself in the mirror. True, she didn't have the best of the days, but that was probably no reason to be angry at the people she was about to teach.

It surprised her that Senri could pick up on it and actually had the nerve to ask her. Maybe she was being too disrespectful towards him, considering more than 10 year age gap. But they knew each other well before, so she didn't see any problem with that. There was also no reason to tell him what had happened. It didn't concern him in any way.

She took a deep breath and locked all of her anger inside some imaginable box and put it away. She'd deal with it when the time comes.

* * *

Aya wasn't even surprised when Aomine didn't come to morning practise the next day. Somehow, she expected him to start ignoring practises. Still, they needed to take their measurements for new uniforms and all. Aya had it pretty much under her supervision, but Satsuki wasn't that sure if Aomine's measures hadn't changed over the past few months. He was still growing after all, and so Aya would have to get it by the end of the day.

Aomine wasn't in the class yet.

She sighed and put her bag down.

"Is there something wrong, Aya-san?" Kiku looked up from the book she was currently reading. It was unusual for overly energetic Aya to sigh in that way.

After spending one whole day solely with Aya during the weekend (when Aya had dragged her out), the girl had become less shy around her, and somehow she'd gotten accustomed to Aya's presence and personality. And she also noticed several things about the redhead.

"Not really." She said with a half smile. She had had an exhausting evening, and the morning frantic practise had completely blown away Aya's thoughts about those two girls. When nothing had happened, and she found her shoes untouched, she let it go. No reason to make Kiku worry over nothing.

"Where are the boys? You usually come together."

"They were taking too long in the changing rooms. So I didn't wait." She shrugged and pulled out her Biology book for the first class. "What are you reading?" The usual cheerfulness returned into Aya's voice when she smiled. It was always like that with her.

"It's a light romance from Arami-sensei. It seemed interesting. Story is about a girl who is scared of love and a boy who swears to show her that it's not as scary as she thinks. I'm still at the beginning so I don't really know whether I like it or not." Kiku summed it up.

Aya turned her reddish eyes towards the window and thought about it for a moment, before she spoke up: "Hmmm... Well, love is kinda scary. Don't you think?"

Kiku averted her eyes and her cheeks flushed. She wasn't confident in talking about everything yet. Definitely not love matters. "How should I know? All I've ever done was read about it."

"I don't think that's wrong in any way." Aya wanted to add something, but the boys returned and interrupted them with a loud "Yo!"

######

"Miss perfect has problems with Japanese?" Aomine snickered, when she read a kanji out loud in the wrong way and the teacher corrected her.

"So? Making mistakes is normal when learning." She hissed back at him.

Yeah, the only one subject – Japanese language – was problematic for Aya. Despite being a fluent, native speaker, she had spent almost 10 years in America. Kanji were giving her a lot of trouble, but she was learning quickly.

"Kagami-chan!" Kano came to her during lunch. "You up for some one-on-one?" He asked cheerfully.

"Sure. I need to clear my head a bit." She glanced at Kiku, who started reading. "Wanna come with us?"

"M-m-me? Ah... I-I... know nothing about... basketball." She blushed and looked away.

"That doesn't matter! You can read while we play, if you want." Aya said.

"O-o-oh... Then I might join. I-I-if you don't mind, Kano-san." Kiku turned her eyes at Kano.

"Eh?" Kano blinked in surprise, even after more than a week, the girl was still overly shy around them. "Not at all, Ohno-san!"

"Any friend of Kagami-chan is a friend of ours." Ishii smiled at her encouragingly.

"Remarkable phrase Ishii!" Aya laughed, and it made the poor boy blush. "Come on already, I want to eat too!" She added already half-way out of the classroom.

Except a few biting remarks, she ignored Aomine, and he ignored her. Or at least he thought he ignored her. Sitting behind her, he could watch her all day long without being noticed. He started to notice things he'd never thought he'd notice about someone.

After school he went to his usual hiding spot on the rooftop, to spend his time napping and reading his idol magazines until it was time to go home. Even though Satsuki wasn't that close anymore she was still his friend, one of those few people who would put up with him even now. He wouldn't let her walk home alone in the dark. Suddenly he wondered if Aya was going home all alone, or with Ishii and Kano. From what he had overheard in class, he assumed those three were already friends, and lived in the same neighbourhood. Then again, why was he even thinking about something so unimportant?

He took out a magazine with his favourite idol, Horikita Mai, to get distracted from those stupid thoughts he had. He hadn't noticed someone at the door, so when a voice said: "Hmmm... Nice boobs."

He almost got a heart attack."Uwah!"

Aya was laughing her ass off at his reaction. He'd been lying on the ground, going through a magazine, not paying attention to his surroundings at all. She'd wanted to use this opportunity to tease him a bit. But to think he would actually jump up and basically crawl several meters away from her was too much.

"Oi! That's not funny!" He shouted at her with a hand over his heart and wide eyes. "Do y' wanna kill me?!" It only made her laugh harder.

She was holding her stomach and almost crouching on the ground when fits of laughter erupted from her chest.

Eeh? Aomine saw her chuckle and smile all the time, but this was... Nice.

"S-s-sorry, S-s-sorry." She said, still fighting with her laughter.

"Tch... Y' are so not." He accused her.

"Right, whatever." She looked at him, still chuckling here and there. "So, this is your place where you go slack off and read your... porn, huh?" She asked, looking around. The magazine he had was quite far from porn, but it was suggestive enough, so she called it that just to see his reaction.

He had to double take. She actually said 'porn'... He shook his head, because otherwise he would probably blush. And there was nothing more embarrassing for him than showing that to Aya. "What'cha doing here anyways?" He asked gruffly. "I ain't going to practise."

"I can see that." She said and showed him a measuring tape she brought along with her notebook. "I'm not here to drag you there; I just need to take your measurements for your uniform."

"Satsuki knows that." He argued.

"She isn't sure anymore, because you are still growing. It's my responsibility and she told me about your usual hiding spots. So here I am. Hurry up, I want to go back to practise."

"Urgh. Fine." He grumbled and started to take off upper part of his clothes, and soon, he was standing half naked in front of Aya. He wasn't embarrassed about it in the slightest. It wasn't the first time he had his measurements taken and it would be quicker than if she had to fumble with his clothes.

It wasn't like she was unused to seeing, or being around half-naked men, but damn... the sight of Aomine's tanned torso with refined muscles and trail of navy-black hair starting below his navel and disappearing in his pants was very alluring. And Aomine was exactly Aya's type; though she wouldn't admit it had anyone asked her.

"Are y' gonna take my measurements or are y' gonna stare the whole day?" He asked teasingly, when her staring got a second too long.

Honestly, he felt strangely weird when she looked at him so intensely. It felt as if her burning gaze could touch him, as if she could see deep inside his soul, right through his mask of self-confidence and rudeness. He didn't know what she was thinking and so he tried to mask it, yet again, with a mocking smirk and teasing arrogance.

A blush that lasted for only a split second crossed her face, when she realized she was actually staring and what was even worse, she didn't feel embarrassed in the slightest.

Whether Aomine noticed it or not, didn't bother her. But after his cocky remark, she had one of her own. "Don't ruin it. It's nice to see something attractive once in while~" She said in a suggestive voice, but then she smirked at him. "Come on, so we are done with it."

He didn't have time to retort. And he wasn't sure if she meant it or just teased him. "Tch."

 _Kagami: 1, Me: 0._ He thought, and tried to move as little as possible, while she would measure him.

Aya was super fast, trying not to touch him much, but whenever she brushed his bare skin, it sent electricity through his entire body.

Why the hell was he feeling that way?

He knew why... So far he just looked at girls in magazines; he never actually had one touching him (Satsuki taking his measurements didn't count), or dating him, or interesting him enough to want to date. Girls took effort and he wasn't in the state of mind to put effort into something.

"Okay. Done. See? It didn't hurt." She chuckled after around two minutes. She folded the measuring tape and wrote the numbers down into what looked like a neat table with everyone's measurements. Aya got the task to order them new sports uniforms and jerseys, or have the old ones redone, for those who grew out of them.

He was buttoning up his shirt, when she spoke up, chewing on her thumb nail – which he noticed she always did whenever she was thinking about something.

"What number?"

"Huh?"

"What number do you want to have on your jersey?"

Was that what she was thinking so deeply about? "I don't care." He mumbled. "It's not important."

"Hmmm..."

She was muttering something in a voice too quiet for him to hear, but he suspected it was English anyways.

"Ah! Five! You'll be number five then." She exclaimed suddenly, making Aomine jump.

"Why are y' so... weird... 'bout it?" He'd say happy, but that sounded weird in his head.

"Nothing. It's free, and... well, nothing..."

"Does the number mean something... to you?" The last to words were barely hearable, but Aya heard.

She smiled to herself with a small, kind smile. Something quite unusual for the flamboyant girl she seemed to be.

"It's not important at all." She threw his previous words back at him.

Could she be even stranger? He didn't know anymore. But that smile... It was already burn into his memory. _Shit..._

"Shit." He muttered, echoing his thoughts when he tried to tie his necktie for the n-th time, failing again. Accidentally he'd undone it completely, and now he was lost. Usually his mother tied it, and he just loosened it and wore it that way, without having to fight with the stupid knot every day.

Aya's chuckle reached his ears again. He looked up just to see her approach him again. She touched his hands and gently forced him to let go of the tie, taking it into her small palms.

"What a kid." She snickered and tied it within seconds.

He was just blinking at her in honest surprise. "How can y' do that?!"

"Skills honed by years of experience and practise~" She hummed and winked at him, already exiting his rooftop and leaving him with a head full of thoughts about her.

######

"Ne, Satsuki?" He asked when they were heading home.

"Hm? What is it?" She asked curiously, because he usually didn't ask her questions.

"Did you find out something about Kagami?"

"Eh?" Her eyes widened. "Haven't you said you weren't interested in Aya-chan?"

"I'm not interested, just curious." He scratched his cheek and Satsuki knew he was embarrassed but too proud to admit that Aya made his knees weak and kept his mind occupied.

A mischievous twinkle appeared in her eyes. "Do you have a crush on her?" She asked teasingly.

"No way!" He exclaimed too loudly and too suddenly for Satsuki to believe it. "She is annoying!"

"Hai, hai." She spun around happily. "But to answer your question... No. I don't know much. Only some details I've noticed during practises."

His expectant look was enough to make her talk. It wasn't usual that Aomine would willingly listen to her talking. If he was interested in Aya, it was a good thing. And if Satsuki could push them together, it could be fun. However, she had no clue as of what Aya thought about Aomine. There had been no reaction after Aya'd returned with the successfully obtained measurements, and she hadn't say anything about Aomine's half-nakedness. That in itself was something Satsuki considered strange. Then again, she didn't know Aya properly at all.

"For starters, her stamina and speed are better than yours. I believe she could outrun you without breaking much sweat." She gave him a look, saying is-that-what-you-want-?.

"That's not possible." He muttered.

"Come to the morning practise some day. She outruns everyone without much trouble. I have no clue how is that possible, but she had to undergo some hell of a training to achieve that. I didn't ask yet though... She has a brother. And that's about it." Satsuki said with a sigh. "I wish I could dig out more, but because she lived in America and my English sucks... well... I'm stuck with observing."

"She lived in America?" He asked, remembering she'd said something involving the word 'America', the previous day.

"Yeah. For almost ten years. And she played basketball in her free time. Streetball, to be precise, but I still haven't seen her play." Aya was, despite her outgoing personality, rather enigmatic.

"Hmmm..."

"Did you notice something during classes? You see her more often than me."

"Not really." He shrugged and put his hands behind his head. "She can write with both hands, but I guess that's not important. She didn't flush when taking my measurements and she actually commented on Mai-chan. And she can tie neckties incredibly fast." All those things were pointless details. Something he wouldn't usually notice, but for some reason he was feeling a bit happy about noticing it.

 _Eh? Did he just smile?_ "So you are crushing on her!"

"Oh, shut up!"

"You didn't deny it!" Satsuki squealed.

"Just leave it!"

* * *

 **A/N:** And that's it for now. Little bit of fluff - or not? I hope Aomine isn't too OOC in the 'rooftop' part.

Let me know what you think and remember, reviews are appreciated but never necessary. :)

-S.


	5. Chapter 5: Competitions everywhere!

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone who followed and favourited and rewieved! It makes me very happy.

Enjoy! :)

* * *

 _Courage, sacrifice, determination, commitment, toughness, heart, talent, guts. That's what little girls are made of. **– Bethany Hamilton**_

 _A basketball team is like the five fingers on your hand. If you can get them all together, you have a fist. That's how I want you to play. **– Mike Krzyzewski**_

 _A witty woman is a treasure; a witty beauty is a power. **– George Meredith**_

 _Success is never final, failure is never fatal. It's courage that counts. **– John Wooden**_

 _Chemistry is a very important element for any team that wants to be serious about winning. **– Scottie Pippen**_

* * *

"We are going to have a practise match against Kaijo tomorrow. That is... Err... Kise, from the generation of miracles." Taiga announced casually over dinner. He'd already met the blonde and told Aya how annoying the guy had been. "Wanna come?"

"Eh! Really?! Sure I do!" Aya squealed happily. "I'll have to ask Katsunori first, because it's during our practise. I'll send you a message tomorrow, 'kay?"

"Sure... What about the dancing club?" He asked, remembering that Thursdays were days when Aya came home late.

"Ah... It's cancelled, and we'll have a practise on Friday afternoon instead. Senri is not here and Hikaru claimed the gym for tomorrow's afternoon for some personal reasons." She shrugged and raised her glass to drink a tea.

"You mean you are leading Senri's club by yourself now?"

"For the next two weeks until the Golden week, yes. Hmmm... Speaking of which... I'll need you there on Tuesdays, your free days, at least..."

Taiga almost choked on his food. "Wha'?! No! I ain't teachin' dancin' to anyone!"

"Come ooon! I need a partner who can lead me."

"I can't! We both know I'm nowhere good enough! That's embarrassing!" He was furiously shaking his head in refusal. "No way!"

"But you are good enough! I don't need a pro, stupid. Just someone who knows what he's doing. And has some sense of rhythm." She argued.

"Aya..."

"Pretty please!"

Her puppy eyes were adorable, but Taiga was already immune to that. He knew her his entire life after all. "No."

Aya sighed and gave up on playing nice. "Oh, come on! Those kids won't eat you or anything... Do you need a written plea?" Her eyes were burning a hole through his head, and she was ready to continue staring until he'd agree.

"Urgh..." He grunted, aware of Aya's intentions. "Only Tuesdays!" He agreed grumpily and then mumbled: "I'm so gonna regret this..."

"Or not. Great! Thank you! I love you!" She said and kissed his cheek while taking the dishes away.

"Sure you do..." He grumbled and moved to a couch to watch TV.

The evening went on peacefully after that. Taiga quickly forgot about the promise he'd made – or he decided to focus on the upcoming match. She could feel how excited Taiga was. With that amount of nerves and excitement, she was sure he wouldn't sleep at all. Aya rather retreated to her room, to not provoke him, and to do her job.

* * *

When she saw dark circles under his eyes the next morning, she laughed at him.

"What are you? An overexcited kid before a trip?"

"Shut up..." He grumbled with a blush, and went to the bathroom to wash himself in cold water to calm down. The match was in the afternoon and he still had classes and a morning practise to attend.

######

"Morning!" Satsuki called after Aya, Ishii and Kano, who went to school together, right when they passed the school gate.

The three stopped and turned to greet the other manager just to be stunned to see the person, who was tagging along.

"Good Mor-" Aya stopped when she noticed Aomine yawning widely and rubbing his eyes sleepily. She couldn't believe he would show up in the morning! "What are you doing here?!" She asked in disbelief.

"Good morning to you too!" He said with a smirk.

"Ah, sorry. You've ditched practises for almost the entire week, and now you show up?" Aya said, surprised that he'd actually got up so soon. "I have the right to be surprised, okay?"

Aomine gave her a strange look, but didn't comment any further.

After a moment of thought, Aya spoke up again. "Actually..." She scratched her cheek and glanced at Aomine with a mischief in her eyes, which made him startle a bit, but when she continued... "I was wondering if you could outrun me, but with you skipping..."

"Y' challenging me?" He raised an eyebrow at her and his typical smirk appeared.

He understood. A smile spread on her lips. "You up for it?"

"You bet!" Something flashed in his eyes, which Aya couldn't fully grasp, excitement, relief…? She wasn't sure. And before she could think about it, she was interrupted.

"Oh boy." Kano muttered. "We're gonna die this morning."

"Don't worry." She patted his shoulder cheerfully. "You've survived till now."

The boys had to wait outside the changing room for Wakamatsu to arrive with the key, while the girls disappeared into theirs. It wasn't unusual for Aya, Ishii and Kano to be there sooner than the others. They met at the train station, Naito sometimes joining them, and went to school together; sometimes they worked on their unfinished homework in the spare time or just chatted about movies and other random things.

"You have no idea what you got yourself into, man." Kano said. Despite Aomine being an idiot, he kind of wanted to befriend him. As much as it was possible, anyways.

"What do you mean?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Have you ever seen Aya running?" Kano inquired. "Or do any sport for that matter?"

"No? She ran away last week when I wanted to challenge her for some one on one." Aomine shrugged. "And she doesn't seem that sporty..."

"You what?!" Ishii hissed; he couldn't believe what he'd just heard.

"What? You've all been nagging how good she is. I wanna see it for myself." He frowned at how much the boys were surprised about his intention.

"No, you just want to mock her, or stomp over her. Like you did to all of us." Ishii said coldly.

Aomine was aware they didn't like him, but when it was rubbed into his face it sure stung. "Tch." He clicked his tongue and glared at Ishii. That was the only reaction he could possibly have, what else was there?

"Well..." Kano rubbed the back of his neck feeling uncomfortable when Ishii behaved like that. "It's not like Kagami-chan thinks that, Ryuu. And I don't think she would let someone mock her either." He said to his friend. Then he turned to Aomine, "Listen, I know you are not pleased by our poor abilities, but we are still a team. And honestly if the best one refuses to practise, how can we improve?"

Aomine blinked at him. "You want me to beat you every single time?"

"Well yeah." Kano shrugged. "Fighting against someone of your level can only help us, don't you think?"

If Ishii hated him, Kano was at least trying to approach him somehow. Just like Aya... What was wrong with those two? Why wouldn't they leave him alone? "Hmph. I don't think that destroying your determination has any sense." Aomine grumbled. He wasn't sure he could or should form any form of friendships. They'd be scared of his abilities in no time. And going through that again... He didn't want of it.

Before Kano could retort, Wakamatsu appeared with the keys, and let them into the changing room. Surprised by Aomine's presence at a morning practise, he scolded him, almost got into a fight with him, but Ishii's intervention stopped any violence.

 **Meanwhile in the girls changing room:**

"Satsuki, what had happened that Aomine's here?" Aya asked when they settled in the changing room.

"I mentioned that you have better stamina than him." Satsuki said with a coy smile. "And his mom drove us to school, so he couldn't escape this time."

"Oh... I'm not gonna lose though." She chuckled, thinking whether she really could have had some impact on the ace. She tried not to think about him when it wasn't necessary. He was there, he was arrogant, and for some unknown reason she felt the need to protect him, to try and understand him, but… "Anyways, I probably won't come to the afternoon practise."

"Eh? Why?" Satsuki asked, as she watched Aya take off her clothes. The perfectly refined but lean muscles Aya had, made Satsuki wonder how much the girl had exercised to achieve that form of perfection, all the while maintaining luscious curves. She could understand why Aomine was interested in Aya, though he was far from seeing this.

"There is a practise match between Kaijo and Seirin. Which means Kise Ryouta vs. Kuroko and his team. So I want to go and observe. If Katsunori lets me..."

"Eeeh? How do you know about such a thing? I had no idea!" Satsuki exclaimed loudly, her eyes widening.

"My brother is a part of the Seirin's team." Aya shrugged. "But he only told me about the match yesterday evening. He probably hadn't known about it before either."

"Your brother goes to Seirin?!" Satsuki was looking at Aya in disbelief. "He plays basketball?! Why didn't you tell me?!"

"Uhm... You didn't ask?" Aya said with an apologetic expression. "And I thought it was obvious that he plays basket. I wouldn't have played otherwise, I guess."

"Why not? You said it wasn't your first priority, but..." Then she decided to change her question. "How come you have such well toned muscles? What is your first priority?" Satsuki narrowed her pink eyes at Aya.

She averted her eyes and pulled her T-shirt on. Then she looked back at Satsuki. "I didn't think I would talk about it..." She said honestly, but then she sighed. "I dance."

"You dance..." Satsuki repeated confused. "When?"

"I go to another club on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. I do ballroom dances, both latin and standard, and some other if you must know." She said shrugging again. "It requires more muscle and stamina than people like to believe."

Suddenly, something strange she'd noticed about Aya hit her. _Of course!_ "That's why you have your feet taped?!" And it wasn't just that. Dancing would explain so much about Aya. The way she walked, the way she held herself, her back always straight, head held high. The confidence she had. Those were all little things, but put together... Just how good was she?

"Calluses and blisters. All that. Yeah." She admitted.

"Do the boys know?" Suddenly, Satsuki felt hurt. She was Aya's friend. Shouldn't she know things like these? Then again, it was only a two week friendship; it would've been weird to feel bad just for this. And it wasn't like Aya knew much about her either.

"Kano and Ishii, and probably Naito, yes. But for the others. I have no reason to tell them. It's not important for my manager's job, right?"

"True..." Satsuki said reluctantly.

Aya was scanning her with her reddish eyes, and then she sighed again. "You're hurt... Look, we don't know each other much, and it's not like I kept it a secret. More like... I didn't have the need to talk about it, okay? If you want to know something, ask. It's not that I'm secretive, I just don't see the reason talking about something that doesn't involve you... I don't trust people easily."

"I'll keep that in mind..." The pinkette muttered and shuffled to the door. Kagami Aya, was probably a tougher nut than Aomine. Satsuki hadn't expected that.

Afterwards, they had prepared the water bottles in silence.

Everyone slowly gathered on the outside running track, they'd borrowed from a track and field club.

Imayoshi clapped to get everyone's attention and announced: "Today, we are going to do 50m dashes; everyone will have their time measured 10 times. And then we will have some stamina running. Let's say... 25 laps. After that we will do some power training inside."

"Oh, we are so dead..." Kano mumbled ominously. He didn't want to throw up again. It was so embarrassing.

The first years, except Aomine and Aya, all paled. Getting used to these practises was damn hard. Mostly for the weakest one of the bunch – Arai Souta. He couldn't keep up with their practises. Naito had some problems too, but he could hide it efficiently, or slack off without being noticed much; which in itself was a talent too.

"Let's do this, then!" Aya said cheerfully, stretching her back and legs.

"You should be measuring the time, Aya." Katsunori told her, but he knew it was useless.

"I know, but... you and Satsuki are more than enough, no?"

He shook his head but didn't argue with her.

The first ones up for the dash were Aomine and Aya, apparently. Everyone was surprised by Aomine's presence. As if that wasn't enough, he was going to compete with Aya. All the boys were quietly rooting for Aya, but they couldn't deny that Aomine was probably better. He was the ace of the generation of miracles after all.

An excitement sparkled in the air, and Katsunori could feel how much they all waited for the show off between Aomine and Aya. _Aya and her charisma..._ He shook his head. Even though she was doing things in her own way, practising with them, running around, joking and all that; it helped the new boys fit into the team better. There was no awkwardness between first, second and third years anymore. Mostly thanks to Aya and her personality. For that, Katsunori was more than grateful.

He held up his arm to give them a signal to start.

Both, Aya and Aomine, were crouched down in positions, ready to sprint.

"Good luck~" Aya sang, just as the coach lowered his arm and they sprang forward.

After the start off, Aomine was one step ahead of her. But in a second she was at his level and pulling forward.

 _No way!_ He thought and accelerated, catching up with her, but it still wasn't enough. 50m was a short distance and he didn't manage to catch up this time. What amazed him even more was that Aya came to a perfect stop almost immediately.

"Aya-chan 6,99 seconds!" Satsuki announced and wrote down the numbers staring at it in disbelief. "Aomine-kun 7,1 seconds!"

 _So she's good at changing pace too, eh?_ He thought half amazed, half furious. He lost. He just lost a fucking dash against a girl! Nothing could hurt his pride more than that.

He couldn't believe it. Losing to a girl in running was something he had never expected to happen in his life. Back in the middle school he was the quickest, the best. He was still the best here, at least when it came to basketball. There was no questioning that. He was unbeatable. But... Aya said she enjoyed his style...

He looked up at the redhead, who was smiling at him.

"Not bad." She said, not at all out of breath.

"I won't lose the next one!" He grumbled.

In the end, it was 6:4 for Aya. And Aomine had to begrudgingly admit that she was slightly better than him, which only infuriated him even more. What had happened to him? And after another 25 laps (which wasn't a race, but those two made it into one) he truly couldn't believe how the girl managed to keep up, and even end up first! With him closely behind her. She ran those 10 km in a better time than he did with her shorter legs.

"You see... If you skip too much practises, even I can outrun you, Aomine." She chuckled. She was sweaty, but she wasn't wheezing like some of the boys, and she definitely didn't seem tired; more like she would run another 25 laps to feel satisfied.

"I'm not gonna lose the next time." He repeated himself again, his voice vibrated in a low growl as he glared at the redhead, and wiped the sweat from his face.

While doing so, he pulled the hem of his shirt up, revealing his abs, which definitely dragged Aya's eyes. She didn't blush, but she appreciated the sight. If she didn't show it at the rooftop, he could see it in her eyes now. Appreciation. For a slight moment. It was enough to disperse his sour mood. There was something that could distract her.

He smirked, tilting his head to a side in confidence, his shirt still pulled up to his face. "Seeing something you like?"

Aya blinked and looked up at him with a smirk of her own. "Who knows?" She turned around to go and talk with Satsuki about the others' times and results.

The rest of the day went on rather peacefully. Aomine was napping during some classes, and he disappeared for lunch, which was around the time when Aya left, because Kaijo was pretty far away, and she needed to meet with the Seirin boys. It was strange when she was suddenly missing for afternoon classes, and teachers didn't comment on it in any way. All he could stare at, was her empty desk. He even went for the afternoon practise, but Aya wasn't there either. It was weird; he hoped he would finally get her to play some basket with him.

"Where is Kagami?" He asked Sakurai, who was standing close to him. Normally he'd go to Satsuki, but she wasn't there either, which was strange just as much.

"I don't know, sorry. I'm sorry. Maybe ask Kano-san?" The boy suggested, evidently uncomfortable around Aomine and still not as close to the other first years as Aya was.

"Oi, Kano!"

"Mhm?" He turned, when he heard Aomine call out to him.

"Where is Kagami?"

Kano blinked at the ace, surprised by such a question. After the morning defeat Aomine had tasted, it probably wasn't odd he asked about Aya. "She went to watch some practise match between Kaijo and Seirin. It's in Kanagawa, so she had to leave earlier. She was meeting Seirin's team on the way." He explained and shrugged. "If you'd listened, you would've known."

Aomine rolled his eyes and turned around to leave. He had no reason to stay in the gym any longer.

"You're welcome!" Kano shouted after his departing back and noticed another huge figure approaching the leaving ace.

"Oh, you are not going anywhere." Wakamatsu grabbed his collar and pulled him back inside, just as coach walked in, with Satsuki at his heels.

 _Geh..._ He thought; there was no running away when the coach was already there.

######

"Taigaaaa!" Aya yelled the moment she saw the red hair and the tall figure of her brother. There was a crowd of people at a station, and she was glad that Taiga was so tall.

He turned around immediately. Even if the others had hard time telling the direction from which the voice had come from, he knew right away. He smiled and spread his arms subtly, just as Aya rammed into his chest, hugging him quickly. He had no idea why she did that, but he felt she would; she had the urge to hug him at times, and so he didn't care. He was already used to it.

"Yo."

"It was so damn hard to get here!" She exclaimed. "Did you get any sleep during the classes?" She asked scanning his face. The dark circles under his eyes were not as visible as they'd been in the morning.

"Some..."

"Good. But seriously! It's not like you lack a competition experience to get so worked up!" She shook her head and then she noticed another ten people staring at her. "Oh. Sorry! I'm Kagami Aya. His twin sister."

"TWIN SISTER?!" Some of them shouted in surprise.

"I've never heard you had a twin sister, Kagami-kun." Kuroko said calmly, and appeared next to Aya. "But she does have the same presence as you, if not stronger."

"Oh! Hey. You must be Kuroko Tetsuya-kun, right?" She asked, looking directly at him with her reddish eyes. "I've heard so much about you!"

Kuroko felt uncomfortable under her gaze. It was normal that people overlooked him, not that they stared at him like she did. "Uhm, hello. It's me. Nice to meet you."

"You can see him?!" Taiga asked incredulously and loudly.

"It is not like he is invisible! Sure, his presence is weak, but... he is standing right in front of me. The same height level even!" She was staring up at Taiga, speaking in the very same manner as him.

Riko cleared her throat and looked at the redheaded girl; she sure was similar to her brother at some points. Aya went through Riko's scan, and the coach decided that this girl had unbelievably firm leg muscles. Everything else was covered. She wanted to ask, but an introduction had to be done first.

"I'm Aida Riko, their coach. Nice to meet you." She offered a handshake, which surprised Aya, but she gladly accepted.

Slowly all the members introduced themselves and eyed Aya from head to toe.

 _We want a manager like this!_ They all thought, which only got them one of Riko's nasty glares.

"So you are from Touou Academy?" Riko asked as they loaded a bus, Aya sitting next to her.

The boys were quietly discussing Aya, which only made Taiga embarrassed. That was one of the reasons he was actually glad she wasn't in the same school as him.

"Yep. I'm a manager of their basketball club. I'm interested in Kise, Kaijo's team and your team, of course." She shrugged. "I want to see Taiga and Kuroko-kun play."

"So you are basically an enemy." Riko grumbled.

"Basically, yeah... But I'm not here to research you. If someone researches you it will be the other manager, Satsuki-chan. She is an expert in that. I'm more of a support pillar of the team. And I'm just a second manager." She said with an innocent smile. Riko seemed to be a good coach, and a good person. Aya didn't want her to think she was as enemy.

"Do you know something about Kaijo?"

"Well, since Taiga told me about this whole thing only yesterday evening, I didn't have the time to look them up. I only know something about Kise, which I am sure you know just as well with Kuroko-kun on your team. Sorry, but I don't think I can help you any further."

"Nah, it's okay."

"You are their coach, right?" Aya asked just to confirm she'd heard right. When Riko nodded, she continued, "that's impressive. Why?"

"Ah, that's a long story."

"We have enough time." Aya smiled and nudged Riko to start talking.

When they were exiting the bus near Kaijo, the girls were pretty much friends. And even the boys were talking with Aya more openly - she had passed Riko's scan, so it was okay to trust the redhead.

"Kagami-san is an incredible person." Kuroko said to Taiga as they followed after the group towards Kaijo's school gate.

"Urgh... Don't call her that, it sounds like you are talking to me." Taiga grumbled, though he noticed that he was Kagami-kun, while Aya was Kagami-san. His shadow basically paid more respect to his sister.

"Hellooooo! Since this place is so big I came to get you!" A blonde boy in training clothes appeared when they entered the grounds of Kaijo.

"KISE!" Taiga shouted instead of greeting, his previous train of thoughts broken. Aya rolled her eyes at Taiga's behaviour.

The blonde ignored him, and leaned to Kuroko instead. "Kurokocchi, ever since you turned me down so easily, I've been crying myself to sleep every night." He was definitely exaggerating.

"What's going on?" Aya whispered to Taiga.

"I'll explain later." He said with a firm nod, not happy to be ignored, but whatever.

Aya agreed, too interested in observing the interaction between the two former teammates.

"...Geez, not a single girl has ever turned me down, you know?" The blonde finished his rant with a heavy sigh.

"... would you stop saying things like that?" Kuroko reacted calmly, but obviously annoyed.

Kise turned and started to lead them towards the gym where they practised. "That's why, since Kurokocchi is willing to turn me down because of you... I'm a bit interested." He looked at Taiga, who frowned at the blonde, who didn't seem to be affected by it and continued. "I'm not really obsessed with the generation of miracles title, but if you're willing to pick a fight that much... Even someone like me is not going to let that slide. Sorry, but I'll have to seriously take you down." He exclaimed, looking confident about what he was saying. And about his ability to win this match.

"Of course!" Taiga answered, fired up; his lack of sleep completely forgotten.

Aya could tell why her brother was so excited about playing against the generation of miracles, after observing Kise for a moment. Kise's presence was so unbelievably strong. True; it was slightly weaker than Aomine's but definitely stronger than Taiga's. At least that's what Aya thought.

"Oh!" The blonde finally noticed the pretty red haired girl, who was walking hidden in the group. "And you are?" He asked with a raised eyebrow. "Oh, let me guess! You are a fangirl from another school, and are too shy to ask my autograph!" He said cheerfully with a wide smile.

"Why would I want your autograph? Are you someone famous or what?" She asked confused by the question and the cockiness of this boy.

"Eeeeh?!" He cried out.

"Hahaha... pffft..." The boys were laughing and snickering, until Kuroko decided to clear things for Aya.

"He is working as a model." He explained shortly.

Her eyes darted from Kuroko to Kise. "Ooooh! I didn't know. You do?"

"Ouch, that hurts. You really don't know me?" He leaned closer to Aya so she could look at him properly again.

Taiga raised an eyebrow at that, expecting Aya to put him down in some hilarious way.

"Nope. I'm not really into that idol stuff." She said calmly, and looked up to meet his golden eyes. "I came here to watch Taiga's match... still, I'm sorry for hurting your feelings, overly-conceited-model-kun."

That was the final blow for Kise. He looked away with tears in his eyes, pouting. Aya knew he was just acting. She could feel that the boy knew damn well how to walk and survive in the world of gossips, rumours and business. Suddenly, his eyes cleared and he bent down to be on her eye level, much closer than before, to whisper to Aya.

"Today, I win." He said to her ear in serious almost threatening voice. "So make sure you remember me well, ice-queen-chan."

"Oh. So you are not just a drama queen." She said cheerfully, ignoring the intimidating aura he had and the nickname he'd used. "Very good. That should be an interesting match!"

The intensity of her reddish eyes made Kise feel like a little lamb walking in front of a lioness, who just didn't feel like eating it. That a girl would make him feel this way was something completely unexpected. Just who was she?

"Would you mind sharing your precious name with me?" He asked, not understanding, why she was walking with Seirin, when her uniform was from Touou.

"It'd be my pleasure." She hummed back pleasantly. "I'm Kagami Aya. Taiga's twin."

Kise's eyes almost bulged out. She was that guy's twin sister?!

The Seirin guys just snickered again. Kagami's sister truly was something.

"I believe we've arrived at our destination, Kise Ryouta-kun." Aya chuckled, when he almost passed the gym they were supposed to practise in.

They walked in, looking around. Kaijo was already practising, and a net was separating the court into two half-courts.

"We are playing on half a court?" Riko was definitely not happy about this outcome. Being just a sideshow to their practise was equal to an utmost underestimation. Her boys were better than that.

"Wait... Isn't that board past expiration date?" Taiga asked when he eyed the old board and hoop.

"Boards don't have an expiration date, silly!" Aya said with a chuckle.

"Aah, you're here. Nice to meet you. We will be playing on only this side of the court, you don't mind?" The Kaijo's coach said, when he noticed a bunch of kids out of place.

"Nice to meet you." Riko said and bowed politely. "Errr, what might you mean?" She inquired the half-court decision.

"It's just like you see. Today's match, because it is so soon after the start of the school year, is just a light warm-up for our team. Those members that won't play are not gonna see anything worth learning, so I don't want to waste their time by letting them watch. They will train as usual." Takeuchi explained seriously. "But even though it is just a warm-up match, it's still our regular members. Please, don't get yourselves defeated by triple points." He sighed, totally looking down on Seirin.

That was enough to fire up all of the members of Seirin. Taiga and Riko were furious, veins popping on their necks and ready to tear Kaijo apart with their teeth if necessary.

Aya was smirking, hiding behind the tall boys of Seirin. _Oh, Takeuchi-san, they'll eat you alive._

Something caught Takeuchi's attention and he turned towards Kise. "Hm?... Why are you putting your uniformon ? You won't play, Kise!"

"Eh?" The blonde looked up at him, stunned by this turn of events. He was looking forward to this match.

"Even in our school, that gathers aces from all middle schools, you're on a completely different level."

"Wait, coach. Stop saying things like that, seriously." Kise tried to shut him up, because he could feel the murderous aura emanating from all Seirin members.

It was apparently useless, because the coach continued. "It's already unfair as it is with just the other regulars playing." He sighed. "If you play too, it won't even be a match."

The coach ignored Seirin's glares, and went over to talk to the other members, not seeing the redheaded girl running after him.

 _Oh shit._ Taiga thought, knowing his sister. He'd try to reach out and stop her, but she was just too agile.

Kise was left with Seirin, and he saw the panicked expression on Taiga's face, because he hadn't managed to catch Aya before she'd run off. He made a mental note about that. The siblings seemed interesting enough to observe.

Aya caught up with the coach, just as he arrived to his team. "You know, Takeuchi-san..." She started, making the coach and the other boys double take.

"Where did you come from? You are not from Seirin!" He said.

"Ah... I'm a substitute manager for Seirin for today." She smiled politely and her eyes looked at the overweighed middle-aged man with an enigmatic look. "And maybe you don't remember us. Well... Never mind that, you've changed a lot too. But, do you really think that you can afford to underestimate them that much?" She asked and her eyes travelled to the Seirin boys who were leaving to get changed.

Riko then turned, and called out: "Errr... Excuse me. I think it will be impossible for a warm-up. The half-court." She had a troubled expression, but she was, oh so playing it.

Takeuchi turned to her expecting explanation.

"Because I don't think you can afford to hold back." She said in unison with Kuroko.

"What?" Takeuchi frowned at their leaving backs. Then he turned back to Aya.

"See?" Aya smirked with a raised eyebrow.

The coach's attention turned fully on her. "And why should I remember you?"

"Oh... Sorry. I won't tell. Try to guess it on your own." She shrugged, and looked the boys of Kaijo up and down. Some of them were blushing under her gaze. They sure were more than good; they were one of the nationally recognized high-school teams after all, and what she saw only confirmed it. "What would be the fun in it otherwise?"

Takeuchi just stared at the rude, or rather bold teenager, who seemed to know him. And he just couldn't remember where he would know a girl like this from.

Aya meanwhile, started to fish out the names of his regulars. She was chatting with the Kaijo's team naturally, while the coach was staring at her. She came into their gym just like she owned it and started befriending his regulars. And she wasn't obsessed with Kise. Though the only thing she told them was that her name was Aya, and that she would like them to address her like that.

"So you are the captain?" She asked the one wearing knee-high socks, who was the last one to introduce, the last one to even speak up. He was quiet so far.

"Errr... y-y-yes, n-no... I-i-i..." He stuttered, his cheeks as red as a lobster. Why would she talk to him?

"Which is it?" She tilted her head to a side, waiting for Kasamatsu's answer, but he just turned even redder than before – if that was possible.

"Yeah. He is the captain. His name is Kasamatsu Yukio, and he can't handle girls at all." Moriyama said with a smile, desperately trying to have the girl's attention on him.

Normally, Kasamatsu would kick his teammate for a remark like that, but with Aya watching them, Moriyama was safe for the time being.

"Ooh. Really?" She smiled, amused by the blushing boy in front of her. "Well, I don't bite." She winked at him, which almost caused poor Kasamatsu to feint. And then she added: "Just try thinking of me as a boy then."

"I don't think that would be possible... Aya-san." Moriyama said, looking down at Aya's chest and legs, wrongly assuming that she was at least the second year.

He was ready to say something more, when a shadow hovered over them.

"Would you stop being so overly friendly with them?" The huge red headed boy rumbled, and it was meant for Aya.

The annoyed tone of his voice had no effect on Aya. She even smiled at him. "Arara... Sure, Tai. Sorry." Her smile and tone were sheepish, but it was obvious she didn't mean it.

Now when they were near each other, Moriyama couldn't help it, because they looked quite similar – the hair mostly. "Are you siblings?"

"Yep. I'm here to observe. So good luck to both sides." She gave them encouraging smile and went towards the benches, to join Riko and the other Seirin members, followed by Taiga.

The match started; of course it wasn't without the initial surprise by Kuroko's weak presence, when Kasamatsu didn't noticed him in the line up. It only lead to a greater underestimation of the Seirin's team.

The very first points, however, were stolen by Seirin, thanks to Kuroko-Kagami alley-oop, which left Kaijo's team speechless.

"Oooh?" Taiga muttered when he landed from his perfect dunk – with the hoop in his hand.

"He destroyed the hoop?!" Kaijo's players shouted.

"A bolt was completely rusted..." Moriyama pointed out.

"That's still not normal!"

Takeuchi paled, his jaw almost hitting the ground, when he saw the first year from an unknown school slam the dunk with such a brute force.

Even his teammates were shocked.

"What now, Kuroko? Look at this." Taiga said to his shadowy friend and waved with the hoop. "Oh, the hoop is bigger than I thought..." He muttered to himself.

"What now..." He thought for a moment. "First we apologize, and then..."

They both turned towards the Kaijo's coach. "Sorry we've broken the goal. Would you mind if we used the other half of the court?" They asked.

Taiga was spinning the broken hoop on his forefinger in rather arrogant manner. Aya could easily imagine Aomine doing exactly the same thing. _Wait... Why is Aomine coming up here?_ She thought and shook her head, to get the bluenette out of it.

More small talks broke out, as the other members of Kaijo had been forced to stop their practise and prepare the whole court.

"Idiot!" Aya yelled at her brother and smacked the back of his head.

Kise was laughing at her antics at the moment. "It's true that you've surprised him with that. It's the first time I've seen the coach making that kind of face."

"It's because he kept looking down on us. Take that!" Taiga grumbled, not sure if he was answering to Aya or Kise. "I told you it was past expiration date." He pouted quietly, and it made Aya snicker.

"Kagami-kun..." Kuroko called out rather distressed. "How much does a backboard cost?" He asked, his spirit almost escaping his body, as he was imagining the sum...

"EEEEH?! We've got to pay for it?!" Taiga startled.

"Of course you have!" Aya hit his ribs. "What did you expect, eh?" But when he was bent down and rubbing the sore spot, Aya smirked and said. "Good job on that one."

Taiga smirked as well, happy that she shielded him from the others. "Sure thing. Maybe he will even remember us, who knows..."

After a moment the match was resumed and Kise joined the game. After a short analysis and discussion with Riko, whose scanning abilities Aya admired, they came to conclusion that Kise Ryouta truly was on a different level. Riko called him a 'monster', but Aya was against the idea of calling him that, simply because if she did, than Aomine would be classified as a 'monster' too, and she didn't like that. Kise must have worked just as much to achieve this level.

Many girls appeared immediately after Kise entered the court. Waving them back was probably a bad idea, because he got kicked and scolded by Kasamatsu. Aya just stared at the shy boy, who couldn't handle girls, kicking Kise around. It was truly amusing.

The game which broke out had an incredibly high pace. Aya was taking some notes, occasionally advising them how to proceed, mostly keeping Taiga in check. And she was amazed by the match.

"Kise is strong, talented and his plays are amazing!" She said during a break after the first quarter, when she came to him with her hands on her hips, and a slightly annoyed expression. Taiga was pissed off, and his team just left him alone, not wanting to annoy him even more. Aya, however, didn't have such a problem and what she said made everyone look at her in confusion.

Taiga frowned at her, ready to retort, but she continued."I get that you didn't play properly in half a year at least, which was stupid... And that you are frustrated. But whatever... Get your engines started, Taiga. You can do way better than this! And you have teammates to have your back, dumbass. It's not you and Kise one-on-one. Do you get it?! There is five of you out there!"

"I... guess..." He mumbled and looked anywhere but Aya.

"Do you want me to hit you?" Her eyebrow went up threateningly, and Taiga winced, even though she was still standing two meters from him.

Then she shook her head and smiled almost softly. "Do you remember the mantra we had?"

"Yeah..." Sure, he didn't want to talk about his dispute with his best friend.

"Play to win..." She started, nudging him to continue.

He sighed, but complied. "...win for the team..." Aya wouldn't let this one slip.

She smirked and finished. "...and don't forget to have fun."

"Geez! Of course we'll win!" He yelled and stood up. "Let's do this!"

All guys seemed bewildered by the words, and the sudden change in their ace's behaviour. Suddenly, full of confidence they followed him onto the court. Even Hyuuga wouldn't complain this time. Even if it wasn't him who said the cool words, it helped the entire team.

Takeuchi, who heard it, stared at the twins. Understanding hit him like a train, and his jaw fell down once again. "Kagami twins..." He mumbled quietly enough so no one would hear him, but Aya noticed the way his lips moved.

The second quarter started, and Aya stood up to go to Takeuchi.

"I see you've remembered, Takeuchi Genta-san~"

He was still speechlessly looking at the girl.

She just smirked. Of course he would have this reaction. It'd been almost 10 years, after all. She showed him her right palm. "Hundred bucks on Seirin." She proposed, watching the game.

The boys on Kaijo's bench stared at her in disbelief. Was she trying to gamble with their coach?

When he clapped hands with her, they almost fell over. "... All right." He grumbled, imagining how much would that be in Yen. "But you'll lose your money, Aya."

She smiled. "Sorry, but no. Not this time."

"You are just like your old man..."

She had to fight back a wince. _Not anymore, Takeuchi-san..._ "That's not so bad, is it?" She said and went back to Seirin's bench.

"What was it about?" Riko asked curiously.

"Nah... I'll tell you at the end of the match." Then she locked her eyes with Taiga for a split second and he got the message. 'Lose and you are dead.'

 _Shit... She is unbelievable!_ He thought, but there was no way he would stress over it. It was nothing new that his sister would do something as daring as betting money on him.

As soon as Kuroko got benched, the other members of Seirin started showing their true colours. This match was a golden mine for Aya. It was amazing. So many talented players, so many good strategies and moves. There was so much she could learn. Her bet with Takeuchi slowly rose to 300 bucks, and she wasn't sure he thought it over. At all.

And there was one important thing she noticed. Kise didn't pass. Not once, not even when he was in an unfavourable position. It was as if the Kaijo actually had two teams. Team Kaijo and one man team Kise Ryouta.

 _That boy needs some real fall. Just like Aomine._ _What the hell does this bunch called 'the generation-of-miracles' think?_ She was shaking her head in disbelief.

At the very end, during the last two minutes of ferocious point war, Aya's bet doubled. Takeuchi was just so sure his team was about to win...

...and then Taiga and Kuroko's very last buzzer-beater-alley-oop.

100-98

The game won by Seirin.

Taiga roared in happiness. After so long without a proper basketball, he could play to his fullest and win.

The other members soon joined him. Seirin itself was slightly shocked by their win.

Kise looked like a lost child. "We... lost?" He mumbled too distraught, tears of frustration rolling down his cheeks. It only got him another scolding from Kasamatsu.

Takeuchi roared in frustration and his much greater loss than anyone had anticipated.

"Thank you for doubling the bet~" Aya hummed to Takeuchi. "I hope a backboard with a hoop will be repaid thanks to that money."

He blinked at her. "What?"

"As I said. I don't want the money. Or rather... Use it to repair the broken hoop. Seirin is a small team. They don't need to have their funds cut just because of my brother's strength. And anyways, I believe you got a lesson worth more than that money."

"The board doesn't cost that much..." He mumbled.

"Pardon? What was it? Do you want to pay me anyways?"

"No! No, no, no. I said nothing." Takeuchi panicked and waved his hands in front of him to keep Aya away.

"Good then~. I'm happy we resolved the broken hoop case." She smirked, and went to join Taiga and the others.

She told them about the bet, mostly because Riko insisted she wanted to know what was going on between Aya and Takeuchi during the match. They couldn't believe how cunning Aya was and that she actually managed to pull it off. At the same time, they felt relief she hadn't told them before and hadn't put such a huge pressure on them.

After some more small talks with the Kaijo's players and Takeuchi, Aya said her goodbyes and ran off. In her opinion, the team should celebrate on their own.

When she exited the gym, she caught a sight of the model-kun, as he went behind the building, to where water taps were. On a whim, she followed him.

"You know..." Before he could stick his head under the running water, she spoke up, startling the poor boy. "There were four guys around you, ready to back you up the whole time. Why didn't you rely on them?"

Kise blinked, turning the water off. "That's not my style, ice-queen-chan."

It was somewhat strange seeing Kise without the air of childishness. He was so serious and so frustrated. Even if Aya didn't know him, she knew he wasn't a bad person. If anything, he was just as canny as her and everything else was an act he put up to deal with the world.

"I overlooked it before, but... My name is Aya. Not 'ice-queen-chan'." She retorted. Bickering with Kise was not her goal.

He was watching her carefully. After overhearing her conversation about the bet she had with the coach, he decided to be wary of her. Enigmatic girls had always caught his interest, but this one seemed to be more dangerous than any other. Too similar to him.

 _Better to keep your hands off._ He thought.

Her eyes softened and she caught him by surprise once again.

"There is not much I can tell you after losing... But you have a wonderful team, Kise Ryouta-kun. So open up your eyes and look at them. Believing in others is not a weakness, on the contrary; it's a great strength. Trust me; it feels much better when you are not alone, in both; winning and losing." She smiled kindly and turned to leave.

Kise stared at her back, then she turned around and spoke up in English, somehow knowing he would understand. _" Play to win, win for the team, and don't forget to have fun."_

Then she left, leaving Kise to his own thoughts.

She was too excited to go and talk with Satsuki to notice a tall green-haired boy she passed by on her way out.

######

She ran back to Touou and managed to catch the boys just at the end of their practise. She leaned against the door, and didn't realise that the very first person her eyes instinctively looked for was Aomine. It was surprising he was there and even more that he was playing, and barking some complaints to Kano, who was trying to defend against him. It made her smile.

She watched the final minutes of their mini match, thinking of how good all of them were, how much they had improved in that short two-week period... Even if the improvement was only slight, be it their footwork, or ball handling, or stamina, but no matter how small it was, they'd become better.

"Ah, Kagami-chan! Welcome back." Imayoshi greeted her after the match, when he noticed her leaning against the gym door with a subtle smile playing on her lips.

"I'm back." She smiled, and her dreamy and peaceful expression was replaced by the usual cheerful one.

Only then Katsunori noticed her. "How was the match?" He asked seriously.

It was the question everyone wanted to ask. All of them flocked around Aya with expectation in their eyes. If the match was important enough that a manager of theirs would go to watch, they wanted to know the result. And it was Kaijo; one of the top eight schools in Japan.

"Seirin won."

"WHAT?!" The second and third years, who had had a training camp and several matches against Kaijo, shouted.

"Kaijo is not that weak. How come they lost?" Imayoshi asked. "I know Kasamatsu, and that guy is annoyingly serious, but very skilled point guard. And they have Kise now..."

"How come Seirin won?!" Tada asked. "They are just some unknown team, no?"

She nodded, listening to both of them. "Seirin is a team made up of only the second and first years. The club has no real history or anything. They won by the skin of their teeth, really. It was only a two point difference in the end. But the result is still the same. They won."

"And Kise?" Yamaoka asked disdainfully. "Shouldn't he be one of the monsters?"

Aomine's blood boiled at that remark. If Yamaoka didn't stand on the other side of the group, he would have punched him. _How dare he insult Kise?_

Aya noticed his anger. "Yamaoka-senpai." She said in a sweet, but threatening voice. "I am usually a very tolerant person, and I've already told you what I think about you calling them monsters. So..." She narrowed her eyes, and it made everyone shiver. "I recommend you to withhold such comments in the future, if you don't want to get punched in the face. 'kay?"

Yamaoka just nodded desperately, not daring to speak up. This girl infuriated him, but at the same he was intimidated by her.

With a satisfied smile, Aya continued. "Kise Ryouta-kun played the whole time. His skills are awesome, mostly his ability to copy whatever he is physically capable of. Had he played **_with_** his team instead of **_along_** his team, Kaijo would have won. If Kise changes his style, Kaijo will improve explosively."

"So Kise can make a huge change in Kaijo..." Imayoshi said, lost in thoughts. "And what about Seirin? Any outstanding players?"

"Kuroko Tetsuya-kun, the sixth man of the generation of miracles. His presence on the court is almost nonexistent, but his tap passes are not to be underestimated. Their captain is a mental pillar of the team and a pretty efficient clutch shooter. The point guard is very skilled too; I learned that he plays the longest of them all. All the second years have a good chemistry and cooperation. And their ace, my brother, is pretty good too... though I was slightly disappointed in him today."

"No shit!" Kano exclaimed, his jaw dropping. "You've never said your brother was the ace of some other team! How? Why?"

All of the boys were looking at her with the mixture of disbelief, bewilderment and slight betrayal, or anger... She wasn't sure. But it was Kano who spoke first, voicing out everyone's sudden shocked thoughts.

Aya shrugged. "You've never asked, and it doesn't really matter. My team is Touou. That's it. I want Taiga to get better, and he performs better when he has a rival. Whether it is me, my team, or someone else, it doesn't matter."

"So he is in the second year then?" Sakurai peeped. If this brother of hers had a similar presence as Aya, he would be definitely dangerous. "Ah. S-sorry, I didn't mean to offend..." He bowed when her reddish eyes ended up looking at him. "Sorry..."

To his surprise she chuckled. "There is nothing to apologise for. You just asked, Sakurai-kun. But no, my brother is in the first year too. We are twins, so... You know... same date of birth and all."

There was a moment of complete silence, when everyone was staring at her, their mouths hanging open. Aya didn't understand what was so special about having a twin. Or going to different schools.

"Wow... That's certainly surprising, Kagami-chan." Imayoshi cleared his throat, as the captain, he was the first one to get over the shock. "I would have never guessed you have a twin brother."

"They are crazy in the same way, though Aya controls it better." Katsunori mumbled disinterestedly. He didn't want or need to listen to the teenagers' bickering.

"Right. I'd say I'm crazier than Taiga, but oh well..." She snickered. "Anyways, any other questions?"

And that caused an avalanche of another questions about the match, the Kaijo team, the Seirin team. Some boys left, not that much interested, some stayed and listened. Aya had to describe the match almost minute by minute. It was quite exhausting, but nice at the same time.

By the time they had finished, it was only the stable core of the team left: the regulars, and some first years.

Aya went home with the trio of boys from her class, and Aomine, Sakurai and Satsuki went the opposite direction, Sakurai soon parted from them, and the two childhood friends continued on their way.

Satsuki decided she wanted to walk, instead of taking a bus. She needed to sort out her thoughts. There was so much she learned about Aya in one day, and yet she felt there was much, much more staying unsaid.

Aomine sighed loudly. He was just as confused as Satsuki. Maybe even more.

"What is it?" Satsuki asked him curiously. "Still grumpy about your loss?"

"Tch, it was only a small dash. I'll win next time."

"Who would have thought that one day you would go to practise to compete with a girl?" Satsuki giggled. "She certainly has an impact on you."

"She pisses me off."

"Yeah... She certainly can have that effect, but you kind of admired what she said to Yamaoka, no? Geez, that guy infuriates me too! But he is kind of scary... I wouldn't want to anger him."

"He is just a piece of shit." He grumbled in annoyance.

That boy was the former ace, so it was only natural that he would hate the first year who took his place. No matter how good the first year truly was. However, there was no reason to be so antagonistic towards a manager. Though Aya didn't help it with her intervention during Aomine's mini match against the third years; the match even Satsuki didn't know about and he wanted it to stay that way.

"Oh!" Satsuki suddenly stopped.

He turned to her. "What?"

"I found out something!" She smiled and started to walk again, not saying anything else.

"Will you tell me, or not?" He rolled his eyes, and followed her. It was annoying when Satsuki did that.

"Dunno... Aya doesn't talk about it apparently. And as you've noticed, she is a master when it comes to avoiding questions she doesn't want to answer."

"..." He stared at Satsuki's back, burning a hole through it. That girl could keep a secret from him for like 48 hours at most. It was just a matter of time, but Aomine didn't feel like waiting that long.

Feeling his glare, she smiled to herself. He was so obviously interested in Aya; it was surprising the redhead didn't notice. "She is a dancer."

"...What?!" Now it was his turn to stop.

"She is a dancer. She dances, goes to practises after school and all."

That... He couldn't picture Aya dancing. Not possible. She was elegant, true. And she carried herself in that strange way sometimes, but... But dancing? She was good at sports too. It just didn't make sense in his head. Could her speed come from that? Definitely not. In his concept, dancing wasn't considered a sport.

He started walking again, trying to wrap his mind around that. "... Is she any good?" He asked reluctantly.

"I don't know. I've never seen her dance. But I believe she is."

* * *

 **A/N:** We got to see some race, and then Kaijo vs. Seirin... I took some parts of conversation directly from manga - I hope it wasn't boring for you. Kise appeared! - Honestly, Kise is not my favourite character, but I find him very amusing to write.

I'm a bit confused about KnB timeline, mainly when it comes to the prelims and when exactly it occurs. I might not stick with the cannon's timeline (I'll try though), so... You've been warned.

Let me know what you think and remember, reviews are appreciated, but never necessary. :)

-S.


	6. Chapter 6: What a nice day

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone who followed and favourited and reviewed! I'm repeating myself (and I will), but it makes me really happy!

42 followers! That's worth celebrating. (Regards to those who understand the meaning of '42') :)

Enjoy! :)

* * *

 _Strong people don't put others down... They lift them up. – **Michael P. Watson**_

 _The level of our success is limited only by our imagination and no act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted. – **Aesop**_

 _A man who has never made a woman angry is a failure in life. – **Christopher Morley**_

 _I just want to show off my scar proudly and not be afraid of it. **– Carly Simon**_

 _A happy woman is one who has no cares at all; a cheerful woman is one who has cares but doesn't let them get her down. **– Beverly Sills**_

 _It is a wise father that knows his own child. **– William Shakespeare**_

* * *

Kiku came to school earlier than before. When she opened her shoe locker, several papers fell out. Her heart sank and she bit her lower lip.

 _Not again..._ She was fighting tears.

She was well aware that she was not the prettiest being on earth. She was clumsy. She was stuttering... She knew there were always those who found her annoying, ugly, unworthy... But it hurt. It hurt so damn much to be reminded of it every single day.

If only they left her alone... She was fine alone.

She didn't want to read it, and yet. The words written on the papers screamed out.

 **'Ugly-duckling.'**

 **'Just go away. You are so annoying.'**

 **'Stop trying.'**

 _Stop trying what?..._ The papers were crumpled and thrown away.

Kiku was dragging her feet to the class, where she had to finish a homework she hadn't done at home. School wasn't a place she enjoyed. Ever since middle school, she was always picked on. Always alone. She had expected it would be the same in high-school.

When Aya had started talking to her, it'd surprised her. The beautiful and confident girl, talking to an ugly-duckling like her, it was unbelievable. But Aya didn't seem to have any ulterior motives, she'd never said or done anything to hurt her, or to show her how unworthy she was. If anything, Aya was trying to support her when she faltered, catch her when she fell.

Even the boys from the basketball club were trying to talk to her thanks to Aya. And Kiku was not as alone as before. Those notes would not disturb her. She wouldn't tell anyone about it.

Friendship, was a new concept to Kiku, she didn't want to screw it up.

* * *

It was raining all morning, and the basketball club was forced to stay indoors for the entire morning practise.

"Y-you don't like r-rainy weather?" Kiku asked, when Aya sighed after watching the rain outside.

"Not really. I just feel like having a huge cocoa and a good book and do nothing at all. Or I want to go out there and enjoy it."

"I-i-i don't want to preach, but... Isn't it a good recipe to catch a n-nasty cold?"

"Probably, but it has never stopped me from going out without an umbrella." Aya shrugged. She could feel Aomine's gaze burning a hole in her back, and she was doing everything she could to ignore it. The sudden attention from him was something Aya didn't expect or want. What happened? She thought. Then she shrugged off the weird feeling and focused on Kiku again. "Do you think it's going to rain during the weekend?"

The short-haired girl made I-have-no-idea face. "Did you want to g-go somewhere?" She asked in a quiet, but hopeful voice. Some girls in the class looked her way, then turned back and whispered something. Kiku turned her eyes down, and tried to hide herself behind her fringe. She knew they were talking about her, even if she couldn't hear it.

"I was thinking about some sightseeing, maybe going to the ocean." Aya was thinking out loud, acting oblivious, but she noticed this small, silent exchange.

"I-i-it's still April, so the water is rather cold." Kiku muttered, not looking up from her desk.

Hmmm... "I don't want to go swimming yet." Aya chuckled. "How was your club anyways? You haven't talked about it."

"O-o-okay. We cook and bake. It's calm and warm and n-nice." Kiku's chocolate brown eyes sparkled in joy. She loved baking the most. If there was something to make her happy it was a good book and a tasty cake. Or the combination of both.

Soon, their conversation turned into exchanging recipes. Aya was asking a lot about Japanese food, because she was used to western food, and she seriously wanted to learn more; mostly because she was running out of bento ideas.

"You can even make a chocolate cake?!" Kano asked way too loudly after overhearing a bit of the girls' conversation.

Kiku jumped in fright, because she hadn't seen it coming. The girls in the front laughed, and Kiku blushed in embarrassment. She suddenly got up and headed out.

"Eh? What happened?" Kano asked, turning to Aya. Kiku's reaction surprised him and hurt him a little bit.

"Kiku is very shy. So I suggest you don't speak so loudly around her, mainly when she doesn't expect you to. You just scared her."

"Oh... I should apologise then... Right?"

"You can try and see." Aya suggested.

"Why do you even talk with her, Aya-chan?" One of the girls from the front, mingled into their conversation. "I mean, you are so much better."

Aya knew that Kiku was kind of ostracized, but she had no idea the girls from their class would actually speak like this, moreover in front of the others. It was rather shocking, because Kiku had done nothing at all to deserve this sort of attention. "I don't think I understand where you are going with this?"

"You are pretty, smart, cheerful. Why would you hang out with that, that... with her." The girl spat out, not able to find a suitable insult. "It's obvious she is using you."

Aya fought back an eye-roll, making enemies within her class wasn't smart. Although, those two girls weren't to Aya tastes. She'd talked with them, assumed they weren't a friend material for her, and then she sort of tolerated them.

"Thanks for the compliment, but I believe I can decide who I want to spend my time with by myself." She had a feeling she had already dealt with a very similar situation. It had been more private before though. "And to clarify, I don't feel better than Kiku... Because I'm different than her, doesn't necessarily mean I'm better."

"Someone wants to look good~" The other girl snickered, trying to provoke the redhead, because Aya was walking on this thin ice very efficiently. It got on the girl's nerves that Aya kept her calm.

"You certainly do look amazing right now." Her remark came good on this one. The girls' faces twisted into an ugly grimace, which made Aya smirk. "Really. You should look into a mirror."

They huffed and turned around. They original idea was to befriend Kagami Aya, because she seemed to be always cheerful and she knew her way around; they had hoped it would be beneficial for them. But obviously, Aya wasn't a goody-two-shoes all the time.

Kano whistled. "That one was good, Aya-chan!" He held up his hand to high five with the redhead.

"Thank you!" She chuckled and high-fived with him. She only hoped she didn't the make situation worse for Kiku.

All the guys from the club were watching their manager in awe. She'd showed some of her protectiveness the previous day, when she'd actually scolded Yamaoka-senpai after he'd had insulted Kise. That in itself had been unbelievably gutsy of her. And now, shutting up those two without any verbal insult... Even Aomine had to admit that what Aya had just done wasn't easy, and it was damn cool. Though he had seen it before.

The little girl was standing behind the door, overhearing everything. She never left too far, because she needed just a few moments to calm down her sudden fear. It was hard to process the idea of someone standing up for her. It felt unearthly. It had never happened before. Not to her. Tears of relief, and happiness stung in her eyes. She covered her face, refusing to let them out and crouched down with her back against the wall. With steady breathing she calmed down eventually. Students who passed by didn't notice her much and she was glad for that. Then, when she was ready to return and act as if nothing ever happened, she got up, and returned to the classroom.

######

After the Japanese class, Aya almost blew up, when she saw Aomine's assignment that was due next Monday.

"What is the meaning of this?" She asked him in calm voice, but her eyes were throwing daggers.

"Wha'? I've done it, haven't I?" He asked nonchalantly, knowing very well he was making her unbelievably angry at the same time.

"But it's not correct! I mean, why is it all written in katakana?" Not that it was hard to understand the easiness of using only one alphabet and no kanji, but it was so not correct. Mainly because this was the modern Japanese class and their task was to write an essay.

"What's wrong with katakana? It's simple and easy to understand." And he simply liked the angularity of the syllables.

Aya took the papers and quickly read through it. Then she circled four words and slapped the paper against his desk. "Only these words are supposed to be written in katakana. Everything else should be in hiragana and kanji." She said exasperatedly. _At least I hope so._ "Rewrite it."

He looked back at her and yawned. "No."

 _Oh, for fuck's sake..._ If they weren't in the class she'd probably throw something at him. "Yes! As partners we are evaluated together – most of the time – I don't want a bad mark because of your laziness."

"Then you redo it." He shrugged and observed her reaction.

A vein popped on her forehead, and it seemed as if her reddish eyes caught fire. Despite that, she didn't yell at him. She took a deep breath, which was probably the only thing keeping him from getting strangled. "No. It's your essay."

"It's too much work. We won't fail because of this, chill out."

That was it. Aya narrowed her eyes at him dangerously. "You know what?" With a lightning-fast move she snatched his essay, and crumpled it into a ball.

"Oi! What are you doing?!" He reached forward to save his work. It was a miracle in itself that he had done as much as actually try writing the essay. And his fiery partner had just destroyed it.

Aya kept it from his reach and smiled at him. "If you don't want to fail, you will rewrite it. Or, we will both get a detention. With luck, they won't cut your scholarship."

Now, it was him, who was angry. "You witch." He hissed. Yup, she was pissed off and she knew exactly what to use against him. The scholarship was the only thing why he did at least some of his homework. If he wanted to keep it, he couldn't fail. For Aomine it meant he had to try just enough to pass. And this essay was an important one. _Fuck..._

Her smile only widened and she threw the crumpled paper back at him. "Good luck with rewriting. You still have time until Monday." She got up, and exited the classroom to go to practise.

* * *

Aya's phone rang on Saturday's soon afternoon.

"Who's that?" She asked Taiga, who was writing his own homework (for the first time since the school had started and under her supervision), and had her phone near him.

"Unknown number." He said and gave her a curious glance, because this was her personal phone. Unknown callers were very rare.

"Let's see." She got up from her comfortable place on a couch between cushions and took the phone.

"Hello. Kagami Aya here." She introduced herself and walked towards a balcony. It was still cloudy, but at least sun showed itself from time to time. It was nice.

 _"Oh. You sound good over the phone."_ A familiar husky voice greeted her. He sounded different, but she'd know that voice anywhere.

"Why do you bother me during the weekend, Aomine? And where the hell did you get my number?" She asked and he could picture her rolling her eyes.

He chuckled. _"Satsuki."_

"Of course." She sighed. "So. What's up?" She sat down on a chair and rested her feet against the railing.

 _"I wanna play basketball."_ He demanded.

"And?"

 _"Play with me."_

"What makes you think that I would want to see your face during the weekend?"

 _"The fact that you still didn't hang up?"_ The moment he said it, he feared she would do exactly that. But he had to say it to provoke her a bit.

That one got her. _Aomine:1, Aya:0._ _Well said, Aomine Daiki._ She thought, and smirked to herself. "Fine. Meet me at the school gate in an hour. Don't be late." She said, and that was when she hung up. She pressed the phone against her lips and thought about what she'd just gotten herself into... _Well... it might be interesting..._

"Who was it?" Taiga asked when she returned back with an amused smile.

"Aomine. He wants to meet up."

"What?" Taiga blinked at his sister in disbelief. "Don't you like... hate him, or something?"

"He annoys me, yes, but I don't hate him Tai." She leaned over his shoulder to take a crisp from his bowl.

"Oi! That's mine!" With a huff, he covered his snacks from her. "What does he want anyways?"

Taiga heard about Aomine from the generation of miracles. He didn't know much about how good the guy was in basketball, or what his story was, but he did know the little things that pissed off his sister. It was rare that she spoke about someone that vividly before, and Taiga was definitely not going to point it out.

"Probably something homework related." She shrugged. A story about the essay was well known by Taiga and she decided not to mention basketball, or her brother would definitely tag along and Aomine was not an opponent Taiga should face right now.

Aya headed towards her room to change, taking off her worn-out t-shirt along the way. Taiga was used to seeing her in underwear, but he couldn't help an eye-roll. "Don't forget to change that worn-out bra too."

"Don't worry, Tai. I will!" She shouted from her room.

Clothes were the last thing she was worried about. If Aomine wanted to play basketball, old comfy jeans and a black tank-top worn under her brother's red and black checkered shirt with rolled up sleeves would be more than enough. She grabbed her bag, and just in case she took Modern Japanese and English textbooks. She would go over it while on train.

She said her goodbyes, which didn't go without some more bickering over the shirt and snacks, and only then she was finally on her way.

######

For the first time in his life Aomine arrived somewhere 10 minutes earlier than the said time. He was leaning against the school gate and wondering whether the redhead would show up, or not. It would be tragically funny if she had played him.

Aya wasn't rushing, but she arrived few minutes sooner as well. When she saw Aomine frowning, probably lost in some deep thoughts, and hypnotizing a basketball spinning on his forefinger, she smirked. It was refreshing to see him wearing casual, comfortable clothes instead of the school uniform.

She used the chance to scare him, because he wasn't really paying attention.

"Yo. You're here earlier than I've expected."

"!" The ball almost fell off, but he managed to catch it. "Do you seriously want to kill me, woman?"

Aya laughed. "If that means I'd work on school assignments alone... than maybe..." She shrugged and snatched the ball from him.

"Tch." _Talk about a pleasant partner..._

"Come on." She opened the gate and slipped in.

"Eh? Is the school opened during weekends?"

"There's a dormitory inside. Of course it's opened. Someone is there 24/7." She said as if it weren't news to Aomine.

He vaguely knew there was some dormitory, but he had no idea it was within the school campus. He never cared. And even though the boys had probably talked about it in the changing room, he had never listened properly.

Without another word, he followed her. It was a good opportunity to see her in casual clothes. He thought she was more of a serious type who wouldn't wear something like a men's shirt, but he was obviously mistaken. Then again, he asked her to come to play basketball = get sweaty, of course she'd wear comfortable clothes like him.

Suddenly she threw the ball back to him to tie her hair up.

With some difficulty he caught it (he was too preoccupied by staring at her butt to react in time).

It was unusual for her to have her hair down at school or practises, because it was simply too long already and too difficult to manage. But whenever she was at home, she either had it down, or only loosely tied.

Aomine couldn't deny that he would love to drive his fingers through the thick, long mane Aya had. But her ponytail or braid were nice too.

He spotted an old man, he'd never noticed before, sweeping the path leading towards the gyms and outside courts.

Aya waved at him with her free hand. "Hello, Tsuchiya-san! How are you doing?" She greeted him familiarly, and finally managed to finish her ponytail.

"Aya-chan! Practising even on weekends?" He asked tilting his head to scan Aomine.

"Yep. This one is not from my neighbourhood, so it was easier to meet at school. Is it okay if we use the outside court? It should be dry enough already."

Satisfied with Aomine, the old man nodded. "Ah, youth." He mused. "Sure. Be careful, and –"

"Leave before eight." Aya filled in. "Don't worry. I'll come to say goodbye."

"Okay. Have fun." He saluted to them and continued with his work.

"Who was that?" Aomine asked when they were out of the old man's earshot.

"Eh? You don't know?" She turned to him in surprise. "That was our janitor, Tsuchiya-san. He changes shifts with another one, I guess his name was Aoyama, but I don't see that one here as often."

His eyebrow shot up in disbelief. "You know the school janitors by their names?"

"Yeah. What's wrong with that?"

Aomine shook his head, as they entered the outside basketball court. "I don't even remember my teammates' names, let alone school staffs'." He commented under his breath.

"That is sad. Wasn't your belief something like "Anyone who likes basketball can't be a bad guy?" Aya said, imitating his husky voice with a hinge of arrogance. And she failed miserably.

"Oi! How d' you...!" Then he stopped to think for a moment. "...Satsuki... She is so dead. What else did she tell ya?!"

Aya smirked foxily. "Who knows? I'm not telling."

"Tch." He shook his head and threw the ball to Aya. "First offence is yours. Do you want a head start?"

Instead of answering, she asked: "How much are you going to test my temper?"

Aomine smirked and took a defensive stance. He was a type that needed torun warm, before he really got into a game, but this time, he wanted to take it easy. Running over Aya wasn't his intention and he was aware of the strength difference. So he bent his knees and stood in a relaxed position, ready to react to whatever move she'd try to pull.

"You know," she said, while dribbling the ball just millimetres out of his reach. "If you take me too lightly I might slip past you."

The moment she said it, she made a step to the right, to which Aomine reacted; he just didn't expect her to immediately change direction to the left. Her legs crossed, which should destabilize her, but it didn't. She spun around and made it past him. He caught up, but she was quick. Her movement was so smooth, he didn't notice the exact moment when she jumped to fade away and made a shot. But he was called a 'monster' for a reason. He leaped up too, and with his height, it was easy to tap the ball so that it missed.

His jaw would hit the ground if only he hadn't bit the inner side of his cheek. _What the hell...?_

The surprise she saw in his eyes was priceless. "See? Told ya." She smirked.

He smirked back at her, and tilted his head cockily. "Not that you actually made it." _...but it scared me for a second there. I guess I can't take it that easy._ He thought, quite thankful for his reflexes and skills.

"I know that. And so what?" She walked toward the ball lying under the basket and picked it up. "If I had run away every time when someone better than me showed up... I'd get nowhere. It's better if I can't win." It wasn't that she could win, or overpower him; he was still a very muscular boy, much taller and much heavier. But if she could cause him some trouble, she was satisfied.

"Hn." He threw his jacket over Aya's bag and caught the ball she threw to him. He couldn't take it easy after that. Her eyes were shining with something he couldn't quite decipher, and he wasn't sure he liked it.

This time, it was his offence, and he wasn't willing to let Aya steal from him. With his tricky street ball, he had a good advantage, and he made a shot almost effortlessly.

He soon learnt that the moment he jumped, Aya had no chance of stopping him even if she had an unbelievable spring in her legs. But with her hand covering his vision, she made him miss several times. Otherwise, he was the absolute winner.

What surprised him was that Aya wasn't disheartened by losing continuously, on the contrary, she would always ask for 'one more time'. She was slowly getting used to his rhythm, and he still couldn't read hers. It was a mixture of street ball, orthodox basketball and something he didn't know and thus, couldn't react to it. With that something, she managed to get past him, and she even managed some shots. Another detail that surprised him was her left-handedness. He knew she could write with both hands, it wasn't a secret. Still... Usually his opponents weren't as good when it came to left-handed ball handling, so it usually gave him another advantage - not this time.

He seemed to be miscalculating a lot when it came to Aya.

And then another attack came, when after half an hour of running around, Aya took off her shirt, revealing her shoulders and cleavage. The black tank-top wasn't showing much; just enough to occupy his mind and distract him. That was playing dirty.

He forgot himself staring and Aya's voice snapped him out of it. "Seeing something you like?" His own words from before were thrown back at him.

And in a similar way he answered. "Maybe... D-cup?" He asked teasingly, obviously checking her out - no reason to try to hide it now.

"Maybe." She smirked and teased him: "Try not to get a hard-on."

He blushed slightly, which didn't escape her eyes, but he managed to find a sharp comment of his own. "I'd need more than that, Sweetheart."

A humorous spark glittered in her orbs and her smirk widened. "Oh. Nicknames now, Honey-bun?"

"What did you call me?!" Really. Kagami Aya was truly a piece of work.

She laughed. "Come on. Let's play some more." She threw him the ball, aiming at his face.

It almost hit him, so he forced himself to focus on the game again.

After another two hours, he was wondering if she'd been gifted a bottomless source of energy, and if that something he couldn't read, could in reality be dancing. Mixing up basketball and dancing sounded too surreal in his head, so he decided not to ask.

When they were done, he leaned against the fence and gulped down his water. His t-shirt was drenched in sweat and he started to feel the temperature dropping as the evening approached. Aya was sitting to his right on a patch of grass drinking water and looking somewhere into distance.

He noticed a scar on her shoulder almost immediately as she'd sat down. It was pretty thick, so it must have been caused by some serious wound. Some might have considered it hideous, but to Aomine, it only made him interested. His eyes were tracing over it, but he couldn't find the courage to ask and Aya probably wouldn't want to talk about it. So he just stared and wondered.

Aya was watching the setting sun and fluffy clouds passing by in the distance. She was relatively tired, because with Aomine as her opponent she went all out. And even then, she lost spectacularly. When it came to basketball, Aya had never seen such a potential. He was amazing, and there was still a room for him to grow. If the others were terrified, she was mesmerised.

By this time, Aya had understood Aomine's problem more than anyone could guess. No one in the current Touou's basketball club was his equal. His talent and abilities were simply too great. There was no challenge, and so, he saw training as something pointless. Why would he need to train, if there was no one to try to overcome? _Maybe Taiga... Not yet, but..._ Taiga was still far from being able to take Aomine on, but she saw a possibility there. A possibility she wanted to bet on.

"Do you have the keys from changing room?" Aomine asked and broke her train of thoughts.

"Huh? ... Yeah. Why?"

"I want to take a shower and change before I catch a cold."

"Oh." Only then she noticed it got colder. "Good idea." She got up and headed towards the changing rooms. She had a change of clothes stored there too.

She unlocked the door for him and then headed to the next door. His eyes were still tracking the scar, and this time Aya noticed. Her eyes widened, and she immediately covered it with her hand. _Shit!_ She thought. _How could I forget?!_ In an instant, she vanished in the girls' changing room, leaving Aomine even more confused.

He shook his head and went in. It was strange to be there alone. The room smelled of sweat, old socks and some old car air freshener which didn't serve its purpose anymore. He took his clothes off and went for a quick shower.

When she slammed the door behind her, she leaned against it and slid down. How could she forget all about that scar? It wasn't something she wanted to show to the others. Not because she was ashamed, or embarrassed about it; she just didn't want to be questioned. She was careful during the P.E. classes, so that no one would notice. And there she went and forgot all about it when playing basketball with Aomine. Why did she relax around him to such extent? She knew why. He reminded her of Taiga at times. Also, he wasn't a type of person who would judge.

And what was more surprising... Aomine hadn't questioned it. His gaze had told her, he'd been wondering about it, but he hadn't asked. She took a deep breath. Now, after realizing that Aomine'd probably assumed it was something she wouldn't want to talk about, she felt calmer. This small consideration he showed made her feel safer around him. And she suddenly trusted him a little bit more.

 _So he isn't just an arrogant bastard... But you knew that before too, eh?_ She picked herself up, took a quick shower and went out.

Aomine had already been waiting for her.

"Sorry for overreacting." She said with her eyes turned to the ground. Her expression was clearly saying that she didn't want to be questioned.

"No big deal." He shrugged. "I haven't seen anything."

 _Eh?_ She looked up at him. Her reddish eyes were diving into his dark blue ones, fishing for reasons why he would say that. She couldn't find anything, but it calmed her down even more. "Thanks." She muttered and broke off the intense eye contact.

After locking the door, she turned to him again. "Is there something else you wanted to do except basketball?"

"Something dirty, maybe." He said suggestively.

"Good luck with that." She chuckled, and it made him smile too; a small smile which went unnoticed by her.

His remark accomplished the mission. Aya was smiling again.

"Well..." He started, but he wasn't a type to ask for help.

"Anyways." She interrupted him. "How's the essay going?"

"In progress."

"Are you really rewriting it?" She asked incredulously.

"Tch. You completely destroyed it, y' know." He huffed angrily.

"Oh. My bad."

"That's all you say?!"

"Sorry?" She smiled at him sheepishly. Yes, she realized that she had gone overboard a bit. It was rare that he did his work, and there she'd been, stomping over his efforts. But gods had he pissed her off with the essay.

"I'll accept your apology only if you go over the newest version."

"Oh?" _In other words, you want my help, but you don't want to ask for it straightforwardly. Stubborn mule._ "Sure. Right here, or is a cafe okay with you?"

There was a small cafe near the school. Satsuki'd dragged him there against his will several times and he'd always complained, but this time he didn't particularly mind, if it meant getting Aya's help. "Fine by me." He shrugged. "But I'm not paying for ya." He added.

Aya chuckled. "No one asked you to, gentleman-san."

He rolled his eyes and followed her. They said goodbyes to Tsuchiya-san, and headed to the cafe. Aya ordered a black coffee and a chocolate cake, while Aomine was good with tea.

"So..." She said after the first sip from her coffee. "Show me the essay."

He rummaged through his bag and fished out two papers. He handed it to Aya and waited for her evaluation.

There were some kanji missing, and written in really tiny katakana below the vacant spots. Aya smiled at it. He truly put a lot of effort into it this time.

"Do I always need to destroy your sloppy work, for you to actually try?" She was shaking her head in disbelief.

"Hn." He huffed and sipped from his tea.

She took out a pencil and filled in the blank spaces, all except two. "I don't know these kanji either." She admitted. "You should probably ask Satsuki or your parents. Or leave it like this."

"Right. Japanese is not your best subject."

"Oh, would you stop always reminding me about it? I know!"

He shrugged, watching her. "It's fun to see you annoyed."

"Oh, so your life's purpose now is to annoy me?"

He smirked arrogantly. "Not that you mind."

"Careful, Honey-bun. You are playing with fire here." She said teasingly, and then shook her head. Flirting with Aomine wasn't the wisest idea. She didn't want to burn him. "Did you do your English homework?"

Aomine got the message. _What a strange woman._ He thought. "No. English is too bothersome."

"Do you know some other language beside Japanese then?" She asked with a raised eyebrow. Knowing other languages was vital knowledge for Aya, something she had to study since she was a child. She liked the possibilities it offered and doors it opened.

"Maybe."

When he didn't explain she probed further. "Would you mind telling me, or is it a secret?"

He frowned. Did Satsuki not tell that to Aya? And what exactly did Aya know about him anyways?

With a sigh he answered. "Thai, but only spoken. My grandma is from southern Thailand, so..." He hated learning overly complicated alphabets. Japanese and Roman were more than enough in his opinion.

 _Oh, so that's why the tanned skin._ "That's awesome really."

"So I don't need to learn English then, right?" He asked hopefully.

"It doesn't work like this. English is a global language, knowing it can help you a lot. And it's not like I know only two languages and that's it."

His eyes narrowed at her, asking her 'what?!'.

"Spanish, French, Russian." She named out, "and bits of other languages here and there."

"That's insane."

"No. That's helpful."

"Why?"

"It's helpful." Her reasons were her own, and besides he wasn't actually asking for them.

"Tch." He couldn't believe it. Five languages... that was insane. The more he found out about Aya the more intimidating she was, and that amazed him at the same time. He didn't want to lose. "Teach me then." He demanded.

She couldn't believe what she'd just heard. "What?"

"English. Teach me." He repeated.

"It'll be my honour. Honey-bun." She smirked and pulled out the textbook.

"And stop with that nickname." He growled in annoyance.

######

"Why are you grinning like an idiot?" Taiga asked when she came home in time for dinner. "Something good happened?"

"I won't get a terrible mark on the essay and he actually asked me to help him with English. I'd say it was a successful day."

"And what happened to your black tank-top?" His eyebrow quirked up; he didn't usually notice what his sister wore, but when she stole his clothes, he remembered it well.

"We played some basket actually." She shrugged. "So I changed at school. You know I have some spare tank-tops in the changing room."

"Hmph. You could've told me that, you know." Taiga pouted. He'd spend his entire day doing homework, while his sister went out to play. It was so unfair.

"I couldn't have told you something I hadn't known, right? And you had homework to do anyways."

"Unfair." He slumped to a chair, and let her serve dinner. He was the one who had prepared it, but he was pouting, so he refused to serve it.

After a couple of silent minutes, he asked: "So... How good is he?"

"Hm?" Aya looked at him.

"How good is Aomine?"

"At the moment... You don't stand a chance."

"WHAT?!" He almost choked at his food. And Aya said it in such a calm voice.

"Don't 'what' me. I scored only twice or thrice against him in over two hours of playing. And you know that my shooting rate is decent enough; even against taller guys."

"That good, huh?" Taiga was fired up. He wanted to hurry up and face that Aomine guy. He knew that as long as Aya didn't suggest a showdown between the two, it was impossible for him to win. But if she didn't completely refuse the idea, he had a chance. _'At the moment'..._ He had to get stronger. He wanted to win no matter what.

"Oi, oi. Cool down. You'll have your chance in the Interhigh. I suggest you train your ass off until then."

Taiga smirked. "You bet."

When she laid into her bed, she felt that this was a really good day. She finally got to play basketball with her team's ace. She got to see a side of Aomine that was usually hidden beneath his arrogant exterior. It was only slight, but it was there. He wasn't an arrogant bastard all the time. And she got to eat dinner with Taiga.

 _What a good day._

######

"Daiki! Where have you been?" His mother greeted him from the kitchen.

"Out." He answered lazily and put down his bag and basketball.

"You played basket?" His father asked from the table.

"Yeah. I wanted to beat someone... It didn't go as I had planned though." He shrugged.

His parents exchanged curious glances. Their son actually said a whole sentence. _Finally._ They thought in unison.

"Tough opponent?" He asked with a teasing smile.

Daiki slipped onto his chair. "You can't imagine."

"You lost?" Michiko asked hopefully.

"Wha'?! No. No way! ... I don't lose." He blurted out. _But I might as well have._ He sighed inwardly.

"Would you introduce this new friend of yours to us?" His father asked. "I'd love to see the person who can trouble you this much."

"I ain't troubled. Leave it." He barked.

When a dog's head appeared in between his legs from under the table, giving him a good fright, he almost flipped over. "What are y' doing here, Shiro?!" How he could overlook the big white fluffy fur ball under the table was beyond him.

His father laughed. "She was waiting for you the whole day."

"So troublesome." He sighed and scratched her neck. "I'll take you out after dinner, 'kay?" It almost looked as if the dog smiled widely and she wagged her tail furiously.

"She loves you the most." His father teased him, and Daiki rolled his eyes.

After dinner he took Shiro and their other two dogs for a walk, which turned into a run. When he got home, he hopped into a bath and then fell asleep almost immediately. He was drained, and happy.

######

"Could it be that the 'new friend' might be a girl?" Daisuke asked his wife, when they were lying in a bed. It'd been on his mind ever since Daiki'd entered the kitchen with an unusually content grin.

"You think there is a girl willing to play basketball with our son? No... That there is a girl besides Satsuki-chan who would put up with him?" Michiko asked curiously.

"Why not? Maybe there is."

"Well... he did mention a classmate, who is bold and annoys him and is also a manager of the basketball team."

"Pretty good recipe to fall in love, don't you think?"

"Hmmm... I've always thought he'd end up with Satsuki-chan." She mused.

"Eh? Really?" Daisuke blinked in surprise and looked at his wife. "I've never thought that. Not once... I mean, she is a nice girl and all, but I think Daiki needs someone tougher than that. Someone more challenging."

True.

Now when Daisuke mentioned it, she had to think about it too. Daiki'd never shown any sign of romantic interest towards Satsuki. He did complain that she'd dragged him to practises, and that she'd annoyed him, but... "He rarely speaks about this new manager. Or he ignores my questions. Heck I don't even know her name."

"See? I'd say it is a crush."

"I'll have to ask Satsuki." She bit her nail, already plotting something.

"Leave him be, Michiko. He is a teenager shouldering quite a lot of things. He doesn't need you to pry into his school life... or love life." Daisuke said unimpressed. If he'd known his wife would get into an investigative mode, he would have never started this conversation. Teasing Daiki was one thing, but going behind his back to investigate...

"But he is my baby boy! I have the right to know."

"Urgh. Seriously. Don't do it."

"Why?"

"You do know how he is when you seriously piss him off, right? Do you want him to ignore you completely?"

"Fine, fine... I'll leave it... For now! But find out the name, Honey." Michiko was really a piece of work, but that's why he'd married her.

Daisuke chuckled. "It might take some time."

* * *

 **A/N:** That's it for now. They basically had a date. I realized this tiny detail after re-reading the chapter; just keep in mind that those two didn't call it a date, nor do they realize it - for the time being. We got to see a bit of Aomine's family...

I hope I didn't overdo it.

Let me know what you think and remember, reviews are appreciated, but never necessary.

S.


	7. Chapter 7: Practise match

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone who followed and favourited and reviewed! We are already past 42 followers, past 50 actually! I didn't think I would get so many. I'm very happy. Here's the next chapter!

Enjoy! :)

* * *

 _Dance is certainly a sport, and they are phenomenal athletes, and they're also artists. **– Neve Campbell**_

 _Maturity is not measured by age. It's an attitude built by experience. **– Newton Paul's blog**_

 _There's nothing more boring, then playing against an opponent who has given up. **– Aomine Daiki**_

 _The best protection any woman can have... is courage. – **Elizabeth Cady Stanton**_

 _A timid person is frightened before a danger, a coward during the time, and a courageous person afterward. – **Jean Paul**_

 _Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art... It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival. **– C. S. Lewis**_

 _The only way to have a friend is to be one. **– Ralph Waldo Emerson**_

* * *

Few days later, they were eating lunch outside. Surprisingly, Aomine tagged along. It was nice to eat in such a large group once in a while. Kiku felt a bit out at first, but when they stopped talking about basketball and their upcoming practise match, she could join too. Ishii, Kano and Sakurai were nice enough to let the shy girl speak up. Well, Sakurai was just as socially awkward as Kiku, so they were bound to interact in some strange way.

Aya smiled at it. She had told the boys to treat Kiku gentler, and see the difference in the girl's behaviour.

Then she turned to Aomine, who was daydreaming once again. Occasionally, his eyes looked her up and down in a way she wasn't used to. It was strange for Aomine, to behave like this. As if he wanted to say something and then changed his mind. She didn't get it. What was wrong? Was it because of the weekend? The scar? Aya thought back to it, but nothing had changed between them. Maybe they had some sort of a truce now, but... Nothing was different.

They even got 83 points for the essay. That was the best mark he'd ever gotten and Aya didn't seem to mind she didn't get a 100. She probably knew her own limitations when it came to kanji. The pairs working together were evaluated together in some cases. If one of them failed, the other would fail too. So they both had to work on their assignments. Not in all subjects, thankfully. The main point of this was to teach the students to cooperate.

 _What is going through his head?..._ "There is a practise match tomorrow." She said, because she wasn't sure he had been listening before.

"Hm?" His deep blue eyes looked at her again.

"There is a practise match tomorrow. You should participate. Or rather... they want specifically you to play in this match." She repeated.

"Tch. Fine." He knew he had a responsibility to come to matches. At least to some...

Aya was patient, but his staring was driving her crazy. It wasn't the kind of a look to check her out, more like he wanted to read her mind. And it was uncomfortable. "Why are you staring at me like that?"

He smirked. "Like what?" _So she can be thrown out of her balance too..._

"Like you want to ask or say something and then you don't." She frowned, her forehead wrinkling slightly.

The expression she made was cute. Originally, he'd wanted to know if she truly danced, but when he noticed she felt uncomfortable under his gaze, he wanted to know how long he could keep it up. It was fun, watching the normally confident girl avert her eyes from him at times. But he didn't think she would see as far as his unspoken question. Almost like Tetsu.

"Really?" He asked lazily, raising an eyebrow at her.

Aya rolled her eyes at that. "Stop fooling around. What is it?" Her hard stare almost turned into a hostile glare. She really wanted to know why he'd been staring at her like that.

He sighed. His small game was over after only three days. _Better give her an answer..._ "You really dance?" He asked.

Her eyes softened up. "'s that it?" She asked with raised eyebrows and then laughed.

"Oi! What's so funny? I just asked a question." He grumbled louder than expected and dragged attention of the others to their conversation.

Aya shook her head. "Let me guess... Satsuki told you?"

"Who else?" He tilted his head and tried to decipher the swirling emotions in her eyes. "Was that a secret?"

"Not really."

She still hadn't given him a clear answer, so he had to confirm it. "So you do dance...?"

"Yes. I do. Any problem with that?"

"It's not a sport." He mumbled. Sure, while watching her, while playing basket with her, he noticed her lean muscles... and many more things, but still... It disappointed him a bit.

"True. It's not **just** a sport. It's so much more." She winked at him, and got up. "We should head back if we want to be on time for afternoon classes."

And there she went again, avoiding the topic she didn't want to discuss. He could finally understand, what Satsuki whined about.

######

Right after school Aya headed to Katsunori's office.

"What did you want to talk about?" She asked the moment she entered and sat down.

"Hello to you too." He muttered and sighed, pointing at the box set next to his desk. "The uniforms you ordered arrived, but..."

"Yeah. Right, hi." She added with a half smirk. "You sounded like it was something urgent... So? What's wrong?" She asked already suspecting some problems.

Katsunori shrugged unimpressed. "Look at it yourself." He said; omitting the basic courtesy when in a hurry, or when facing some problems, was normal in the Kagami family, he should've been used to it.

She got up and kneeled next to the box, rummaging through it. There were fifteen uniforms. Fifteen out of twenty five, and she had also ordered jackets, spare T-shirts and long sweatpants, not to mention training bags for everyone who didn't have it, including Satsuki and her.

"Where in the bloody hell could this go wrong?! I mean, I've ordered everything!"

"I'm not doubting you. There must have been some problem on their side. But now we don't have the uniforms for the practise match." Katsunori said calmly.

"Well..." Aya exhaled sharply. "We have fifteen uniforms for fifteen boys. I think you don't need all 25 guys there?"

"Improvising?" He asked with a raised eyebrow. When it came to the Kagamis, they knew how to cover for almost anything.

"Yes. We will go in the school uniforms, it's not like they have to go there in the club uniforms and jackets..." She shrugged and pulled out her phone.

"Are you going to call them?"

"Yes! What else do you expect me to do? Pay fully for an incomplete order and make a new one somewhere else, just so they don't feel bad about messing up?!" She asked incredulously, already dialing the number of the company that was supposed to take care of the order. "And don't even get me started on wasted funds..."

 _"Ah, Hello. It's Kagami Aya here. From the Touou Academy. I'm really sorry for bothering you, but there is a slight problem with the order I made last week."_ She said in a sweet voice, sounding almost apologetic, and Katsunori couldn't believe his ears. She had been angry minutes before, and now she was sugar talking to whoever was on the other side of this call.

...

"Well, this is called service." She smiled smugly, and shoved the phone into her pocket.

"What's the result?" He asked, though he'd been pretty sure how it'd ended.

"You heard. They apologised, this delivery is not going to be charged and they will send everything next week with a discount for troubling us. Now I'm satisfied." She nodded, and stuffed everything back to the box.

"I thought you'd be angrier with them."

She shrugged. "They were very polite, so I was polite back. That's a common sense. I get that they are feeling bad for messing up, no reason to be rude."

"Right. Thank you."

"You're welcome. So? This is not the only reason you called me here, right?"

Again, Aya's ability to observe and pick up on the others' intentions threw Katsunori out of his concept for a moment. He pulled at his fringe and twisted it around his finger.

"Right... A golden week training camp is starting next Wednesday. Everyone will sleep at school, it is a tradition, and we will stay here on the Tuesday night as well. Is that okay with you?" He asked.

"Why wouldn't it be? It's not like I have competitions or anything."

"But you do have practises and Taiga told me that Haruka throws big amounts of work at you." At that Katsunori frowned. He couldn't imagine the goofy, cheerful and happy-go-lucky Haruka working one of his children that much. Well, he hadn't kept in proper contact with the man for years so he had no idea how much he'd changed.

"We don't practise during the golden week. Though, I have one more practise on Tuesday, but I'll come back here afterwards..." His overly observant look made her sigh. "I can manage, Katsunori. I'll be here. It's my duty to cook after all, right?"

"That would be very helpful."

"Good. Anything else?" She asked matter-of-factly.

Katsunori was watching the young woman in front of him. He was well aware of the Kagamis' weaknesses, and the last thing he wanted was to see Aya broken. He sighed. "The team is there for you. They might not be mature, and some of them might not vibe well with you, but you can rely on them. Also, if it's too much, whatever it is, I'm here too. I might not be your father and I might not like kids, but you can rely on me." After he said it, he felt like he had given the greatest speech of his life.

Aya's lips quirked upwards into a crooked smile. "Thanks. I'll keep that in mind." She said with a hinge of bitterness in her voice.

She got up and left.

Katsunori sighed. It was always so difficult to get close to Aya. She smiled and laughed and talked to people, but in reality it was probably only Taiga who could get really close to her.

He wasn't sure if she was currently troubled by something, but he had a feeling the workload she was getting, and responsibility that came with it was slowly eating her up.

######

"Okay everyone!" Aya called all of them to the benches, before they could start with practise. "We have a problem concerning the jerseys."

Imayoshi was surprised to hear that. In the morning he had been informed that the jerseys had arrived. Well, it wasn't Aya-chan telling him, and he hadn't seen the goods. "What happened?" He asked.

"We have fifteen jerseys and that's it. No t-shirts, no sweatpants, no jackets, nothing. Just fifteen jerseys. I called the company and it should be dealt with till the next week. But for now..."

"Only fifteen of us can go to the practise match." Imayoshi filled in, taken aback by the first year girl's doughtiness. Most of girls would chicken out from the situation like this. _So she called the company. What d'ya know, she is braver than I'd thought._ The very first day she had appeared he had had the feeling she was dangerous, but that was not all. She was confident, gutsy and resourceful. She was a lot more mature than some third years were, and she was only fifteen.

"Basically yes." She nodded.

"Okay. Hand out those jerseys we have. And we'll see who'll get a chance to play."

"Sure. I'll read numbers and you'll come and take it." She said and brought the box from a storage room.

After all the jerseys were handed to their rightful owners, they started practising. A jersey with the number 5 stayed on the bench. It was Aomine's and he was nowhere to be found once again. At least Satsuki promised to hand it to him.

The girls were taking notes on the team's progress; strengths and weaknesses of the players. It was the boring part of any managerial work, as Aya complained sometimes.

"Aya-chan?" Satsuki asked carefully.

The redhead blinked at her. "Hm? What is it?"

Satsuki'd never gone anywhere alone with Aya so far. And their talks were limited to the time they spent in changing room and occasional hallway talks. They saw each other almost every day due to practises, but they'd never had any girls' talk.

"Would you like to go with me to a cafeteria? I'd like to spend some time with you." The pinkette proposed hopefully, already decided that she wouldn't take 'no' as an answer.

"When?" Aya asked, already picturing the list of tasks she had to finish before allowing herself to go out. It was still an amount of work she was fine with. Why was Katsunori so worked up about it?

"Ummm... Today after practise?"

"I can't today. I have dancing practise, but tomorrow after the practise match would be fine with me. Or some day on a weekend?"

"Tomorrow is fine." Satsuki nodded happily. "There is this new cafeteria near the station. I wanted to go there. And I want some girly company! It's been so long since I hung out with another girl. It's always Aomine-kun, and he's no fun!"

Aya chuckled. "I guess it will be a nice change of pace, then."

"Deal! I'm sooo looking forward to it." Satsuki was almost jumping up and down in joy. Finally, she'd get to have a nice talk with Aya. She hoped she could find out some things about her this way.

* * *

"Don't even think about sneaking away." Aya warned him, after classes. It was their duty to clean up the class and then they had to go to another school for the practise match.

Aomine was lazily sitting at his desk, watching her tiding up and waiting for the right opportunity to slip away. He so didn't feel like having a practise match. What was the point anyways? Those guys would give up after two quarters at best. "Hai, hai." He said absent mindedly.

"You are unusually grumpy today." She pointed out.

He was lost in his thoughts; he didn't even hear her.

She sighed and jumped up to wipe the upper corner of the blackboard. She wasn't that short, but their blackboard wouldn't come all the way down and she couldn't reach. _Lazy ass._ She thought, sending him a nasty glare, which he ignored.

When she was done, she approached his desk and waited for him to notice her.

"You done?" He asked emotionlessly. The usual teasing spark was missing in his eyes as well.

Aya seriously considered hitting him for the remark nevertheless. That she had to tidy up all alone was one thing, but him actually having the guts to mock her because of it was infuriating. She wasn't sure that he realized it this time.

"Thanks to your huge help it went much quicker, thank you." She said; sarcasm dripping from her voice. She turned on her heel and went out not giving him a second glance.

Aomine blinked at her in slight surprise, and then obediently followed; for once with no retort. He had a feeling that if he uttered another word she would seriously hit him. And provoking Aya while she was in a bad mood wasn't a good idea.

She cooled down till they reached a school bus, where they were supposed to meet with the others.

Satsuki was checking the list of players – only the regulars and the first years were going – and handing out the research she'd made about the other team. It was only a practise match, so the research wasn't as thorough as it could've been. Katsunori had told her not to do it at all, because he wanted to see his team play against a completely unknown opponent, but that didn't stop her. A habit was an iron cloth, and this was hers.

"Aomine-kun." She checked his name and nodded, relieved that Aya dragged him here. She was giving him the papers but he refused it.

"I told you not to do unnecessary stuff, Satsuki." He rumbled and pushed her hand away. He passed by her and slumped into the seat next to Sakurai.

There was hurt on her face for a moment before she shook it off.

"Don't worry, Satsuki. He's been grumpy the whole day." Aya said and smiled at her. She considered it strange that she, who knew Aomine for only three weeks, was cheering up Satsuki, who'd known him for years.

"R-right." She said and checked Aya's name. They were the last ones.

Katsunori nodded to the driver and they took off. The boys who were supposed to play were discussing vividly about the upcoming match. They were excited. It was their first practise match in this season.

"What do you think, Aomine-san?" Sakurai asked his seatmate, driven by the enthusiastic conversation of the others. Even those who wouldn't get to play were looking forward to it.

He gave them all an unimpressed look. "Just give me the ball."

"What?! How arrogant can you be?" Wakamatsu scolded him immediately.

"Oi, oi." Captain spoke before Aomine could retort something. "Calm down Wakamatsu."

"Tch." Wakamatsu frowned. "Talk about arrogant bastards."

Imayoshi sighed. This was going to be a one troublesome afternoon.

Aya tuned the guys out and stared out of the window. The hum of engine and talks of her team lulled her into sleep and she dozed off. When they reached their destination, Satsuki gently shook her shoulder.

"Aya-chan. We are here."

"Huh? Five more minutes, please." She mumbled sleepily.

"You need to get up, come on."

"Just kick her off the seat, Satsuki." Aomine snickered.

"Aomine-kun!"

Aya's eyes immediately snapped open to glare at him. And there she thought he was actually a decent guy last weekend. How naive she had been. "Mind your own business." She growled at him.

"See? She's up. You're welcome." He said with a smirk and exited the bus.

"I'm so gonna strangle him one day."

Satsuki chuckled. "You would make a good couple."

"Don't. Seriously don't. It's not even funny." Aya rubbed her eyes and grabbed water bottles.

"Just saying." She took her share and both followed the boys.

Kitamiya high-school was an all boys' school a lot smaller than Touou. Students going home were curiously looking at them, guessing what their business might be. They arrived at the gym, where the Kitamiya's players were already warming up.

Katsunori and Kitamiya's coach shook hands and started discussing. Kitamiya's captain approached to greet them.

He looked rather bored. "Hello. I'm Nara Gorou. I'll take you to the changing room."

"Imayoshi Shoichi. Nice to meet you." Imayoshi introduced himself, taken aback by the other captain's uninterested behaviour.

The Kitamiya's team didn't have a manager, heck except those two old teachers they didn't have any girl in the school, so all boys were ogling at Aya and Satsuki as they were both pretty and gifted in the field of busts, though no one came to talk with the girls.

"I don't like it here." Aya said. The way those boys were looking at her was disturbing. She was used to being watched, but this was almost equal to harassing.

Without being aware of her surroundings, Satsuki said positively: "It's not that bad. They seem decent."

"Hey." One of the boys mustered up the courage to come and talk to them. "I'm Aoyama Jun."

"Kagami Aya." She said curtly and bowed. Talking with this bunch enthusiastically wasn't exactly what she wanted. Frustrated teenagers in all boys' school were not something to trifle with. And the air around this one was particularly unpleasant. The hairs on the back of her neck prickled as the boy stared at her. Her instincts kicked in, making her feel like running away. No, she really didn't like it here. But despite all that, she needed to act calm and composed.

"I'm Momoi Satsuki. Nice to meet you." The pinkette introduced herself happily and smiled. She didn't seem to notice the danger, so she was friendlier. In her sweet naivety she thought the boy wanted to be nice, because he had a pleasant face.

 _She is an idiot._ Aya thought. The boy might look nice, but Aya wasn't fooled. There was something dangerous about him. Thankfully, he was scanning Aya rather than the pinkette and Aya could play indifference.

"I'm really interested if that Aomine is really as good as everyone says." He started a casual conversation, his eyes never leaving Aya's breasts.

"He is." Aya nodded.

"Don't be so cold, Aya-chan~, I'm trying to have a nice talk here." He said. "I'm pretty confident I can take him on." He said with a smirk.

"Good luck with that." She said and grabbed Satsuki's elbow. "Come on, the coach called us."

"Eh? But Aya –"

"Shut up." Aya hissed into Satsuki's ear. "I don't want to be breathing the same air as him. He makes my skin crawl."

"He seemed nice." Satsuki whined quietly.

"How naive can you be?" Aya shook her head when they arrived to coaches.

Katsunori gave her one of his bored looks; a sign she could talk.

"You wanted to discuss the starting line up and strategies, right?" She asked pleasantly, knowing the guy was listening. Her reddish eyes were, however, giving Katsunori a clear message **'please cooperate'**.

He was quick to catch on what was probably happening. He'd expected some problems after all. "Sure. Show me your ideas." He got up and headed towards the bench prepared for Touou.

"Was he bothering you?" He asked quietly when he sat down, acting as if he was going over their plans.

"Not yet, but you should see the way he ogled us." Aya said calmly, but she was far from being calm.

He sighed. "It's fine. Nothing will happen, Robin. I promise."

 _Maybe I'm just paranoid._ Aya thought and tried to shake off the unpleasant feeling. It wasn't like she couldn't protect herself if something was to happen, and she wasn't here alone. But an instinct was an instinct, and she'd already learned to listen to it.

Before Satsuki could ask anything, their boys came in, already warmed up, wearing the black jerseys with numbers and Touou's symbol. Aya immediately pulled out her usual cheerfulness.

"You look good!" She said to them with a smile.

"Thank you!" Ishii and Kano said in unison with wide grins. "We probably won't play though."

"That doesn't change the fact that you look good."

"Now now." Katsunori clapped to get their attention. "Starting line up is Imayoshi, Wakamatsu, Susa, Sakurai and Aomine. This time, you can do whatever you want. Understood?"

"OSSU!"

"You feeling okay, Sakurai-kun?" Aya asked gently. The boy looked so stressed.

"I-I'm sorry. Sorry. I'm okay. Sorry I worried you."

Aya patted his shoulder. "You are good, have confidence. Go get 'em."

Her encouraging smile helped him to calm down. It wasn't the first match he'd been put in. He would manage.

"Mother hen coming out, eh?" Aomine teased. "Any encouraging words for me?"

She rolled her eyes. Then she smirked and pulled him down to her level by his ear, which made him wince in pain. "Go get 'em, Honey-bun." She whispered, so that only he could hear.

"Would you stop that?!" He huffed in annoyance, and shoved her hand away.

Her eyes twinkled and she forgot about the other team for a moment. "What was it? Want me to repeat it?"

He glared at her. "Oh, don't you dare, you witch."

The team shot them curious glances, but before anyone could ask anything, Katsunori shook his head in exasperation. "Go line up." He said and pushed them forward.

Aomine was standing opposite Aoyama. They shook hands and Aomine looked him up and down. So this was his opponent. Nothing interesting, and yet there was something off about the guy.

Aoyama smirked. "Do you think you could share that redheaded hottie?" He asked provocatively, so only Aomine could hear.

His eyes narrowed dangerously. "She ain't for sharin'." He hissed. The sheer idea of this guy laying a finger on Aya made his stomach turn.

"Huh... We'll see 'bout that, Aomine-kun~" He hummed, as they spread across the court, waiting for the tip off. Maybe if he could rile up the ace of the generation of miracles, he could have a slight chance. "I'll defeat you, and she'll be mine."

 _She'll be yours?..._ "Hmph. How stupid can you be?" Aomine snickered darkly, just as he caught the ball; without properly looking at the pass. His team truly followed his wish. Well, at least he could crush this insolent idiot as soon as possible.

Aoyama was no match. He had a few good moves, but Aomine slipped past him as if he wasn't even there and made the first points for Touou.

The next three points were stolen by Sakurai, who got the ball. "Sorry!" He said as he shot.

Aya chuckled. "Is he going to apologise to his opponents every time he does that?"

"Hmm... He probably doesn't mean it, but it is a pretty good method to rile them up." Katsunori mused. There were some details Sakurai could work on. His release was quick, but they could take it one or two notches further...

Aomine wasn't going all out, and he was playing even less seriously than he had played against Aya, yet he was getting many points for Touou. The Kitamiya's defence was useless against him, and it was no fun.

"Y' know." He said to Aoyama, who was still struggling to stop him. "That redhead plays better than you."

"Wha'?!"

Aomine shrugged and made another shot.

Kitamiya stole some points during the first quarter. However, while Aomine was getting the ball it didn't matter much. The point difference was only growing wider. Touou crushed this team in only the first quarter. The score was 45 – 15.

They came back to benches. "You are doing great!" Satsuki cheered them.

"That's obvious, Momoi-san." Imayoshi said. Aomine truly was the best. He made all the shots he attempted, and got their team ahead. It couldn't be better.

Aomine yawned. This match was so futile for the other party. And he could feel that he got better. Again. Those few practises he got dragged to. The basket he played with Aya... _Tch._ He was holding back so much, and was still _that_ good. It was truly boring. And those cheap fouls Aoyama had tried were so desperately embarrassing.

Aya watched his dark expression with concern. She forgot to listen what the plan was.

"Aya-chan."

"Hm?"

"He'll be fine." Satsuki told her with a sad smile.

Aya looked away. "It's not like I was concerned or anything."

"Yes you were."

Katsunori looked at the girls with interest. Was something going on? He thought Aya might handle Aomine, not that she would become fond of the arrogant ace. _I guess it can't be helped. They are similar in some ways..._

During the second quarter, Touou pulled ahead even more. This time they were using mostly Sakurai. The coach wanted to see how the boy could perform under pressure, and what his successful shooting rate was.

Because of this, Kitamiya managed to come back a little bit, they were a team that needed time to actually start working. And this time, they were avoiding Aoyama vs. Aomine set up. Ans Touou was a team that focused on offence, so it was possible to score against them too. After the second quarter the score was 80 – 38.

Kitamiya was losing their will to play. With this score difference, it was impossible to turn the tables, as long as Aomine was in the game. And even if he decided to stop playing, it would be unbelievably hard to close 42 point difference.

"I'm done." Aomine rumbled during the 10 minute break in the middle of the match. He took a towel to wipe his face from sweat and slumped on the bench.

"Aomine-kun! You have to play in games."

"I did. I created the gap." He glared at Satsuki, and then his eyes turned to Imayoshi. "You can keep it up, right, _Captain_?"

The usual smirk appeared on Imayoshi's face. "Yes."

Aomine raised an eyebrow as Satsuki. "See?"

"But coach!" She protested, looking for help there.

"Let him go." Katsunori said. He could see the huge disinterest in Aomine's play ever since the match had started. "Actually... Susa, you sit out too. Ishii, Kano, get out there. I want to see how you'll manage."

"What?!" The two friends looked at each other in disbelief. Then, happy grins appeared on their faces. "Yes!"

Ishii looked at Aomine. Those two weren't on good terms, but still... "Any tips?" Ishii asked.

Aomine looked at him lazily, thinking whether to answer or not. However, Aoyama's comment was stuck in his head, so: "Don't let him provoke you." He said.

Ishii nodded. "Anything else?"

Aomine gave him a long look saying _'seriously?'_.

"Worth trying." He shrugged, and then leaned over Aya's shoulder to peer into her notebook. "What are his specialties?" He asked looking at Aoyama.

"You've been watching no?" She gave him a scolding look, and then she smiled and explained her notes anyways. "I assume he started with basketball just recently. His ball-handling needs a lot of work so I believe you can steal from him without much trouble, but his footing is good. I assume he might have played football before. Anyways, you are better than him, so don't worry, just be careful about fouls. He will try to play dirty when the referee isn't looking. Aomine could avoid it, because of his skills. You be careful, we don't need any injuries. Okay?"

"Sure. Thanks."

Aya smiled encouragingly. Her team was not going to lose.

Meanwhile, Satsuki and Susa gave tips to Kano, who seemed more nervous than Ishii. Well, he'd started playing only recently, hadn't been in many games, and Kitamiya's small forward was a third year. It was normal.

The third quarter started and Kitamiya celebrated Aomine's leave, but there wasn't much to celebrate. They soon found out, that Touou wasn't strong because they had one good player. The entire team of Touou was high level; too high for them to take on.

And except Kano's few fumbles, they managed to keep the point difference. Every time Kitamiya scored, Touou scored back. And they were stopping Kitamiya's attacks here and there.

Imayoshi could use his teammates efficiently, and Wakamatsu was a steady pillar to get the point if the first years happened to miss.

"Where did Aomine disappear to?" Yamaoka asked. He was angry enough that he didn't get to play, and that the first year was even allowed to go away.

"Eh?" Aya and Satsuki looked around, but Aomine really wasn't there.

"Want us to fetch him?" Aya asked.

"Hmmm." Katsunori played with his hair. "He should be fine. Still... Maybe you should check up on him."

"Right." Aya nodded, got up and left.

"Ah..." Satsuki wanted to say something, but then she closed her mouth. Maybe it was better this way, Aomine seemed to tolerate Aya more than her, or at least the redhead annoyed him less.

"I know you are his friend Momoi-san, but right now, Aya is probably the only one who can truly understand his problem." Katsunori said to her, after he noticed her distressed expression. "You know she dances, right?"

Satsuki nodded. Yes, she knew. But there was more to it, apparently. "What do you mean?"

"Have you ever seen her dance?"

"No."

Katsunori sighed. It wasn't his place to talk about Aya; then again, she couldn't keep everything secret from her team. "When you do, you'll understand. She is Aomine in the dancing world."

"Oh... She must compete then, no?" She asked. If the coach knew, maybe he would tell her.

"Ask her that yourself and maybe she'll give you the answers you've been searching for. She didn't tell me anything specific either."

That left Satsuki confused, and even more curious. It was good that she'd invited Aya out.

######

Aya didn't have to search for Aomine all that much. She found him laying on the ground near water taps watching clouds. He glanced at her, but ignored her. He really wasn't in the mood for any pep talks.

"Doesn't that one look like dog?" She asked as she sat down to his side, pointing at one of the clouds.

"Mhm." He mumbled and looked at her with a corner of his eye. "Did they send you to check up on me?"

"Not really. Katsunori just thinks I understand you better than the others."

Now that got his interest. "Why so?"

"Not telling." She smirked at him teasingly. "Where would be the fun in that?"

"..."

He turned his attention back to the sky. Time was slowly flowing as they stared at the sky and chased the clouds with their eyes. Aya's presence was soothing, calm.

"It was boring for you, wasn't it?" She asked after several minutes.

 _Urgh... The silence was nice._ "I don't need your concern."

Aya snickered. "Don't worry. You are old enough to manage yourself. I just... Why are you distressed when they give up? It's their problem, not yours."

He sighed. "Have you ever played... no... how to explain... Have you ever danced with anyone who wasn't into it?" He didn't know what the 'dancing' she did was like. He wasn't sure why he was bothering himself with explaining either. He could've shoved her away like everyone else. But for some reason, he wanted Aya to really understand, and then leave him alone.

"Yeah. And so? I still dance. Just like you still play basketball." She smiled at him and his eyes widened in surprise. He hadn't expected this answer. And she continued: "How far have you actually gotten? Three times in the nationals; some local contests? And that's it, right? I get that you are only fifteen, but Aomine, you can complain after you've searched the world and stood on top of it and still haven't found your equal. Until then... You are just whining, self-centered and arrogant... person..." She didn't want to insult him, but that's how he acted most of the time.

He snorted at the lack of an insult. Her description of him, however, stung. Because she was right. He hated when someone was preaching about teamwork and practises and all; like they ever walked in his shoes, but she wasn't preaching, no. She was scolding him, and she meant it well, he knew. Somewhere deep inside he knew it. And so he overlooked the non-insult.

He sat up and looked at her. "Top of the world, eh? Speaking like you've seen it all, Sweetheart." His tone was mocking, indeed. He wanted to see her reaction.

She was sitting with her arms folded on top of her bent knees. Her reddish eyes were burning with a powerful flames that didn't seep out. Enchanting... She wasn't offended by his behaviour, merely amused.

"Who knows?" She got up and dusted off her skirt. "Maybe I have."

"Aya-chan~" Aoyama's voice reached her ears just when she was about to return to the gym. "Here's where you've disappeared to."

"Do you need anything from me?" She asked and her attitude made 180°. If she was being relatively nice to Aomine, she was icy cold towards this person.

"Why are you so frosty to me, Aya-chan? I could melt you within minutes!" He said in a suggestive voice and his puppy-like eyes might've made some girls fall into his arms, but it was disgusting to Aya.

"I don't need it, nor do I want it. Leave me alone."

"But I would treat you like a queen!" He whined more.

 _Just how embarrassing can he be?_ "I said. Fuck. Off." She said slowly, accentuating every word. "Is that clear?"

She turned to leave, hoping this wouldn't escalate and not noticing Aomine's stunned expression after he'd heard her swear.

Aoyama wasn't the type who would let a girl he wanted go away that easily. If she didn't want to, she would have to. Aomine didn't concern him much. He assumed the star didn't want to get his scholarship cut, and basketball players from renowned schools were forbidden to get involved in fights if they didn't want to get thrown off the team.

He grabbed her elbow, not at all gently. "Well, if it didn't go the nice way..." He pulled her towards him.

"OI!" Aomine was already on his feet ready to break Aoyama's nose, when something unexpected happened.

Aya turned around, ending up really close to the guy, and within a second a high pitched **_'Hiiiiiii!'_** could be heard.

In her turn, she grabbed the boy's balls and squeezed them.

Poor Aoyama had tears in his eyes and was scared to move a millimetre that she would seriously crush his treasures.

"It would go the hard way?" She sneered. "Sorry pal, you miscalculated. If you want your queen, search for someone on your mental level. I said I wasn't interested." Her voice lowered into a dangerous growl. "And if **_I_** say fuck off, then **_fuck the hell off._ **Do you understand?"

When she looked into his eyes, he saw blazing fires of hell. He nodded furiously.

"Good." Aya smiled and her pleasant but fake smile scared him even more.

She let go and Aoyama fell to his knees with a whimper, his hands instinctively covering his sore crotch.

Aomine was stunned. So far, he only saw that in a movie, but thanks to Aya, he could witness a real life situation. He was ready to help her, but the fiery girl could manage just fine. _Scary._ He certainly didn't want to be in that boy's place. Ever.

"What a maaaan..." Aomine whispered mockingly, for which he got a nasty glare from the kneeling boy.

After she washed her hands – she definitely didn't want to remember what his balls felt like – she turned towards Aomine as if had nothing ever happened.

"Now. I believe we have a bus to catch." She said and headed back in.

Aomine followed, but after a moment, when there was no one in sight, Aya stopped and crouched down.

"What is it?" He asked, not sure if she was okay.

"That was scary." She muttered.

His eyebrows arched up. " _You_ were. Yeah. I never thought I'd see something like that."

" _He_ was." Aya got up and turned towards him. She stretched her hands to him, so he could see they were shaking. "See?"

He was blinking at her shaking hands not sure what to do. She seemed fine when dealing with the jerk. And now she got all shaky? He heard her took a deep breath and she pulled her hands back.

"No. Never mind." She turned around and started walking again.

On the way back, she discussed with Ishii, Kano and Sakurai about the match all over again. She was sort of sad that she hadn't seen them play and win because of Aomine. She should have stayed there with them. It made her relieved when they didn't hold it against her and just shrugged it off.

She was looking forward to going to cafeteria with Satsuki, but perplexed feelings were swirling in her. She wanted to be friends with Satsuki, and at the same time, she was afraid of it. Satsuki was different from Kiku, she had the childish naivety that Kiku and Aya didn't have any more. She wasn't sure how she should treat Satsuki.

On their way to cafeteria they talked about school mostly, how they were doing; who their partners for assignments were and so on.

The cafeteria itself was very comfortable. Everything was contrasting in white and black colours, it had cute tables and carved chairs. The staff greeted them with polite smiles and seated them to a table according to the girls' liking.

They made their order; Aya wanted a strong espresso and a strawberry cake, while Satsuki went for a vanilla milk-shake.

"Tell me one thing. Did Aomine ever study?" Aya asked when the waiter left to get their order.

Satsuki rubbed her cheek in embarrassment. "Not really. He got past exams in middle school, solely thanks to my copied notes. And he only read them the night before."

"And he passed?" If that was true then Aomine was far from stupid.

Satsuki frowned. "Barely... but yeah. His grades were always terrible. He hates studying, 'cause it's boring."

"Hah...How lucky." Aya chuckled. "But it's not like I don't get it."

"Tell me about it." Satsuki agreed. "For someone who hates to put effort into things, it is unbelievable you made him do the essay. He seriously asked me for a few kanji. How'd you do that?"

"Ah... I guess I blew off a bit, and destroyed his previous _katakana_ attempt. I'm not proud of it, but... It served its purpose." She shrugged.

"Excuse me, ladies." The waiter came back with their order and placed it in front of them. "If there is anything you need, just ask me." He said with a smile.

"Thank you." Aya smiled back.

When he left, she looked at Satsuki and sighed. "Now. That I call a great service."

"What do you mean?" Satsuki tilted her head curiously. "Is it different in America?"

"Depends on where you go and how lucky you are. Some waiters who don't like their job will treat you like you are a bother to them and then there are those who are very pleasant and friendly. But ever since I've come to Japan I haven't experienced a poor customer treatment, seriously. And you don't even leave a tip. I've embarrassed myself couple of times until I've understood this. It's like... shocking!"

"Tips? Like additional money to your payment? You leave tips in America?" She asked in surprise. She'd never even thought about something like this before.

"Yeah! Everywhere. As long as I'm satisfied with the service and it's not obligatory, I don't mind... but some restaurants bill it, so you have to leave a tip regardless of your your satisfaction. I was very surprised when a waiter refused to take a tip here." Aya chuckled, remembering the embarrassing situation she had gotten both of them into.

"But you've lived here before, right?"

"I was a kid. True, I've come here couple of times throughout the years, but it was only for a short periods of time. Too short to get accustomed." She started eating the cake she had. Good lord, it was so delicious.

"You travelled a lot?" Satsuki asked, slowly sipping from her shake.

"Yes." She said hesitantly, evaluating how much she could tell the pinkette. One slip and Satsuki would succeed with the research she was most likely trying to do behind her back.

"Why?" It was a curiosity, and Satsuki didn't mean anything bad.

"Because I could."

"And because of the competitions, right?" She asked, disappointed by Aya's constant avoidance.

Aya's eyes were swirling with emotions Satsuki couldn't decipher. Bitterness? Anger? Annoyance? Distrust? Hesitation? Disappointment? Sadness? ... There was so much, and Satsuki's intuition couldn't pick just one.

"Listen Satsuki," Aya's voice was suddenly serious. "I don't know how much you know, or where did you get that from. But please... Stop searching. The last thing I need are some strange rumours spreading throughout the school, because you can't keep it for yourself."

"I wouldn't..." She started to defend herself, offended by Aya's doubts, but she stopped. Aya was right. Satsuki had a bad habit of sharing everything with at least two or three people she considered 'friends'. And it had happened before, that those 'friends' had twisted it into strange rumours.

Aya raised eyebrow at her, her expression saying _'see?'_ "Sooner or later everything gets out eventually, but I'd rather have it happen later." She said simply, and took another bite of her cake. "If you can't keep things for yourself, don't go researching personal life of the others, Satsuki. You will only make enemies."

It was only an advice from Aya, not a threat, and Satsuki could tell that much from the girl's voice and body language. The redhead didn't mean bad, but oh, how much that stung.

"But I want to be your friend! How can I do that if I don't know you?"

"Then get to know me. Take your time. You don't need to have my entire life story in some file after only three weeks, while I know nothing about you. That's not how friendships work." Aya smiled at her encouragingly. "Truth to be told, I don't know how to treat you either."

"Eh?" Satsuki blinked at Aya. She was surprised about the straightforwardness of the girl, and she knew it took a lot of courage. "Why?"

"I don't know yet, but when I figure it out, you'll be the first to know." She'd swear she'd met Satsuki somewhere before, she just couldn't remember where or when. And so she smiled kindly; it was pointless to worry the pinkette over nothing. "Is that okay?"

 _I've seen that kind of smile before._ The pinkette thought but couldn't remember when or where. "I s'ppose." She couldn't force answers. "But I want to know one thing."

"Yes?" Aya asked and took another spoon of cake.

"The coach said that you are Aomine-kun in the dancing world. What did he mean?"

Aya's eyes narrowed into slits. _I'm gonna kill him._ The murderous thought made Satsuki shiver in fear, but she refused to give up the answer and remained staring at Aya intensely.

The redhead sighed in defeat. "I so don't want this to go around the team, let alone the school... But if Katsunori starts talking there's no escaping." Aya sighed again. The decision she was about to make was difficult. What was easier to handle as a rumour? Something people wouldn't believe, right? "I've won some world championships in Balroom dancing more specifically Latin dances, which were my specialization." She said nonchalantly as if announcing the weather. _Though it wasn't just Latin..._

Satsuki almost choked with her vanilla-shake. "WHAT?!" She stood up, unable to keep her voice down. But after noticing a nasty glares from an older ladies, she covered her mouth and sheepishly sat back.

Aya gave her an unimpressed, almost bored look. "I don't think anyone will believe that, but yeah. That's pretty much why Katsunori had said I'm similar to Aomine."

"Why haven't you told anyone?!" She hissed.

"Why should I? It has nothing to do with any of you. Really." Aya finished her cake and watched Satsuki with a mixture of amusement and worry. "And I quit competing, so... What does it matter anymore?"

An investigative mode within Satsuki switched on. "How can I believe this anyways?"

"Whether you believe it or not, it's up to you. But I have no reason to make up something like this." She said calmly and sipped her coffee.

"Hmmm... True enough." Satsuki admitted in deep thoughts.

Aya, meanwhile, called the waiter and asked for their receipt. She turned to observe Satsuki for a bit. "It's fun to watch how you make theories and guess." She commented with a mischievous smile.

"If I just... Oh no... I'll wait till you decide to tell me everything on your own." Satsuki decided, even though she knew it would be one damn of a hard job to keep her curiosity in check. And she also would not tell this to anyone. She had to keep this for herself and then again, what fun would it be to tell Aomine everything? _You should figure it out on your own, Dai-chan._

"Oh?" Aya raised an eyebrow. "That sounds like fun."

* * *

 **A/N:** That's it for the time being. Don't be angry at Aomine, he tried to help Aya - he just wasn't fast enought. And I wrote it like this for a reason, which should be revealed in chapter 10 or 12 depends on how I'll decide to cope with the 'golden week training camp' chapter.

I admit that the cafeteria part feels somewhat like a filler, but I needed to put it there. I was thinking a lot about what to write there, and I changed it several times, but I couldn't cut it out completely. I want to give some depth to Aya's relationship with Satsuki too - and there will be more to it, but I'll give it out slowly.

About the tips... I've been to America and we did leave tips almost everywhere, it's the same in my country. I've only read about Japan so if I made a mistake, I'm sorry.

Let me know what you think and remember, reviews are appreciated, but never necessary.

 _\- S._


	8. Chapter 8: Boxes

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone who followed and favourited and reviewed! I've never dreamt of having so many followers! This chapter is slightly shorter.

Enjoy! :)

* * *

 _It's the friends you can call up at 4 a.m. that matter. **– Marlene Dietrich**_

 _A woman knows by intuition, or instinct, what is best for herself. **– Marilyn Monroe**_

 _A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds. A good deed is never lost; he who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love. **– Saint Basil**_

 _I go with the flow. Whatever music you play for me, I'll dance. – **Gael Garcia Bernal**_

* * *

Aya was woken up in the middle of a night by her phone buzzing. Because it was her personal phone, she reached over and blindly picked up.

"Yeah?" She asked sleepily suppressing a yawn.

 _"_ _Hey, Aya. It's been a long time."_ A familiar voice greeted her in English.

 _"Tatsuya? What the hell? It's the middle of a night here."_ She complained sleepily, switching to English immediately. Saturday nights were the only ones when she could sleep the whole night so she was a bit grumpy that someone dared to interrupt it.

 _" Sorry for waking you up. Can you talk now?"_

 _"Are you asking me if Taiga is near?"_

 _"..."_

 _"Yes, I can speak. He is sleeping."_ She sighed and sat up. It was dark in her room, but she didn't bother to switch on the lights. _"Why can't you just solve this stupid argument of yours?"_

 _"It's between men, Aya, it's not that simple."_ Tatsuya could almost see her rolling her eyes and he chuckled softly. He missed her.

 _"Whatever. Why are you calling me?"_

 _"If I say that I just wanted to hear your voice..."_

 _"I will hang up."_ She said firmly. _"We might have had a few good make out sessions, but that's it, Tatsuya. We didn't vibe well as a couple."_ _Well I **did** love you… But you know it._

 _"... Yeah, I know."_ He sighed. _'A make out session' you say… It was much more than that, Robin._ _I loved you._

 _"So? What do you need?"_ She asked expectantly, knowing that Tatsuya surely had a good reason to call her.

 _"My father is being transferred back to Japan. I can choose to either stay here with mom, or go with him. So I'm considering going to Japan."_

She blinked in surprise. "Okay. _When?"_

 _"After I finish the first year. Sometime in late June."_

 _"And you want me to...?"_ There must've been something he wanted and it sure wasn't a dissection of their former relationship; he wouldn't have called her otherwise.

 _"I've been looking at several schools, but I don't want to be in Tokyo. So uhm..."_

 _So schools out of Tokyo, huh? "You want me to check out some schools and give you tips?"_

 _"Yes. If you could do that, it would be awesome. Preferably some school with dormitory and basketball courts."_ He specified.

 _"Is it a problem if you transfer into first year again?"_

 _"Not much. I'll probably be the oldest, but I don't care. I'll need to catch up anyways. The curriculums are surely different."_

 _"And you don't want to be anywhere near us. I presume?"_ She asked, reading too well in Tatsuya's roundabout ways.

The conversation was like talking about business, and she didn't mind. Tatsuya was, or had been, her brother's best friend, and by extension hers too. The friendships those two had had, was something she hadn't been willing to damage. That was one of the reasons she had broken up with him back then, not the only one though. And it was irrelevant now, since the boys had managed to leave their friendship in tatters just fine on their own. Although, she'd taken Taiga's side back then.

 _"I didn't mean it like that."_ He suddenly realized how badly his statement could've been understood. When it was Aya, he could never pick the words carefully, and in the end he always blurted out whatever was on his mind. When they'd broken up, his heart was broken, as the time passed, he realized that Aya must've been hurt much more than him. And she'd been right, they were, and always had been, better off as just friends. And yet, he still couldn't get over her, no matter what he tried.

She laughed. _"I know. You don't want to face Taiga yet either, right?"_

 _"Something like that."_ He shrugged. _"So?"_

 _"I'll help, don't worry. Just e-mail me the schools you've been looking at."_ Her smile could be heard over the phone. No matter what had happened, Tatsuya was still an important person for her. If she could help, she would.

 _"And if you could... Don't tell Taiga about it. I want to meet him in some competition... Ah... Does he even play basketball now?"_

 _"Don't worry about him. He is not going to quit basketball, just because of some stupid argument. And he's found himself a good team."_

He sighed in relief. "That's _good to hear."_

 _"How are you doing? 's your shoulder okay?"_ She asked with a certain level of worry.

 _"Yeah. Much better. I play with Alex and the others."_

 _"Very well. Tell them I send my regards."_ She yawned. _"Sorry, but I really need my beauty sleep now."_

He smiled softly. _"Sure. Sweet dreams, Robin."_

 _"Thanks."_ She hung up.

Aya lied back and snuggled into her covers with a smile on her face. She hadn't heard from Tatsuya in almost half a year so it was strangely nice to know he was doing fine. The fact she wasn't sad whenever thinking about him anymore, was a sign she had moved on. It was a pleasant realization for her. _Broken hearts do heal after all..._

* * *

On Monday, she was surprised that there were no rumours. No strange looks, nothing. Aomine wasn't trying to burn a hole into her back either. Aya reached a conclusion that this time, Satsuki truly kept her mouth shut.

"What is this?" Aya asked when they returned to the classroom after lunch. There was a letter on her desk with no name on it. She picked it up carefully, not sure what to do with the piece of paper.

Kano looked over her shoulder and smiled foxily. "That, my dear, is a love letter." He hummed.

"Say what?!" Aya turned at him with an incredulous expression. "Someone still does this?"

"Apparently." Ishii mused. "Open it up, maybe it's just some prank."

"Most likely." She was shaking her head in a mixture of disbelief and astonishment.

It was a simple note in a handwriting she didn't recognise.

 _\- Meet me on the rooftop after school. I'll be waiting, beautiful. -_

"Ooooh, certainly a confession!" Kano said happily. "I told you. A love letter."

"Where on earth is 'love' in this one?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

Kano got easily excited about things like this, so he was amazed more than Aya. "You should go and find out who it is. Who knows, maybe you'll start dating someone!"

"Ugh. No." She shook her head and crumpled the message.

"Eeeh? You are not going?" He asked, shocked by Aya's reaction. Most girls would be happy to receive such a message.

"Why should I? If he..." She thought about it for a moment, "or she, has something to say I'd appreciate they face me head on. This roundabout way is just cowardice."

"What if they are too shy? Like Kiku-chan." He thought out loud, dragging Kiku into the conversation.

"I-i-it w-wasn't m-me." She said anxiously.

"I know, silly. You talk with me normally." Aya assured the tiny girl, who sighed in relief. "And why does this matter to you, Kano?"

"Ah..." He scratched his cheek sheepishly. "I've done something like this several times, because I was scared to talk to those girls; they were always surrounded by people, so it was weird."

"Heh, what a coward you are." Aomine snickered. He eyed the letter suspiciously at first, but he had a feeling Aya would react somehow like this. After the little incident with Aoyama he'd figured out the she wasn't interested in stubborn chasers.

"Oi, what was that?! I ain't coward, it's just..."

Aya rolled her eyes and went to throw the message away, leaving the boys to bicker as much as they wanted. She was a little bit interested in what kind of a person would do this, but it was not enough of a reason to go. If the person couldn't manage to come forth and talk to her normally, how could they expect to handle her in a relationship?

######

Mondays were no training days, Satsuki had already left to visit her father at his job, and Aya went home to prepare for her practise. Aomine was not sure what to do. He didn't want to go home yet, and there was nothing in particular he wanted to do.

His legs automatically led him to his rooftop refuge, where he had his dirty magazines stashed, because no one would search for it there. He opened the door and saw someone leaning against the railing. It was strange because no one ever came here.

 _Oh... Aya's admirer._ He remembered, but it was too late for him to turn around and leave.

The boy turned around with a hopeful expression, which died immediately after seeing Aomine.

Aomine looked him up and down and assumed he wasn't particularly interesting. The boy was plainly looking, probably the same height as Aya. Maybe he wasn't bad, but Aomine couldn't picture Aya with this type of guy. Judging by his indoor shoes, he was a second year, so Aomine had no idea who it was.

He couldn't help but smirk. "Kagami went home already."

"And what are you doing here?" The boy asked sounding almost offended.

"This is my rooftop." He shrugged and climbed the ladder to the higher part of it. "If you'd come to check your _date spot_ , you'd have known."

"Someone's cocky for a first year, eh?"

Aomine snickered and laid down to watch clouds. "She is not a girl for you."

"With all due respect, what do you know about her?"

"Certainly more than you, Mr. Admirer." He said lazily.

The boy huffed, and left the rooftop. He had no intention of arguing with that wildly looking first year.

Aomine just snickered. "What d' ya now? She was right about the coward."

* * *

"Kagami-san!"

Sugihara came to her desk after classes, just when she was trying to explain physics to Aomine, because the idiot had sent Ishii to hell, when the latter had patiently tried to explain it. Not that she was much better at it, but she still knew a bit more than Aomine. She usually listened to Ishii and then repeated the same things to Aomine. That way, he would at least act that he was listening.

"What is it?"

"Irihata-sensei called for you. Something about boxes, or what. I didn't understand half of it, sorry." He sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck.

"Ah. Right! I'll go in five minutes. Thank you." She smiled and turned to Ishii, who was just leaving to go to practise. "Ishii, could you take my bag to the gym, please? I have something to take care of before I come to practise, 'kay?"

"Sure, no problem." He took her bag, and threw it over his shoulder.

"Thank you!"

"What was that about?" Aomine asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, so now you listen!" She said exasperatedly. "The uniforms have arrived, I believe. Now, to finish this..."

######

In ten minutes she ran down the stairs, leaving Aomine in the class. Not that she expected him to help anyways.

"Took you long enough, Kagami." Irihata-sensei was tapping her feet, annoyed that she had to wait 10 minutes for Aya to arrive. She didn't like the girl. Partially because she knew English better than her, a teacher, and partially because she was Katsunori's niece and that guy got on her nerves every time she saw him.

"I'm sorry, Irihata-sensei, I was helping Aomine with physics." She smiled politely. "Are the uniforms here?"

Instead of answering, the teacher just pointed a finger towards the three huge boxes. Then she turned and left, mumbling something about insolent brats.

Aya stuck out her tongue after the leaving figure and then looked back at the boxes.

"Oh shit..." The only good thing was that she didn't have to conquer any stairs with them. Other than that...

With a difficulty, she lifted up two boxes. It covered her vision, but she could hold it up at least. The third – the heaviest was the biggest problem.

It wouldn't be Aya if she didn't find a solution.

She was kicking the heaviest box in front of her, and balancing the other two in her arms. She prayed she wouldn't ram into anyone. The probability was, thankfully, low. Most of the students were either gone or attending their clubs, so hallways were vacant. The golden week was also starting, so many students were leaving for training camps, or they simply wanted to be at home and relax.

When she was passing the staircase leading to their floor, she didn't see a yawning person going down until it was too late.

He tripped over the box she was kicking and almost hit his head against the opposite wall.

"Tch! Look where you are going, damn it!" A familiar voice grumbled angrily.

"Aomine?" She peeked from behind the two boxes, surprised to see him there. She thought he'd be on the rooftop, or sleeping under a tree in the school garden where he used to go at times. "I didn't see you. Sorry. You okay?"

"Eh?" He stared at the girl fighting with the weight. "Yeah, fine." He said, sounding less angry now, when he recognised her.

"Uhm... Will you stand there all day, or will you let me pass?" She asked with a slightly mocking expression.

 _Geez...Why hasn't she asked anyone for help?_ He thought. He sighed and scratched the back of his neck.

Then he leaned forward to take the boxes from her arms. In the attempt to get a good grip he brushed her hands and almost pulled away as the electricity shot through his body. It was similar to what he had felt when she had taken his measurements. _Get a grip, stupid._ His mind growled at him. _The girl doesn't even look your way._

When Aya felt Aomine's calloused palms brush hers, she almost dropped the boxes then and there. It startled her. The electricity that ran through her startled her. He was the least person she thought would help her. She annoyed him, pushed him to study – or tried to, she beat him in running... _What the...?!_ She couldn't believe it.

The weight was suddenly lifted from her arms as if the boxes weighted nothing. For him, it was probably like that. He bent down and took the third one as well. Aya didn't mind the weight as much as the size of those boxes... It was difficult to move around with them.

"Thank you... I guess..." She said, suddenly unsure of her ability to speak. Since when did that happen around Aomine?

"You guess?" He smirked. "Why haven't you asked for help anyways?"

"I thought it was only one box..." She shrugged. "And I could manage myself."

"Sure. You had it completely under control."

"Yeah. If you just looked where you were going!"

He couldn't help himself and smiled. He was following her, because now it was him, who had his vision covered by the top box. "What's in it anyways?"

"The Touou's sports' uniforms, sports' bags, jerseys. You know, the messed up order."

"Oh, that one. They hurried up." He vaguely remembered Satsuki mentioning it before.

"I hope everything is okay this time." She said hopefully. "You're coming to the training camp, right?"

"Yeah. Satsuki would kill me with her nagging if I didn't." He rolled his eyes. "But I won't practise." He added quickly.

Aya chuckled at this. "Figures." She hopped and spun around on her foot playfully, all the while trying to stay out of Aomine's way.

They were almost outside, when Aomine tripped over a doorstep he had forgotten about.

"Fuck!" He swore when the top two boxes tumbled down from his arms. At least he didn't fall and made a complete fool out of himself.

"You seem to trip over a lot today." Aya turned around with a half-smirk and hopped back to him. She picked up one box; she knew was lighter than the others to help him.

"And whose fault that is?" He huffed, picking up the other two. Walking was certainly easier now, when he could see.

"I guess I should've warned you." She hummed. "Sorry." She spun around with the box in her arms chuckling for herself. She was in a really good mood that day.

"Something good happened?" He asked curiously, though he had already noticed that whenever there was a dancing practise in her schedule, she'd be like a little sun.

"We have a little competition ready for the kiddos today as we won't train during golden week. I'm really looking forward to seeing how they can cope with it." She didn't know why she told him, maybe he wasn't even listening. But she was happy. She wanted to share it.

He could hear her gentle smile even though she was walking in front of him. He shook his head, trying not to think about anything and just enjoying the little of the warmth she was emanating. And there he had originally thought it had been annoying.

######

"Aya-chan! The uniforms arrived as they should?" Satsuki asked when they entered the gym.

They put down all three boxes. "They've just arrived minutes ago and I haven't checked it yet, so I hope there won't be a problem this time."

"Aomine-kun! How nice of you to help Aya-chan." Satsuki exclaimed happily and loudly, giving him a ' _good boy'_ look.

It wasn't as discreet as Satsuki had thought, so Kano quickly picked up on it. "Oooh, so that's how it is~" He hummed teasingly.

 _Urgh, why?_ Aomine thought feeling like running away. If they came to conclusion he had a thing for Aya it would be a hell lot of teasing.

"What are you talking about?" Aya asked, understanding the situation, and trying to calm it down, unlike Aomine. "I asked him to help me in exchange for my notes from classes he slept through." She explained nonchalantly.

"Hmmm... So that's how it is... So boring." The boy was quick to lose interest.

Satsuki started going through the boxes, handing out the stuff that arrived. The boys were suddenly too preoccupied and excited about the new uniforms and bags, chatting vividly about how helpful they were.

"Why did you say that?" Aomine asked quietly, not interested in his uniform much since he'd already had one.

"Do you want them to cause mayhem and tease you to no ends?" She asked with raised eyebrows.

No, he didn't. But admitting it was like admitting defeat. "Tch."

"Because I certainly don't." Her eyes peered into his. "It wasn't a lie either. I will give you those notes."

"You don't have to." He said pridefully.

"Hai, hai." She chuckled and went to take her new bag and t-shirts with Touou's logo.

######

She got home a bit late than usual. "Hello." She greeted Taiga.

"Yo. You took long enough." He was watching some reality show in TV. It didn't interest him that much, so in a meanwhile he was reading magazines.

"Sorry. The uniforms were finally delivered without a problem, and there was another mini match." She was talking very quickly, running around the house and packing her bag for the golden week, all the while she was taking off her uniform to change into more comfortable clothes for the dancing practise.

"Are you taking everything with you?" He asked unimpressed by her half nakedness.

"Yeah. I'll go back to school right after practise." She stopped for a moment to actually look at her brother. He was pretty much ready to go. "You will take the sweaty clothes back home. By the way, don't you have a training camp as well?"

"More or less, but we are not staying over. Thank gods, I'll sleep in my own bed." He mused and put away the magazine. There was no way he could keep reading while his sister was running around doing at least three things at the same time and still managing to talk with him.

"Right, you don't like sleeping at new places. But I think that with your coach, you'd be worn out enough to sleep wherever." She mused and tied her hair up into a messy bun.

"That's highly possible. The other first years were puking today again." He laughed at their misfortunate lack of stamina. When he looked to where his sister was supposed to be, she was already gone. "Unbelievable." He shook his head.

"Don't you have Tuesdays off?" She came back again to take her laptop and charger.

"Only the afternoons..." And she was gone once again.

"What did you do?!" She shouted from her room, where she was stuffing her clothes into her new sport's bag.

"Power training mostly!" He shouted back so she could hear him. In the back of his mind he was wondering whether the neighbours could hear them too or not, and hoping that they couldn't. "It was so boring!"

"I hope you have enough stamina to continue all evening! We have improvs ready for today and a little competition at the end." She came back again, wearing capri leggings, sports bra and loose top for dancing. She usually changed there but today, they would be glad if they managed to get there on time.

"You packed already?" He asked in surprise.

"I s'pose." She shrugged.

"15 minutes."

She sighed. "Still not the record."

"What was the record?"

"10 minutes and 15 seconds. We were packing for a trip to Cuba I guess." She laughed.

He chuckled at the memory too. "Oh yeah. And we decided we had to catch a plane that was leaving in two hours."

"Two idiots, what else is there to say?" She smiled and took her two bags. "Let's go."

"Oi, give me one." He said, reaching for the bigger one.

"What a gentleman."

"Hn. You are my sister." He huffed as if it explained everything and stepped out of the apartment.

They were walking towards the gym in a quick pace. "I hope you won't bring too many girls over while I'm away."

Taiga just rolled his eyes. "Who do you think would go with me?"

"Uhm. I believe there is quite a lot actually."

"Why are you teasing me?"

"Teasing?" She shook her head and laughed. "You are freakin' hot, dear brother. I'm surprised you don't have girls lined up at the doorstep."

"WHA'?! " He blushed at the idea. His sister was crazy. Real crazy witch.

When they arrived at the gym five minutes before the practise should start, most of the attendees had already been waiting outside.

"I'm really sorry for being this late." Aya bowed down and immediately unlocked the gym.

"It's all right Aya-chan. We are not hurrying anywhere." One of the old ladies, Hiiro-obaa-san said with a smile. She was in her late seventies and she started dancing with her husband for fun. And they seriously had some good skills already.

"Glad to hear that. I've prepared something special for you today. I hope you'll enjoy it." She and Taiga entered after everyone was inside.

Around twelve pairs and one individual little girl showed up. The boy she danced with was down with a cold, but she wanted to come anyways.

"Taiga, you'll dance with Nana today." Aya informed him.

"What? She is seven, and like 120 cm tall. You do realize the height difference, right?" He asked incredulously.

"It's gonna be cute, so get over it." She said and showed him the music list for the day.

His eyes almost bulged out when he saw the list of twenty songs. "It's awfully lot of songs for one practise. Don't you usually go with two, maximum three? And you want a competition at the end too?"

"Ah well. I want to see them dance spontaneously, without me telling them what to do. You know, they'll hear the song for the first time and they should know how to cope with it. Like at a party, you don't know the playlist, you just dance and enjoy it." She explained.

Senri had never done this, and she truly wanted to see all those people dancing on their own. To see how they moved naturally, without her continuously correcting them. As she'd expected, when she introduced the plan to everyone, they were very reluctant about it. Suddenly being left alone to do whatever, without Aya explaining the steps and the rhythm was scary. But at the same time it was the reason why they had started dancing in the first place. The kids got slowly excited about it, and the older ladies quickly got excited as well.

Not all the songs she had prepared had Latin rhythms and not all were easy to dance to.

As she watched them dancing, alone or in pairs, she felt satisfied. She had taught them how to relax and be more spontaneous. When Nana approached Taiga with a lot of fear but also admiration in her eyes, to ask him to dance with her, Aya took out her phone to make a video out of it. You don't see a 190 cm tall giant dancing with a 120 cm little girl often.

Soon, Aya joined the group and danced with them. Anytime they would stop to watch her, she would stop. It wasn't her intention to show off.

When her 20 songs ended, they were all soaked in sweat, but with huge happy smiles on their faces. They hadn't been perfect, their technique might not been good at all, but they'd been allowed to just enjoy the music and move their bodies.

The competition afterwards was really short. Aya divided them into three groups. Each group had one song they had already known, to which they had to dance simultaneously. She, Taiga and Nana were the judges, who picked a winner from each group and those winners danced in a final round.

Those three winners were then given chocolate medals, the size depending on the place, and the overall winner got a special coupon to a chocolate shop, next door. It was cute, not expensive, and they could try out what a competition felt like.

When the practise was over, she took a shower, grabbed her bags and headed to Touou, leaving Taiga to lock up.

* * *

 **A/N:** Tatsuya appeared! And Aomine can be sweet as well. I've always thought of him like that. If anyone seems OOC, then sorry. And we saw Aya's dancing practise! (Note that I do not dance - I'm terrible at it, and all I know comes from either research, or my friend who does dance.)

Let me know what you think and remember, reviews are appreciated but never necessary.

-S.


	9. Chapter 9: Golden week training camp

**A/N** : Thanks to everyone who followed and favourited and reviewed! It makes me very happy. This chapter turned out to be freakin' long (that's why so many quotes). Originally I wanted to cut it into three chapters, but then I decided to leave it like this.

Enjoy! :)

* * *

 _When I dance, I forget everything else and just feel completely happy. **– Katherine Jenkins**_

 _One thorn of experience is worth a whole wilderness of warning. **– James Russell Lowell**_

 _It's difficult working with someone who is not a team player. **– George Takei**_

 _Share your smile with the world. It's a symbol of friendship and peace. **– Christie Brinkley**_

 _Don't give up now. Chances are your best kiss, your hardest laugh and your greatest day are still yet to come. **– Atticus**_

 _There are no strangers here; Only friends you haven't yet met. **– William Butler Yeats**_

 _I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can't accept not trying. **– Michael Jordan**_

 _In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit. – **Albert Schweitzer**_

 _When a body moves, it's the most revealing thing. Dance for me a minute, and I'll tell you who you are. **– Mikhail Baryshnikov**_

* * *

Tsuchiya-san let Aya enter the school building. She was the very last member of the basketball team to arrive. Darkness of the empty hallways was scary. The only source of light were exit lights and vending machines here and there. The classrooms where they'd sleep were on the second floor, relatively far from the entrance. She walked as quickly as possible, refusing to look back. Aya wasn't easily scared, but the schools' atmosphere at night was simply eerie. She expected someone to jump at her any moment.

When she finally heard a chorus of chatting boyish voices, she knew no one would prank her and she sighed in relief.

"Hello." She greeted the boys, but Satsuki and Katsunori were nowhere in sight. _Probably discussing training regime._ She thought

Everyone stopped talking to look at her and greet her. They were crammed into one classroom, where they moved the desks and chairs away to spread futons on the floor. The lights were still on, and they were talking in small groups, or playing cards. Only Aomine was staying aside, not talking with anyone and Sakurai was next to him drawing something into his notebook. Aya had noticed that Sakurai kind of kept close to Aomine, but never truly dared to speak openly with the grumpy ace.

"Hello Sunshine!" Kano greeted her with a wide smile. "We were just talking about you."

"Oh? Sunshine?" She asked curiously.

"Yeah! Have you seen yourself in a mirror?"

"Uuuhm... No... Do I look weird?" Aya blinked at him and looked at her reflexion in a dark window. _Oh, that's why 'Sunshine_ '; her eyes were shining, her cheeks were slightly glushed from quick walking, her hair was still wet and unbelievably messy because she hadn't dried it or combed it after washing. Well, she was happy.

"Was your practise good?" Tada-senpai asked with a kind smile.

"Why do you...?" She had only told the first years about her practises. They had talked about her, so they'd probably told it to everyone. Then she shrugged, she was too happy to be annoyed. "Yeah! It was awesome! I love working with all those people. And I think I've taught them something important over the past two weeks."

"You taught?" Ishii asked and all boys were suddenly interested.

Aya entered the classroom and sat down among them. "Well yeah. Senri, the coach and a very good friend of mine, was out for a business trip; his partner's leg is broken, therefore she can't train, and so the club ended up on me. Though, I can't complain. I've enjoyed it." She was sparkling in joy that evening.

"What kind of dances you know, Aya-chan?" Imayoshi asked, obviously thinking about something, she couldn't quite guess.

"Ballroom, both Standard and Latin, I did ballet, but also acro, a little bit of hip-hop and you can go on. I love Latin dances the most, but I want to try everything, really." She explained, but she had no intention of telling them about the competitions. It wasn't something they needed to know. "Anyways. Did you have some training tonight, or are we starting tomorrow?"

 _So she smoothly changes thetopic whenever it gets uncomfortable for her..._ "Tomorrow, of course. We only had the afternoon practise. We returned here sometime around seven and had an assembly meeting to explain the schedule. I believe Momoi-san will inform you about everything once you are alone." The captain explained.

"Oh, okay. Sorry I wasn't here."

"You have your responsibilities." Wakamatsu jumped in, this time not as loudly as usual. He was somehow admiring the girl and everything she was capable of. A great manager. "And it's not like it was that vital."

"I'm glad then." She smiled and her eyes zoomed on the book Naito had placed next to his futon. "What is that book about?"

"You don't seem to be a reading type..." He teased her with his usual calm expression.

"I prefer talking to people, true, but even I do read too... So?"

Aomine couldn't take his eyes off of her. Waves of positive energy were emanating from her. Kano had said it right, she was like a sunshine. Warm and confident, and overwhelming, she was beautiful; even if her hair was a total mess and she was wearing an oversized hoodie. Or maybe exactly because of that... Naito's comment hadn't put her off in the slightest and she continued with her questions. She didn't pay much attention to him as she chatted with the others, and he was glad for that. It was better if she wouldn't catch him staring.

######

"Aya." Katsunori peeked inside the classroom after he'd overheard a familiar voice.

"Yo. I've just arrived." She said with an innocent smile. It didn't matter she was there for a good half an hour, currently playing cards with those who felt like it.

"Certainly." He wasn't impressed, because she looked too relaxed to 'have-just-arrived'. "Go to your... 'room', to discuss the week's events and the training regime with Momoi-san. I'm certain you know that you are close to the cafeteria on a different hallway."

"I don't get why you make such a big deal about girls and boys being on different hallways. It's not like we would cause troubles." _And you wouldn't check up on us anyways, Katsu..._ She added inwardly.

"You can never be too sure." His grey eyes were giving her an _'I-know-you-you-little-devil'_ look.

"Hai, hai." She got up, took her bag again and left to look for the 'girls'' classroom.

* * *

Aya slept for around three hours, so she would be able to work on L.A.'s time.

Because the girls were in charge of food, Aya had the keys from the cafeteria and the kitchen. She didn't want to wake Satsuki up by turning on the lights in their room, so she made the cafeteria into her working base, where she spread out her papers and reports.

With a big cup of black coffee, she was working on her tasks all the while making phone calls or sending e-mails to their business partners and clients.

######

Aomine could never sleep well at new places. Not to mention he was in one room with the other 24 boys, who were tossing around or snoring or mumbling in their sleep. He gave up trying to sleep around four in the morning. He got up, changed from his sleep-clothes and went for a stroll. He'd have plenty of time to sleep while the others practised.

The lights in the cafeteria got his attention, so he went to check it out – very carefully, because he remembered how Tetsu had scared the shit out of him the last time he had gone to check a suspicious gym with the lights on. There had been strange rumours that time, but it should be safe now.

He walked in quietly and saw Aya with a lot of papers spread around the table, looking for something while talking with someone over the phone in English. She had her back towards the door, so it was his chance to get back at her for those times she had managed to scare him.

When the call ended, Aya leaned against the chair and sighed. She was done for the day.

"Exhausting night?" Aomine's voice rumbled next to her.

She almost jumped out of her skin. It took her a lot not to scream.

"Are you an idiot?!" She hissed at him, standing on the other side of the table.

"Just got back at ya." He smirked and slumped into a vacant chair. "What's this anyways?" He asked taking one of the papers to look at it.

Aya snatched it from him. "Work. What else?"

"What work?" He asked and took another paper.

"None of your business." She snatched it away again, but he took another. "Would you stop making a mess out of my papers?" She frowned at him.

"Gee' someone's grumpy in the morning." He yawned.

"Hmph." She folded all the papers and wanted to turn off her laptop, when she remembered something. "Do you know where your former teammates from Teiko have gone to?"

"Hm?"

"Which schools do they attend?" She rephrased her question, knowing he didn't keep in touch with them, but hoping he knew.

"I don't care. Ask Satsuki." He shrugged and his stormy eyes looked at Aya. "Why?"

"Curiosity." She said with an innocent look in her eyes, but he knew there was more to it.

"I don't buy it." He was staring at her as if it would enable him to read her mind.

Aya was slightly surprised. Since when could Aomine see through her? Or rather, since when did she let her guard down around him? She stared back... "Friend of mine is returning to Japan later on. He is an excellent shooting guard, and asked me to help him find a suitable school. I suppose he could be on par with you five, so..."

"On par with us, huh?" He looked at the ceiling with a sigh. "Why not Touou, then? If he is that good?" There was a hinge of bitterness and arrogance in Aomine's voice. Why was he even talking about all this with Kagami was beyond him...

"His reasons." Aya shrugged. "Oh well, if you don't know, then you don't know. I guess I should start making breakfast."

Suddenly, Aomine paled.

"What is it?" Aya asked curiously.

"Don't let Satsuki in the kitchen." He said gravely.

"Why?"

He shook his head. "Trust me. Don't let her in."

 _What the...?_ Aya thought and disappeared into the kitchen. Cooking for 28 people wouldn't be easy, and it would take lots of time. She wanted to practise with them at least a bit if possible, so she needed someone to help her with food. Why would she willingly cut off an important help?

She soon found out why...

######

The morning practise was more intense than usual. Even some second years had problems keeping up, but Aya was, as usual, in the lead. Unfortunately, she had to leave earlier to prepare lunch. She grabbed Satsuki, to go with her. The pinkette had spent all morning looking for Aomine, who had been ditching and must have found a new hiding spot, so when she finally got to the practise to take notes, she had already missed a lot and now she needed to leave again.

"I'm going to kill him." She complained. "This is a training camp! Aomine-kun, should participate!"

Aya wasn't surprised by the ace's absence. It got on her nerves too, but it was his choice. And she could understand his logic. "He warned us he wouldn't."

Satsuki thought about it for a while, but she didn't get Aya. Not really. "And you are okay with it?"

"Well... It's his choice. I don't think he hates basketball; otherwise, he wouldn't play at all. But I think we should leave him be. If he wants to practise he will come."

"You are unbelievably tolerant, Aya-chan."

"I wouldn't say that... More like I can understand his logic." She shrugged.

The girls arrived at the kitchen and started preparing ingredients.

"Was there a time when you wanted to quit?" Satsuki asked while preparing rice. It was the easiest thing to do, so she hoped she wouldn't mess up like she usually did. "Dancing, I mean."

"I've quit competing, right?" Aya chuckled. "But no. Quitting dancing is not possible for me. I've always loved it and you don't give up on the things you love. True, I loved competing too, but it started to be too much to handle."

"Do you consider going back?" Satsuki turned on a rice cooker, hoping she did it right.

"I don't know. Maybe. But first I want to peacefully finish the high-school." As Aya was cutting vegetables, she looked at Satsuki with the corner of her eye. The pinkette was in the charge of preparing rice, but she looked lost in the kitchen. And there was something so familiar about the way she was looking around that it made Aya ask: "Have you ever danced?"

Satsuki jumped in surprise. "Why would you ask?"

Aya narrowed her eyes. "Have you?" She repeated.

"A little. I was not good at it, and I quit after three years. It was years ago. Before I met Aomine-kun."

"Hmmm..." She wanted to ask what type of dances, but she didn't want to push her luck, and there was something else that caught her interest. "Why do you address him so formally, anyways? You've known him for years."

"Ah well..." The pinkette scratched her cheek. "If I called him Dai-chan, people would talk, as they did in the middle school, I don't like it."

"Dai-chan, huh?" Aya snickered. To call the big, frowning and usually grumpy guy 'Dai-chan'... "How cute. I don't think he'd particularly mind _you_ call him that."

Something started to smell like burning and Satsuki looked around to find the source of the smell, because there was nothing on the cookers yet. Aya was further away; she couldn't smell it yet, and Satsuki didn't want to alert the girl.

In a couple of minutes, it was too late for that.

Aya suddenly looked up. "What is that smell?"

"I don't know. It's probably not from here." Satsuki said, trying to sound nonchalant, but she fidgeted nervously.

"Satsuki...?" Aya asked in a dangerously low voice, but before she could continue she noticed smoke coming out of the rice cooker. "Oh shit! Turn it OFF!" She yelled at Satsuki, but the girl panicked and didn't know what to do. She jumped away from the rice cooker and hid herself.

Aya left everything as it was and hurried to turn it off and unplug it, but before she could get there the cover blew up.

The entire kitchen was covered in a half-burnt, yet sticky mush of rice and water. She immediately unplugged it and opened up all windows.

"Fuck!" Aya swore and started to throw the mass off of her arms. It was everywhere. Thank gods it wasn't hot enough to burn her skin.

The smoke alarm went off.

Aya had rice in her hair, and she was covered by the mush; unlike Satsuki who managed to hide behind the counter in the last second. She turned off the annoying beeping sound too (good she knew where it was) and looked at Satsuki. There was not a scarier person in the world for Satsuki at that moment.

"What have you done?!" Aya asked, suddenly understanding what Aomine had meant when he had warned her to not let Satsuki into the kitchen.

"I don't know." She squealed timorously, keeping the counter strategically in-between Aya and her, because the redhead seemed ready to strangle her.

"How can you blow up a rice cooker?! It's not even cooking!" Aya was so pissed off at the moment and her voice was gradually rising. "If you didn't know how to use it, you should have fuckin' said so!"

"I didn't mean to..." Satsuki teared up almost immediately. She didn't cope well with people yelling at her.

"You didn't mean to?! URGH, COME ON! Do you know what could have happened?! You could've gotten injured, stupid!"

The situation could be laughed at, but for Aya it wasn't funny at all. She was shocked too. She'd never seen a rice cooker to blow up, until today, She hadn't thought it swas even possible, not to mention being in its range. Still, she was more scared that something could have happened to Satsuki instead of her. She was yelling due the shock more than anything else.

That it was the school's property was not in the question at the moment.

"I-i-i'm s-s-sorry." Satsuki sobbed.

Aya took a deep breath to calm her nerves. "Get out of the kitchen." She pointed at the door. "You are banned to set a foot in here." Her voice was calmer now.

Satsuki ran out of the room crying, and Aya sat on the ground to rest her head on her knees for a minute. Then she looked at the mess and the time she had left to prepare the lunch. With a low grunt she got up and washed her hands and face. Nothing to be done about the hair at the moment. She went out of the kitchen and headed towards the gym. There was no way she would be able to finish the lunch on time on her own.

######

All boys stopped when the door to the gym were opened with a brute force. They looked at Aya, covered in something indescribable and snickered. Their smirks were quickly washed away when they realised the redhead was pissed beyond herself.

"Who can cook?" She asked firmly.

"Errrr..." They hummed collectively.

"Okay, let me rephrase it." She started again. "If there is none of you willing to help me, you are not having a lunch today. So?" She sounded calm, but there was a murderous aura around her.

"I can." Sakurai said. "Sorry, but I'm not that good at it."

She crossed her arms over her chest. "You are a regular; I can't take you away from practise."

"Sorry, I'm so sorry. I would help." He bowed several times and Aya rolled her eyes.

"Anyone else?"

"What in the world happened?" Katsunori asked.

Aya shut him up, by simply raising her arm. "Don't ask. I'll tell you later." Then she scanned the boys again. "So? The time is ticking."

"I'll help." Arai Souta from the first years volunteered with a gulp. He suspected he was going into the demon's den. In reality he'd been avoiding Aya as much as he could. She looked so intimidating.

"Good. Let's go." Aya grabbed him by his t-shirt and started dragging him towards the kitchen.

"That looked like kidnapping." Kano mused, and the boys continued with their drills.

######

When Souta saw the disaster in the kitchen he whistled, momentarily forgetting the redhead. "What on earth happened here?"

Aya blinked at him. The boy was usually shy, rarely talking with the others. He was around Sakurai's height, but skinnier and weaker. She'd never talked with him much. "Beats me." She said with a crooked smile. "But we need to tidy it up and start cooking real soon. And we don't have the rice cooker anymore."

"Right." He nodded. "Could I go change? I don't want to cook in these sweaty clothes."

"You have ten minutes. I'll start tiding up."

"Osu." He ran up to the boys' room and took a change of clothes. He took a very quick shower and hurried to the kitchen. It was almost tidied up.

"You are quick." He mumbled.

"There is no time to spare." She threw him a wet rag.

"Thanks." He nodded and started cleaning the parts which Aya hadn't gotten to yet.

They finally got to cooking, and it was easy for both of them; they worked in an efficient silence. Arai was quick in cutting and he knew when the timer would go off a second before it actually did. Aya was pleasantly surprised by the boy's skills in the kitchen.

"Could you help me during the whole week, or would it be a bother?" She asked hopefully.

It meant getting away from practises sooner and avoiding embarrassing vomiting caused by him trying to keep up with everyone... "Yeah. I don't mind."

"Great! Thank you, you're a life savior." She smiled at him, her anger already gone.

For the first time he realised that maybe their manager wasn't as scary as he had originally thought.

######

After Satsuki had been banned from the kitchen she ran away. She didn't want to go to practise and face everyone, because they probably knew what had happened. Tears were streaming down her face and she was more frustrated by her inability than actually hurt by Aya's yelling.

There was a quiet place where Aomine used to sleep under a tree so she went there, knowing she'd be alone. She sat down and brought her knees to her chest.

"What've you done?" Aomine's voice rumbled from somewhere above her after a while, when her sobbing and sniffling woke him up.

"Eh?" She looked up where Aomine was lazily sitting on a wide bough. "That's where you were!" She exclaimed angrily, pouting her lips.

 _Another hiding spot discovered._ He sighed inwardly and jumped down. Crouching in front of Satsuki he tilted his head to look at her teary face. There was a mixture of anger and hurt and frustration. "So? What've you done?" He yawned. At least he got some sleep in the tree.

She frowned at him and looked away. "I blew up a rice cooker." She mumbled. "And Aya-chan yelled at me."

"You what?!" He blinked. That was a new one, and it wasn't even cooking.

"I blew up a rice cooker." She repeated louder.

"You haven't burnt the kitchen down, right?" He teased.

She crossed her arms over her chest, still pouting, but she wasn't crying anymore. "Of course not! I don't get what is Aya-chan's problem. It's not like I destroyed that much. It was just a mess."

"You're awfully neat for causing a mess." He pointed out and tried to imagine the situation, but it was too surreal. He'd never heard of anyone blowing up a rice cooker before.

"I hid behind the counter." She said and there was a hint of guilt, Aomine knew all too well.

"And Kagami?"

"She hurried to unplug it when it blew up. She was covered in the mush." Satsuki explained looking at the ground and pulling at the grass.

That could've been a funny sight, but now he understood why Aya got pissed off. _Good she didn't get hurt._ "And you still don't get why she got angry? Just a mess and one destroyed rice cooker? Has it never crossed your mind that you might've gotten seriously hurt?"

"I didn't do it on purpose! And what should I do? I was scared too!" She threw her arms into the air.

Aomine sighed. Satsuki could be so self-centred and annoying at times. He shook his head. This conversation was going nowhere, so he got up and headed towards the kitchen to check out the situation there.

"Aomine-kun, wait! Where are you going?!" Satsuki got up and ran after him.

"Kitchen! It's time for lunch."

######

Katsunori came to the kitchen when the practise ended and the boys hit the showers. He wanted to check out the situation. It was silent, but a nice smell of food was spreading through the hallway. Inside the cafeteria, Aya and Souta were already placing plates full of deliciously looking food on the tables.

"I see you've managed." He said nodding respectfully.

"Of course we have. Who do you have us for?" Aya asked with a raised eyebrow.

"So? What happened? You hair looks terrible." He was looking around searching for clues and remains of whatever mess which had happened.

Aya looked at the strand of her hair glued with the rice mush. She could already imagine what hell it would be to get rid of it. "The rice cooker blew up. More precisely, the cover was blown off."

"Was it your fault?" He asked with doubts. Aya wasn't new to cooking; he knew she wouldn't make a mistake like that. And was it even possible for a rice cooker to blow up?

"Errr... Let's say I should have checked it." She said instead of blaming Satsuki. She'd already yelled at her enough.

Katsunori understood it. _How typical_. "Did you clean up?"

"What we could reach, yeah. But the ceiling was too high for both of us."

"The ceiling too, huh?" Aomine's voice reached them. "Good job, Satsuki." He said sarcastically with a smirk on his face.

"Oh." Katsunori looked at the two, Satsuki hiding behind Aomine's back, nervously peeking out from her hiding spot. Based on this he assumed that there was one more thing which blew up, not just the rice cooker. "Well, Aomine. Since you didn't show up for the practise, you might as well clean the ceiling. I believe you are tall enough to reach it." He said with the calm of an Englishman.

"What?!" His eyes widened in shock.

"You heard." Aya chuckled. "Order from the coach."

"Tch." He frowned, already forming a plan how to get away without tiding up. The food looked good, so he went to take a seat. Satsuki followed him, using him as protective wall between Aya and her.

"Enjoy." Aya said to the duo and opened up the door, because she heard voices coming their way.

The boys rolled up chatting loudly; all of them already drooling hungrily. When they spotted the lunch already distributed on the tables, their eyes sparkled in bliss. It took less than ten seconds for them to sit down and start eating. Mess they'd been originally interested in was long forgotten.

"It was delicious, missy! We didn't know you could cook that well!" Kano exclaimed happily with a broad grin.

Most of the boys were sitting at their chairs with dreamy smiles, patting their full stomachs. For the second and the third years it was the first time when their manager cooked for them. So far they had usually persuaded some girls from cooking club to come over, but their creations had not always been safe to eat.

Aya chuckled. "I wouldn't have managed without Arai-kun's help, so thank him too!"

"Thank you very much, man. Without you we'd stay hungry!" Kano bowed to him exaggeratedly.

The boys hummed collectively in agreement.

"OI! Ahomine!" Wakamatsu shouted the moment he spotted Aomine. "Where the hell have you been the whole morning?!"

 _Oh boy..._ Aya thought.

"None of your business, Bakamatsu?!" Aomine said with a yawn. "Now then..." He got up and headed towards the door to find another quiet spot to sleep at.

"What did you call me?!" Wakamatsu hissed already standing and ready to get into a fight with this first year bastard.

"Bakamatsu." Aomine repeated. "Anything wrong with that?" He asked arrogantly.

"You –" The chair behind him almost fell down, but Ishii grabbed it.

Imayoshi caught Wakamatsu's t-shirt once again and held him back. The center had more strength than the captain, but he also respected the said captain. Imayoshi sighed; this was only the first day and those two were already at each other's throats. Well, Wakamatsu was pissed off, and Aomine was just provoking him. "Stop it, Wakamatsu. We agreed to avoid any conflicts within the team, right?"

"He is not a part of the team at all!" Wakamatsu protested. "He just pops up for matches."

"If you are better than me, I'll come to practises. But that's not happening any time soon, is it, _senpai_?" Aomine smirked.

Wakamatsu glared at him, but there was nothing he could retort. The ace was far superior than him in basketball and the blonde was much aware of it.

"See?" Aomine turned on his heel to leave. "The only one, who can beat me, is me alone. So have nice practices losers." He added and waved them goodbye.

"Huh." Aya was the first to break the stunned silence that followed Aomine's leave. "Interesting mantra." She said with a thoughtful expression and one hand on her hip.

"Arrogant bastard." Wakamatsu growled in gruffly voice. "He doesn't deserve to be a part of the team."

Satsuki wanted to defend her friend, but she didn't want to go against those boys. They were fundamentally right to be angry with Aomine. It was hard to respect someone who didn't respect them, nor the work they were doing. She could understand, but it hurt her. And after the incident, she wasn't ready to speak up around Aya for some time.

"He is still the strongest." Imayoshi reminded his vice-captain calmly. "We didn't choose him to be his buddies. We chose him to win the matches. That's what you need to remember, Wakamatsu. Though, I get why he pisses you off."

"Okay." Aya clapped her hands getting everyone's attention. "I guess we've had enough of anger and negativity for today. How about you look past his behaviour and enjoy your training camp? You came here to practise and become stronger, not to fight each other. If he doesn't want to practise, then so be it. It's no reason for you to lose temper." She looked at each and every one of them, Satsuki included – the pinkette averted her eyes guiltily, and a little bit huffily.

Once again they hummed in agreement. The charisma Aya had was priceless in situations like these and Katsunori was glad. Even with messy hair, no make-up on and sporty clothes, she had an unwavering air of confidence surrounding her like a protective barrier. So far, he hadn't regretted asking her to come to his team once.

"And now, gentlemen." She walked through the cafeteria and into the kitchen, which was separated from it. "Please take your dishes and bring them over here." She said and opened up the window that served this specific purpose.

######

"Tch. What was I supposed to clean up?" Aomine's head peeked into the kitchen after dinner.

Aya was the only one who stayed behind to wash the dishes and clean up. She sent Arai to go and have some rest. He had helped her a lot. And Satsuki didn't dare to step into the kitchen anymore. Everybody else was on their way to take a shower and sleep. The first day was unbelievably exhausting.

"Oh. Aomine. How unusual to see your face in here. Or... at all."

"You missed me?" He teased with his usual smirk.

She rolled her eyes and continued with washing plates. "Nothing." She said, ignoring his teasing.

The answer she gave him was confusing. "What?"

"You don't have to clean anything anymore." She repeated. "We asked Wakamatsu-senpai to do it after lunch, before it could become a permanent decoration of the kitchen."

"Oh."

"Oh." She repeated. "Be proud. You've managed to avoid yet another responsibility."

That one stung. Kagami's voice sounded annoyed but more than that, she sounded disappointed. And that served like a slap for the ace. "That stung." He said and leaned against the doorframe.

She dropped plate into the sink and turned to look at him, her reddish eyes burning. "You know. I don't mind the arrogance; the teasing or whatever. I can cope with a lot of things, Aomine. But **_your_** best friend makes a mess, we ask **_you_** to help, because unlike us, you do have the height to reach up there," she pointed at the ceiling, "easily, and you ditch practises anyways. And you just..." She shook her head and sighed without finishing her sentence. This was not worth her energy to explain. "Nah. Forget it."

"I'm here, right?" He tried defending himself; by this point, he realised he'd screwed up. Not that he would apologise.

"Yeah, right..." She turned back to the sink and continued in her task. "The thing is. I don't need you here now. You can go and enjoy your evening."

"Tch." _Serves you right, stupid._ He thought and sighed. Angry Aya could be scary, but she was manageable. Disappointed Aya was something he hadn't encountered until now, and he didn't know what to do. But sure as hell he wasn't happy about the fact that the redhead was this cold towards him.

 _Why am I even bothered by this?_ Without saying anything he took a dishtowel and started drying the dishes.

Aya didn't comment on it, but she smiled for herself. _Just like Taiga when he messes up..._ She thought. Well, Aomine was clumsier in the kitchen than Taiga, and definitely not in sync with her, but whatever; he was at least doing something.

"Just how many dishes are there?" He mumbled under his breath after good ten minutes of his monotonous activity.

"A lot." Aya mumbled back. "You know... I didn't ask you to do it."

"Tch." He clicked his tongue and frowned at the pile of clean plates. Then he took another one and started wiping it dry.

######

He returned to the boys' room and slumped into his futon. He hoped Kagami wouldn't be angry with him for too long. Not practising meant he wasn't as tired as the others and he was even considering going out for a run or something. He'd usually be out with their dogs at the time anyways.

"Arai!" Kano approached the quiet guy with almost scary enthusiasm in his eyes. "You've talked with Aya-chan. Finally! I thought you were afraid of her or something."

"Wha –, I wasn't!" He protested and leaned away from his overly curious teammate.

"Get away from him, Hideki. You are making Arai uncomfortable, stupid." Naito told him emotionlessly over his book.

"WHAT? I'm not! Am I making you uncomfortable? Am I?!" He asked and pushed Souta even further away. Confused Arai didn't answer, so Hideki interpreted it in his way. "See, Shouhei? It's fine."

"Whatever you say." He didn't have the energy to argue with Hideki, it was pointless anyway. He read another few lines and then turned towards his other childhood friend. "Ryuu, this book is boring. It's obvious that the killer is Madam Red."

"Eeh? How do you know? It took me by surprise that time!" Ishii looked at him with wide eyes.

"Simply..."

"Oh well. These first years will sure cause a lot of ruckus." Susa shook his head as he watched them.

"This will be exhausting, but they are not bad guys." Wakamatsu agreed.

Imayoshi raised an eyebrow and looked at the vice-captain. "You are the one to talk."

"WHAT?! I ain't..."

Aomine rolled his eyes and got up to go get some drink from a vending machine or something. Watching them was exhausting. Was this bunch really his team?

* * *

"Are you still angry?" Satsuki asked when Aya crawled into her futon the next evening after another day of the exhausting practise.

She laughed, happy that Satsuki started to talk to her normally and not just about the training regime. "No. I was more shocked then angry. Like, what the hell were you thinking?!" Her voice was cheerful, gossipy even. "You really should have asked how to use it."

"Am I allowed into the kitchen then?" Satsuki asked hopefully and turned to her side to look at Aya.

"Well... As long as you don't touch anything, then it's fine."

Satsuki huffed and pouted her lips, but after what she had done, it was better not to negotiate.

Aya laughed again. "Don't be pouty. You have a great story you can laugh at with your friends and anyways, it's better for you. As the first manager you can watch them all the time."

"Or look for Aomine-kun, as I did today. Again." Satsuki sighed. She knew that Aya was trying to make her feel better.

"Just let him be. I'm sure he will come to practise eventually. Pay attention to the others too, or they might start thinking you are not interested. Plus, that's how the gossips start. It's not just 'Dai-chan' nickname, it's all those little things you do without realizing." Aya knew that those two had more siblings like relationship, and that Satsuki cared for Aomine the way she cared for Taiga. So she understood why Satsuki wanted to help the grumpy ace. But sometimes it was better not to push things.

"You think?"

"He is your childhood friend. Do you think he will be able to do nothing for five more days?"

"You sure underestimate his laziness, Aya-chan."

Was she? "I don't think he is lazy." Aya said and rolled over to stare at the ceiling. It was true, she didn't think Aomine was lazy, or stupid, or a bad guy. He was just... strange and lost.

"Do you, maybe... like him?" Satsuki asked foxily.

"WHA –?!" She abruptly sat up with her eyes wide. "Why would you think that?!"

She fidgeted and turned over to stare at the ceiling rather than at Aya. She started playing with her fingers folded over her belly. "I think you can see through that facade of his, you can understand him only after a month, you usually stand for him if the others badmouth him, you can cope with him during classes... It's the little things," Satsuki returned Aya's words back at her. "...and it's just my feeling, but you suit each other."

"Hmph... You think we suit each other?" It was obvious Aya didn't trust a word of this. "Just because I can understand where he is coming from, doesn't mean we suit each other. And besides, I don't think I can fool around." She said quietly.

The room quieted. It wasn't just the boys who were tired after a full day of practising and running.

 _She didn't deny it. She didn't say 'No way!'. I wonder if she realized that._ Satsuki mused observing the dark room illuminated only by the crescent moon. _So you, 'Can't fool around', huh? Why is that?_

 _So we suit each other, huh?_ Aya turned her back to Satsuki and snuggled with the covers. She could only get a few hours of sleep and she wasn't wasting any. Thoughts about Aomine didn't leave her mind though. Could he be the one who wouldn't end up running away? Who would dare to take her on? She didn't know and she wasn't sure she wanted to find out.

* * *

Aya was up before the sunrise. She wasn't sure if she was already up, or still up. She was sleeping for two hours per night at most, and she was starting to feel the deficit of sleep. Mornings were still chilly, so she grabbed her jacket and headed outside with a big coffee in her hand. The fresh air and gentle breeze felt nice. Summer could be smelled in the air, and she smiled at the thought.

A movement on the running track caught her attention. She squinted to see better despite the darkness that still ruled the outside world. _Huh? Aomine?_ She blinked in a surprise. And he was running! Alone, without being noticed, he was running before the dawn.

It wasn't that he was hiding it, more like he didn't want anyone to bother him. And he couldn't sleep either way. No one was up at this time, except Kagami, but she was preoccupied with her work, or cooking, so he thought it was a good idea to go for a run. He avoided practising basketball, but falling out of shape too much, was not an option.

After watching him for a few minutes, Aya went inside. She quietly walked into the boys' room; she didn't want to wake anyone up. She took Aomine's jacket, and left. That Imayoshi was up and observing her, went unnoticed. On her way out she grabbed a water bottle from the kitchen and with the coffee still in her hands, she headed out again. She approached the track so he could see her, and wouldn't get frightened yet again.

 _Damn he looks good when he runs._ She couldn't avoid the thought, as she was silently waiting for him to have enough.

He stopped. His daily run was finished. The morning chill was the only thing he didn't like. The moment he stopped moving, it bit into his skin. It took him a moment until he noticed Kagami standing near the track. She was holding a big coffee snuggled into her Touou jacket. She wasn't saying anything, just watching him. He braced himself for numerous questions, or scolding, as he approached her.

"Don't catch a cold." She said and threw him his jacket.

He grabbed it, wiped his face with the hem of his t-shirt and then put it on. The next thing flying his way was a water bottle – filled.

"Help yourself." She said, turned on her heel and left. She didn't need to question his running. She understood. And she was still a bit angry for his not-helping.

The next morning and all following mornings, a water bottle was awaiting him near the door. With a note attached _'Don't forget the jacket, stupid.'_.

######

"You are unbelievably skilled with knives!" Aya praised Arai after watching him for the two days they'd been working together; usually in a comfortable silence.

"Ah..." He raised his eyes from vegetables he was preparing. "Thank you."

"You cook often?" She asked curiously, because she knew near nothing about the boy and she was interested in this shy and quiet person, who was keeping such a distance from the team.

He diverted his gaze away, and then peeked at her again, checking whether she really wanted an answer. The encouraging smile she had, made him feel at ease.

"Yes, my family owns a small diner restaurant. I help there all the time." He explained shyly, avoiding eye contact as much as he could. He thought she would make fun of it; like they had used to in his middle school. A cooking boy; what a disgrace it was.

"Wow! That's awesome! No wonders you are so good at it!" She exclaimed loudly.

"Eh?!" He looked at her, looking for any dishonesty, but all he could see in her sparkling reddish eyes was a genuine excitement.

"I mean..." She noticed his scrutinizing look. "Your cooking skills are no fun. You work very efficiently, quickly and even know the timing by heart. If anything, it's awesome."

"T-thank you." He looked back at his hands and blushed. That was way too much praise he got. "I'm not really that good. I'm just used to it."

"That's good too, no?" She chuckled. "You help out alone, or do you have other employees? You said it's small, but I'm interested!" By now she was aware that Arai was a closed up person. That he didn't like talking with strangers and answered only when he got excited or felt at ease.

Be it anyone else, he'd feel like being interrogated. Aya was different. She wanted to know him, befriend him. He could see it in her eyes. And for some reason, he didn't find it that difficult to talk to her. Now it surprised him he had been intimidated by her before.

"Only my family. Mom, dad, me and my siblings at times. But in the kitchen... I help out the most." He shrugged and continued preparing the vegetables.

"Hmmm... How many siblings do you have?" She asked, because no one from the team was in Arai's class, and no one knew anything about him. Not that she would tell them.

He smiled to himself. "Four. One older sister, two younger brothers and the youngest sister." He explained. Having a big family wasn't that bad. Sometimes they were ready to kill each other, but sometimes it was very handy to have reliable allies.

"That must be loud." She said with an understanding nod. "Oh... I didn't mean to offend or anything!"

Souta chuckled quietly. Kagami sure was a piece of work, but she was also open-hearted and kind of wacky at times. "It's true. It's noisy and troublesome, still... It's nice."

"Tell me about it. I have only one brother, but sometimes we fight like idiots."

"A twin, right?" He remembered it from the other day; just because he wasn't talkative, didn't mean he wasn't listening.

"Yep."

They continued with their little talk until the team arrived. Everyone was surprised that the usually reserved Arai was talking and even smiling. Their second manager must have used some witchcraft, because they hadn't think it was possible.

After lunch and another dinner, the team figured out that Arai wasn't as weird as they had originally thought. He was quiet and introverted, but not a creep. Especially Naito found a not-so-annoying-friend (unlike Ishii and Kano) in him.

* * *

Aya was smiling to herself when she saw Arai talking naturally with the others. _Mission accomplished. No one's left out anymore._ She thought.

"What did you do?" Katsunori asked her quietly dragging attention of Satsuki and Aomine, who happened to sit at the same table, to Aya.

"Nothin', I talked to him with a genuine curiosity." She winked at the coach and continued with her breakfast.

"I'm surprised no one's blamed you for witchcraft yet." Katsunori mumbled and shook his head.

Aya laughed. "Who was it who said you have no sense of humour?"

"Everyone, Robin. You included." He answered dryly, which made Aya roll her eyes.

"Uhm..." Satsuki spoke up, looking at the coach. "What does 'robin' mean?" It'd been bugging for a long time, but she'd never found the right moment to ask.

Instead of answering Katsunori pointed his thumb at Aya. "She is Robin. It's a nickname. Robin is a little bird living in Europe. We know it as 'akahige' here, but it's slightly different from the European one."

"Eh? So it's a bird, but... Why?" Satsuki asked, turning her pink eyes to Aya.

"Beats me." She shrugged and continued with Katsunori's explanation. "Symbolism says that Robin as a bird is known as a divine bird, bringing good luck, passion, patience and wisdom or renewal – because they are spring birds. But I have no idea why or when or who started calling me that. I guess I've always been called 'Robin' by my family."

"Keiko gave you the nickname, because robins kept coming to you." Katsunori said it like announcing a weather and continued reading his newspaper. "And she believed you'd grow wings one day."

Aya almost dropped her chopsticks. Aya's shock and hesitation lasted only for a split second, but Aomine sitting opposite her noticed it. He didn't understand her reaction so he searched for some clue at Satsuki. But the pinkette was just as surprised.

 _So it was that reason, huh, mom?_ Aya cleared her throat to wash away the surprise. "Really..." She smiled gently. "I didn't know that." She mumbled and focused on her food, deciding to sit with someone else for the next meal.

With that, no one dared to ask anything more. Katsunori half-smiled at something and looked out the window, which made Satsuki and Aomine feel like they were disturbing a family discussion.

######

After three days of avoiding practises, hiding away, and going running only when everyone else was asleep, Aomine wandered to the gym in the afternoon. He felt like playing some basketball and he was bored.

He stopped at the entrance and watched the mini matches in shock.

Aya and Satsuki were actually playing. About Aya, he knew, but he hadn't seen Satsuki play in years. The two teams were made out of the first years and Tada, and the girls played on opposite teams, both in point guard positions. Tada was on Satsuki's team, probably to balance out Satsuki's mistakes.

He had no idea something like this would occur. If he'd participated, it would've probably been him on Satsuki's team.

Mapping the entire gym, he noticed that no one paid attention to him. The coach was focusing on the second vs. third years match on the other half of the court, and the rest of them were too drawn into their game.

It was an opportunity for him to observe Aya while playing. He hadn't had chance to look at her from the sidelines, yet. She was wearing a really short shorts, so he had a good view on her leg muscles which surprised him; mostly if she got that from dancing – and he couldn't quite imagine that. Unlike the time she had gone out with him, she wasn't wearing a tank-top but a t-shirt with sleeves reaching her elbows and no cleavage instead. It made him remember the scar and wonder about it again; then her reaction from the morning. Who was Keiko? The more he learned the more enigmatic Aya appeared.

Her movements were more streetball now than when she'd played against him, and he was curious if those strange moves she'd used, had been meant to confuse him back then. Interesting...

As if feeling his steady gaze, she looked in his direction and their eyes met. There was undeniable surprise on her face that quickly changed into a wide grin.

"Oh, if it isn't Aomine?!" She clapped, stopping their mini game for a moment, and gave him one of her knowing looks. "Got bored on your own?" She asked with a smirk, provoking him, which basically meant she wasn't angry with him anymore.

"Tch." He clicked his tongue. "Just wanted to see what the losers are doing." He crossed his arms over his chest in a defensive gesture. But yeah, he got bored. And her little act of consideration made him want to check out what the rest of them were doing.

"Want to join?" Tada asked, wiping sweat from his forehead. "Truth to be told, I'd like to swap out. I'm beat."

"You sure are a weakling." Aomine rumbled, looking down at his senpai.

Tada rubbed the back of his neck and laughed lightly. "Not everyone has your skills or bottomless energy reserves, Aomine-kun."

"Tch." Aomine gave him a scolding glare, but he approached the court to swap Tada out anyways.

"Aaand I win!~" Aya sang and slapped Ishii's and Kano's shoulders. Both boys winced at the impact and whined afterwards.

Satsuki blinked at Aomine and then turned to Aya and the boys with wide eyes, realization hitting her like a train. "You had a bet?!" She asked with an accusatory tone.

"What bet?" Aomine looked at the trio, frowning, but questioning them at the same time.

Aya chuckled. "We made a bet when you are gonna show up." Because Aya knew it wasn't question of 'if' but rather of 'when'. "And I won~"

"Oh maaan! You could wait till tomorrow!" Kano whined. "I don't want to do the dishes for the rest of the training camp."

"Oh?" Aomine raised an eyebrow at Aya, who was just chuckling happily. He'd helped with the dishes before; he knew what kind of a job it was. He smirked. "Good luck with the dishes, losers." And with that he entered the court.

"It's only couple of days, boys. You'll manage." She chuckled.

They already had attention of the entire club, but the senpais just shrugged it off and decided to question it later.

With Aomine in, the game quickly paced up.

Satsuki's passes sucked, but he could manage. Most of the time he was playing against Ishii and if he held back enough it was actually an interesting play. Ishii wasn't half as bad as he had initially thought. But nowhere near 'good enough' in Aomine's merit. Sometimes he would specifically pick up on Aya, to test her. At those times the others would watch in astonishment, because those two had the air sparkling with electricity all around them. Their focus was amazing. Aya was trying to figure out how to slip past Aomine. Her movements changed from what they usually were. As if she would use them only against Aomine. And he was trying to find a pattern in her steps, because he'd seen it before and there was no way he, the ace of the generation of miracles, couldn't figure it out, but it was difficult, when he didn't know what to look for.

Satsuki watched it in awe. _I told you... You suit each other..._ Aya seemed like she was having fun playing against the strongest guy on the team and he didn't seem to mind entertaining the flamboyant girl. He even seemed to have fun too. His eyes had the spark they'd used to have while still enjoying the basketball. She couldn't believe it. This one girl, pulling out the old Aomine without him realizing it. Even if it was only for a short periods of time, still... _Unbelievable_.

And Satsuki wasn't the only one who noticed the very subtle change in the ace's behaviour. "Sooo, he can make a face like that, huh?" Kano noted, wiping off his sweat and watching the one-on-one show off between Aya and Aomine. They could finally stop for a moment.

"Apparently." Naito shrugged; glad he could rest for a while. His legs were giving out after only three days of continuous running around. "He is just a teenager like all of us. Why would that surprise you?"

Ishii gave him unimpressed look. "Do you always need to act like this?"

"Like what?"

"Like an all knowing asshole." Kano filled in.

"But I am." He said with a half smirk, knowing it would piss off his two childhood friends. No, he didn't like Aomine, but he also didn't think Aomine was that bad.

Suddenly the ball came flying to them and hit Ishii straight into face. He fell over.

"Headshot!" Kano laughed at his friend before helping him up.

"What the...?!" Ishii asked as he got up.

"What are you doing?!" Aya shouted at him from the other side of the court. "I passed to you!"

"Aaand, never take your eyes off the ball, genius..." Naito reminded him and stole the ball for his team.

* * *

"Today, we are having only the morning practise. You'll take your time to rest in the afternoon to avoid any injuries." Katsunori announced at the morning assembly. For the boys it meant they'd do drills and muscle training, but no mini matches.

"Ossu!" They nodded collectively. It was Wakamatsu's turn to lead their drills and the first years were already seeing stars of exhaustion.

"Oh. And because you have the afternoon free, today's lunch will be postponed a bit. I want Aya to lead the second part of the drills."

"What?" She looked at Katsunori with a questioning look. "You want me to lead the practise?"

"Yes. They need a training focused on balance and flexibility. I believe you can teach that better than anyone else here." He explained, playing with his hair.

"Osu." She nodded. "Good luck to you all." A smirk she had, sent shivers down their spines; they could already feel the hellish practise she'd give them.

"Oh, I'll go look for Aomine-kun then!" Satsuki said enthusiastically and sprinted off to look for the gruff, who was ditching. Again.

"I don't think..." Satsuki was already gone, so Aya finished the sentence for herself, "you'll find him..."

If Wakamatsu's killer practise wasn't enough; Aya's finished them off completely. When she ordered them to take off their shoes it left them confused and curious, but what came after... were two hours of merciless torture, or so they had thought. She did give them several breaks or some other activities to relax their muscles a bit but the training itself was unbelievably difficult. Who would have thought that standing on your tiptoes and passing the ball around could be so hard?

When Satsuki returned dragging Aomine with her, all the boys were already done, laying on the floor and crying tears of both: joy – because it was over and pain – because their legs and feet hurt. Some of them were massaging their calves and feet. Only Aya seemed to be doing fine distributing water bottles and praising everyone.

"What happened here?" Satsuki asked curiously. She missed seeing Aya's training regime.

"Her training methods are torture. I can't believe she can still stand, she did everything with us!" Kano whined.

"That was dancing inspired, Kano!" Aya explained from the other side of the gym. Her hearing was scarily accurate. "And I modified it for you too. It could've been much harder."

After hearing this many of them winced. They didn't want any more of this.

"I'll go prepare the lunch now. It shouldn't take too long." She announced, taking her notebook. Arai stood up to go with her. She looked at his pale face. "Are you sure you can help?"

"Mhm. I guess." He nodded.

"Very well then. You lot, rest for a while, don't forget your stretches, and I have a small payback ready for you for all the _torture_ I've done to you." She winked at them. "Don't worry, it's gonna be nice."

With Arai at tow she left the gym.

"Coach, please don't do this to us anymore." Wakamatsu cried out. His huge body wasn't supposed to be as flexible as Aya had proved it to be.

"I won't promise that, Wakamatsu. Aya is the best when it comes to this sort of practise. And that was only a very light insight on what she's been able to do since she learned to walk."

"What kind of dance inspired that?" Imayoshi asked curiously, already doing his stretches.

Katsunori didn't mind explaining things to this bunch of boys as long as they were genuinely interested. "Ballet. And I myself am surprised she managed to adjust it for basketball purposes on such a short notice."

"I'll never make fun of ballet dancers again." Wakamatsu muttered. "...or any dancers for that matter."

"That's a wise decision." Tada answered to his rhetoric statement. "They need an unbelievable strength to do what they do."

"I didn't know Aya-chan does ballet." Satsuki tilted her head in question.

The boys were no longer listening, as they started stretching, and slowly dragging themselves to the showers.

Katsunori sighed and closed the distance between him and Satsuki, who was still holding Aomine by his t-shirt. "She did when she was little, but she didn't keep to it. She's always had her own head, so once she decided ballet wasn't _'energetic'_ and _'lively'_ enough to suit her tastes, she switched to ballroom dancing and Latin. However, for sentimental or whatever reasons she's never quit ballet completely." He explained, not sure how much he could give away about his god-daughter. "You could have attended, it would've helped you too." He gave one of his unimpressed look to Aomine.

Aomine gave him an incredulous glare. "Me? Trying ballet? Did you hit your head ol' man?" He grumbled in response, feeling insulted by the thought of doing anything connected with dancing.

Katsunori frowned at the boy's rudeness, but before he could say anything, Satsuki was already scolding him

"Aomine-kun! Apologise! You are way too rude!"

"Tch." No, he wouldn't. Not in a million years.

She rolled her eyes and apologised to coach in his stead. "Besides!" She turned back to him. "No one asks you to become a ballet dancer, Aomine-kun! But having an insight wouldn't hurt you now, would it?" Satsuki started her rant and Katsunori rather distanced himself from them again. "It's not like she was teaching them dancing. She just gave them balance training inspired by it. It wouldn't hurt you."

"Still glad I ditched." He snorted and turned on his heel to leave.

"... because you wouldn't keep up." Wakamatsu provoked.

Aomine didn't even turn to answer. "Shut your trap, Bakamatsu! No one asked your opinion."

Before the vice-captain could run after Aomine, Tada grabbed his collar. "Now, now. We don't need to be an uncivilised bunch of cavemen. Go hit the showers." He said calming down the blonde.

In situations like these, Imayoshi was glad that someone like Tada was Wakamatsu's classmate and best friend. It meant he didn't have to keep an eye on the blonde all the time.

When they dragged themselves to the cafeteria, the food had already been expecting them. Aya and Arai were just finishing distributing the food around the tables. Both of them were changed in their casual clothes already, and the team wondered how they'd made it during that short period of time they had.

After the lunch they all went to their room and slumped into their futons. The weather outside looked like there was a big storm coming, so no one felt like going out. Some were discussing a possible 'torture' awaiting them in the future; some were playing cards or reading.

"Okay everyone." Aya barged into their room, not caring about disturbing them or waking them up. "I have a small treat for you. Come on." She motioned her hand as a sign to follow her.

"What is it, Aya-chan?" Kano asked curiously.

His question was soon answered when they entered a short corridor near cafeteria. Chairs were aligned near the wall; each had a bucket of water in front of it and a towel on top of it.

"It's a feet bath that helps to ease the pain. There is one for each of you. The question is what type of an essential oil you want. I have lavender for calming effect and eucalyptus for cooling effect. Both of them relieve pain and stress to some extent. It's up to you which scent do you prefer." She explained, while the boys sat down and tried if the water was warm. "Satsuki and I then decided to give you feet and calf massage, so... A little treat from us."

Some of the boys teared up after hearing the good news. If this would follow after every Aya's torture-training they wouldn't mind it at all. It was so good to have managers!

She started asking for oil preferences and mixing them up with warm water, so they could enjoy their short spas.

"Where is my chair?" Aomine asked, annoyed that he didn't have a spot.

"Did you practise with them for the entire five days? Are your feet sore?" Aya asked him with a raised eyebrow. "I don't think so. But if you bring a chair and a bucket for yourself you'll get the same treatment as the others. It's up to you."

"Tch. Don't need it..." He grumbled and left.

"He was annoyed." Satsuki noted.

"Good he was." Aya nodded. "Even though I don't like doing this, it's a sad consequence of his decision to not practise." _Though he was running, it doesn't count as practise much._

"Maybe he'll learn from it."

"Forget that, Momoi-san. He probably isn't capable of that." Wakamatsu snorted, when Satsuki mixed the eucalyptus oil into his water.

"Oh, stop already." Tada rolled his eyes. "We get it; he gets on your nerves. Now, shut up, and enjoy the treat you are getting."

"How did you manage to prepare this?" Imayoshi asked, because he hadn't expected such a royal treatment from Aya. It surprised him, and once again confirmed Aya's resourcefulness.

"I asked Tsuchiya-san for a little help." She shrugged, and when half of the boys gave her confused glances she explained: "The janitor. He is there every morning at the school gate and takes care of the school grounds."

"Why doesn't it surprise me?" Imayoshi shook his head. He knew both janitors, because he was the captain of the club and sometimes had to ask their help. But for a manager it wasn't necessary to know such a thing...

"How do you know about the recipe for relieving the pain?" Naito asked curiously. So far he hadn't had any interested in home remedies.

"Naito-kun, if I haven't known how to treat sore feet, who would? You can't imagine how many times I used this, or even other remedies to treat sore, injured and callused feet. It's no fun to dance seriously." She smiled at him.

He nodded thoughtfully.

After their spa had ended and they received their massage, they felt like flying back to their room. Getting so much attention from their two beautiful managers was priceless.

Little did they know about another surprise Aya had prepared for them at the end of the training camp.

* * *

Kiku had been surprised when she'd received a phone call from Aya, who'd asked if she was willing to do her a favour. Nonetheless, she was happy she could be useful. So on the very last day of the golden week she came to school with a big box full of cookies.

The weather looked like it was going to rain again.

Coming to school when it was officially closed was strange. For Kiku it was the first time she did it. There was a bunch of boys from another school at the entrance, and she was scared to pass by them to get in. Then she noticed Aya chatting with another girl from the same school as those boys, and a guy with glasses wearing Touou's t-shirt. Probably Imayoshi-senpai Aya had mentioned before.

Aya's eyes trailed off and she noticed Kiku shyly standing at a side.

"Kiku! Glad you came! Come on." She waved at her and Kiku couldn't hide anymore.

With her eyes glued to the ground she approached her enthusiastic friend.

Imayoshi looked at the shy girl with a question in his eyes and examined the box she was carrying.

"Oh, this is Imayoshi Shoichi, the captain of our club." Aya introduced him.

"How rude of me." He smiled at the girl. "I should have introduced myself. Nice to meet you."

"Ah. I-i-i'm Ohno K-kiku." She startled and looked up at the tall boy, her thick-framed glasses almost falling off. "N-n-nice to m-meet y-you, I-imayoshi-senpai." She stuttered and bowed deeply. Her cheeks were burning in embarrassment, because everyone from the other school saw her pathetic introduction. She wanted to find a hole and bury herself in it.

Aya placed her arm around Kiku's shoulders in a protective gesture. "Kiku is out of your league boys." She said to those, who were eyeing the cute little girl. "You are here for the practise match, not to get girlfriends."

With that said and one threatening glare, she turned around and started dragging Kiku away.

Kiku, as clumsy as she was, stumbled couple of times, but Aya's arm always steadied her and the box she was carrying.

"T-t-that was embarrassing." Kiku muttered; still red in her face.

"What are you saying?" Aya asked with a smile on her face. "I dragged you out from your hiding spot, despite knowing you don't like being in the centre of attention. It's fine, you did great."

Due to Aya's praise, Kiku's cheeks reddened even more. "T-thank you."

"It's okay. Do you want to watch the match?" Aya asked, letting go of Kiku's shoulders.

"If it's not trouble..." She fidgeted, "I'd like to."

"Sure! They'll be glad to have another girl caring for them." Aya winked at her and entered the gym, inviting Kiku in.

She made a few tiny steps and fidgeted again, too shy to walk in there like Aya did. After all, she was just an outsider. A few deep breaths gave her the courage she needed to take that last step and walk in.

When a thunder rumbled outside, she jumped in fright turning around and ramming her back into someone.

"Oi! Watch your step." Wakamatsu turned around to see who it was hitting his back.

"I-i-i'm s-s-sorry." Kiku stammered and hugged the box closer to her chest. She felt like running away. The big boy looked scary and he was frowning at her.

Wakamatsu's eyes widened when he noticed the small girl, whose name he couldn't remember, staring at him with wide, frightened eyes of a roe deer. "You again..." He said, trying to lower his voice, to not scare the girl any more.

"Eeek." She took a step back recognizing the blonde. Two weeks ago she'd stumbled while going down the stairs and basically fell on him, dragging him down. She had no idea he was on the basketball team, or what his name was. Now it was official – she felt like hiding in some hole and never coming out or dying of shame – not sure which option was better. "I-i-i'm r-r-really, r-really sorry." She bowed deeply, closing her eyes.

"O-oi... It's fine, you don't have to do that." He said awkwardly, not sure what to do in this kind of situation.

Kiku shot up and blinked at him then looked around at several curious boys watching the show. Her cheeks turned even redder. Being around many people wasn't good for her heart. It was beating so strongly in her chest; she thought it would burst out. It was overwhelming her.

She wanted to run away.

Another thunder rumbled.

She took another step back, her back hitting something solid once again, and she froze, too scared to turn around.

"So you're here, huh." Aomine's husky voice rumbled above her head.

"S-s-sorry." She lowered her head under Aomine's gaze. She wasn't good at dealing with this boy.

"Tch. That scaredy-cat attitude of yours pisses me off." He said and walked to Satsuki to announce his presence.

Tears stung in Kiku's eyes at Aomine's harsh words. She shook her head to keep it in.

"Oi, Aomine!" Wakamatsu turned on his heel to catch up with the ace and make him apologise.

"Kiku!" Aya stopped at her side. "Sorry I had to prepare the water bottles. Is everything alright?!" She asked with a slightly panicky voice, because she noticed that the girl was on the verge of tears. "Did he say something rude?"

Kiku shook her head no, because he was essentially right. She was way too scared of everything.

Aya sighed, prepared to interrogate Aomine later. He was much aware of Kiku's personality...

"Come on." Aya caught the girls arm and gently pulled her towards their classmates. With her head down, Kiku followed.

"No one here wants to hurt you, okay. Those guys are not bad; they are just not used to having shy and cute girls around." She was talking to Kiku in comforting voice. "Everything will be fine."

Kiku nodded and a small smiled appeared on her face – it made Aya sigh in relief. She'd expected Kiku to panic, but she'd hoped it would be better than that.

"Kiku-chan!" Kano greeted her and inspected the box. "What's in there?!" He asked curiously with his eyes sparkling.

"Y-you'll see later." Kiku chuckled and hid it behind her back – out of Kano's reach.

"Not fair." He pouted. "We are friends, aren't we?"

Aya shook her head. Good, the familiar faces of her classmates helped Kiku to calm down. She looked around and found out that Tada was scolding Wakamatsu for something and Satsuki was lecturing Aomine. _Did they argue again?_

There was no time to figure it out, as the other team strolled into the gym, already changed into their uniforms and eyeing Touou with curiosity and determination.

Kiku was sitting between Aya and Tada-senpai, who had a kind look in his eyes, which made her feel at ease. It would be her first time to see Touou's basketball team play. The scary blonde, Wakamatsu Kousuke-senpai as she'd learned, was Touou's choice for the tip-off. He was the tallest of them, so it was probably for the best.

Aomine was put in the game from the start. For the last two training days he actually practised – only the mini matches, but it was still a huge surprise for everyone. Although he wasn't quite in the mood to play a full match, he decided to crush his opponents from the very beginning. He knew he wouldn't enjoy it, but man he needed to let out some steam.

Wakamatsu got the ball for Touou and the game started.

The opposite team wanted to take it easy and test the waters first.

How foolish of them.

Aomine got the ball first and took the first points for Touou in an instant, leaving the opponents stare at his back in bewilderment and awe.

The entire game went on like this.

Aya was explaining Kiku the rules, while keeping an eye on the game. Whenever she would look at her boys, she'd unconsciously follow Aomine with her eyes. The ace was everywhere and no one could possibly stop him. When the opposite team tried to triple team him, he got past it with a snicker, or the free players of Touou would score instead.

It was visible how determination of the opposing team slowly evaporated into the thin air. The storm raging outside matched the mood of the game perfectly.

"I-i didn't know they were this good." Kiku whispered to Aya, so the boys wouldn't hear her. It wasn't like she'd underestimated them; she just hadn't expected them to crush the other team that much.

"Actually... Me neither. And they are in the top eight teams of Japan." What they were doing exceeded Aya's expectations. She exchanged glances with Satsuki and understood the pinkette had similar thoughts. "But I don't think they are enjoying this." She continued gloomily. "Just look at their opponents, do they seem like having fun?"

True Wakamatsu yelled at the opponents to not give up or something along the lines, but it had no effect at all.

During the last two minute break between the third and the fourth quarter Wakamatsu wanted to kick something. "Why don't they even try? They are not that bad!"

"Hah." Aomine snickered. "Look at the score, genius. You think they have a reason to try?"

Wakamatsu frowned at the ace, but looked at the score board. It showed one-sided results indeed: 145 – 42, for Touou. "That's not the reason to give up! It's just a practise match!"

Kiku shot another curious glance at the blonde. Her eyes were strangely following him the entire game. She found herself admiring his coordination and mental support he was subtly offering to his opponents. Maybe he wasn't as bad and scary as his impression gave out. This spark of curiosity didn't go unnoticed by both, Aya and Tada-senpai. They exchanged glances, and nodded, already plotting how to befriend Kiku and Wakamatsu. _Who knows, maybe it could turn out well._

"Want me to sit out?" Aomine asked staring at Wakamatsu, challenging him to confirm that he was considered to be a monster by him too. _They'd need Midorima shooting constant threes to close that gap_. He thought. _And even that might not save them._

"No." Katsunori jumped into it, pulling at his fringe. "This is Touou's current strength. You'll finish the match with this line up. Only if they demand another match I might consider changing the players, so the others would get to play too."

"Tch." Aomine clicked his tongue in annoyance. He wanted Wakamatsu's answer, not the coach's meddling. "As y' wish."

This game was one-sided from the beginning to the very end.

The last ball was handled by Aomine who dunked a buzzer beater with such a brute force that he broke a hoop. It came off with a terrible ripping sound.

The opponent team stared at it with fright in their eyes. How could a single fifteen year old brat have such a brute strength that he managed to rip out a hoop?

Aomine Daiki sure was a monster.

Even Aya's mouth hung open for a moment. That Taiga broke a hoop with rusted bolts was one thing, but Touou had recently renovated the gym. There was no way the bolts could have been rusted, and Aomine even tore off a part of the wooden backboard.

"Oh..." He looked at the hoop in his hand with a wild expression. "It came off." His eyes travelled to look at Aya's face, just when she shook off the initial shock. "... Sorry, I suppose." He shrugged.

To Aya, his eyes had unbelievably agonized expression for a split second. Maybe no one else had noticed it. It tugged on her heart and she didn't know what to do. She wanted to go to him to comfort him and tell him it was okay, and at the same time she wanted yell at him for destroying the new hoop.

He threw the broken hoop into the corner of the gym, where it landed with a clank resonating in the entire gymnasium. Then he turned around and left. It didn't seem to bother him that it was raining heavily outside.

Maybe she should have yelled at him to lift the heavy atmosphere he had left... She quickly glanced at Satsuki but the pinkette seem frozen on her spot and close to tears. Almost everyone, coaches included, was frozen in shock.

"See? A monster. I told you." Yamaoka muttered victoriously to the other third years sitting on the bench, when he'd blinked the shock away. "He definitely did that on purpose."

That comment made Aya's blood boil instantly. It wasn't just for Aomine, it was personal. She got up and made a few steps towards the third year, who was sticking in her gullet since the day one.

Before Katsunori could stop her, the sound of a big-ass slap resonated throughout the gym.

Yamaoka instinctively touched his stinging red cheek. His huge shocked eyes were staring at Aya in a mixture of hatred, anger, shock and fear. Usually the girl would scold him, but so far she'd never slapped anyone. _What the hell?!_

"You've crossed the line, senpai." She hissed.

"What?! How dare you-"

"I've told you something about calling others 'monsters', haven't I?!" She interrupted him threateningly. Her eyes pierced him and he suddenly felt like a little boy. "Or maybe you can't comprehend something as simple?"

"Aya!" Katsunori admonished her.

"Right." She shook her head and calmed down. In her position it was only natural she had a great self-control – it rarely ever slipped to that extent. "I'm sorry." It was obvious she didn't mean it. If she could, she'd probably slap him couple times more. "I apologise for causing a scene." She turned around to face everyone and bowed. When she straightened, she was already smiling. "Anyways. Why don't you play some more with our other players? I believe it could benefit both parties." She said to lift up the heavy atmosphere she didn't quite help with her little outburst.

"I-i don't think so." The captain of opposite team stuttered, staring at the score dejected.

"Oh come on! If you don't try you don't learn! It's as simple as that. You want to get better? Then train your asses off, play against strong opponents, and don't run away after one defeat." She said with hands on her hips. "It's a practise match! And I don't remember we've agreed to have a practise match with a bunch of sensitive princesses. Or am I wrong?"

Her words were harsh, but it was exactly what they needed to hear. The redhead wasn't looking down on them, none of the boys sitting on the bench behind her back was. The captain took a deep breath and then looked at his team. "What do you say guys? Want to play some more?"

"OSU!" Those who hadn't get their chance previously shouted in unison.

"Due to the broken hoop, we will continue on the half courts." Katsunori quickly caught up. "That way we can have two matches at the same time and rotate players. What do you say?" He looked at the other coach, who nodded in agreement. It was a good opportunity to evaluate the other players at Touou's disposal.

The boys started chatting vividly, forgetting about the slap incident (all except Yamaoka). Even Kiku was pulled into a conversation with Satsuki. But when they turned to where Aya was supposed to be, she was gone.

Satsuki sighed. "She probably went to look for Aomine-kun. I suppose she is the only one he listens to."

######

 _Where did that idiot go?_ Aya was fuming inwardly. After checking Aomine's favourite spots, she was drenched from the heavy rain and had no idea where else to go. Then she noticed a huge tree in the back yard of the school. She never wandered there before, so maybe...

 _Bingo._ She smiled when she saw a dark figure sitting on the grass below the tree.

Aomine had his eyes closed and face turned upwards, letting the heavy droplets fall on it.

"So here's where you've disappeared to."

He flinched, because she caught him by surprise – again. But this time he kept his reaction under control. He crack opened his eyes to look at her. She was pathetically drenched, with her clothes sticking to her skin and strands of loose hair sticking to her face. He wanted to tuck it behind her ear. Instead, he closed his eyes again.

"Came to lecture me?"

Aya sighed. "No. I came to clear my head before I kill Yamaoka." She sat next to him and leaned against the trunk. "But in a meanwhile, yeah, I looked for you too."

"What did he do?" He asked. Anything that would distract him was good enough.

"It's more about what I did..." She chuckled. "I slapped him, because he had another remark..."

"He called me monster again?"

She turned her head to see his face, but she couldn't. "Yeah, but it wasn't just that. I take this sort of comments personally. Gosh, I seriously can't stand that guy."

He snorted. _So she took **that** personally._ "That's what happens when I take it seriously. You still want me to come to practises?" His voice sounded off, almost sad. And it wasn't the truth either. He hadn't taken the match **_that_** seriously, just a little bit more than usually.

"Sure." She said and then punched his shoulder.

"Oi! What was that for?!" He shouted.

"You held back while playing with me! That's not fair!" She accused him.

He rubbed the sore spot. She seemed weak, but her punches sure had some strength in them. "If I hadn't, it wouldn't have been a game now, would it?"

"I've never asked you to hold back." She said and her voice sounded gentler. "You know, I was shocked, but it's not like I saw someone breaking the hoop for the first time. Taiga broke one at the practise match against Kaijo, and there was that guy back in States – huge as a mountain who broke a hoop off the metal board in one street match..."

"What are you trying to do?" He asked suspiciously.

"What, you say... I'm trying to make you feel better, stupid! You had that agonizing look in your eyes when you ran off. As if you were saying _'I've never asked for this'_." She imitated his voice. But before he could interrupt she continued her rant, letting her emotions take over. This wasn't the Aomine she knew and it caught her by surprise. "Or what? You'd rather have me yell at you in front of everyone for being a stupid idiot and breaking new hoop?! Yeah, maybe I should have done that and everyone would have felt better. Because you _are_ a stupid idiot for breaking it! It was new! And do you have any idea how much the repairs cost?!" She stopped to catch her breath.

"You're kinda amazing, y' know..." He muttered under his breath and a small smile cracked on his face. She got angry, emotional, and a little bit crazy. Because of him, for him. She slapped that stupid third year; and punched his shoulder for not playing seriously with her. That rant just now... It really made him feel better. It was different from Satsuki's never ending lecturing.

 _Eh? What did he just say?_ Aya couldn't believe her ears. Getting that sort of praise from Aomine... Unbelievable. Yet she knew he always spoke up his mind. And this time probably wasn't any different. A rosy hue coloured her cheeks for a moment.

"Yeah, I know!" She informed him, unable to come up with anything else. To get away from his comment, she needed to change the topic... "But seriously, did you do it on purpose?"

"Breaking that thing?" He asked to confirm and rested his head against the trunk gain. "No. It's the first time I held a hoop in my hand. It's bigger than I thought."

That made Aya burst into laughter.

"What?!"

"That's..." She couldn't answer him through the fits of laughter. "Tai... Taiga, ahahaha..." She was holding her stomach.

Somewhere at Seirin Taiga sneezed and grumbled something about Aya being stupid...

He leaned away from the tree to look at her. She was already crying, holding her hand up to stop any questions. Honestly, laughing Aya looked so amazing. Her cheeks were flushed even in the cold rain, and her laughter sounded beautiful. He caught himself staring and averted his gaze, a blush creeping onto his cheeks too. At times like these, he was glad for his darker skin tone which, he believed, could hide his embarrassment from the world. But even if it couldn't, Aya wasn't looking at him in the moment.

"M-my brother said the very same thing after breaking the hoop at Kaijo, which was _'past expiration date'_." She imitated Taiga's voice, and explained her outburst.

"Do hoops have an expiration date?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh come on! You can't be serious!" She rolled her eyes, but a chuckle escaped her again. "I don't want another laughing fit."

"Better than lecturing me." He looked away. "Sorry for breaking it." Why was he even apologising? It wasn't like him at all... When Aya was around, he wasn't like himself at all. _What the hell?_

She rolled her eyes. "Listen..."

When he didn't look at her, she slapped her palms against both of his cheeks and forced him to look at her. Her fingers were icy cold from the rain, but her reddish eyes were burning. He couldn't look away from them, it felt like they could burn his skin, and strangely, he wouldn't mind if they did.

Aomine's skin was hot under her fingers and she couldn't believe he managed to keep this temperature in the cold rain. She wasn't really thinking about her actions, she just needed him to listen.

"Yeah, you broke a hoop and that's expensive but whatever. Your basketball is enchanting, silly. Being too good is not a reason to stop enjoying it, or quit, or whatever. I enjoy watching you play, and if they consider you a monster, then so am I. Trust me." She sighed, her eyes ran over his entire face and then settled on his eyes. "... I don't want to ever see you lose Aomine, but maybe that's exactly what you need." Then she narrowed her eyes at him. "And... Next time we play; don't you dare go easy on me. You hear me?!"

His stormy eyes were staring right into hers, threatening to drown her. If she'd been honest with herself, she wouldn't've minded it. Not really. But she couldn't fool around. And so she blinked the strange, but not unknown, feeling away.

He nodded, too stunned to muster up any retort.

With a satisfied nod she let go and stood up.

Aomine remained staring at the spot where her reddish eyes had burned with so much care and something else he couldn't decipher, it left his speechless. He could still feel her cold fingers on his cheeks.

"Come on. Let's go back. It's freezing." She offered him a hand to help him up.

He accepted and she pulled him up.

She frowned and grabbed his right palm again turning it over. "Of course this would happen." She hissed when she saw a bleeding scratch and bruise on his palm.

Aomine instinctively pulled his palm out of hers. "It's nothing."

"Sure it's nothing. But I'm still going to have a look at that nothing later." She said and headed towards the gym.

 _Her ass sure looks hot in drenched clothes._ He thought as he followed her. Then he stopped for a moment and blinked. Why didn't he check out her boobs while her clothes were completely soaked?! What was happening to him?!

When they reached the gym, matches were still in a full swing. Those who didn't play were looking at the two curiously.

"Aya-chan! You disappeared on us! Oh, you are drenched. What were you thinking going after that thickhead? You can catch a cold. Look at those blue lips!" Satsuki was fretting over Aya's appearance, not looking at Aomine once.

He knew his lecture was coming later. But really... Did Aya have blue lips? He took a good look and it was true. Aya was shivering even though she was trying to hide it.

"Idiots don't catch colds. Don't worry, Satsuki, I'll take a hot shower and I'll be as good as new." She smiled.

"Yes! Go and take one!" Satsuki ordered in a motherly tone.

"Hai, hai. Keep an eye on Kiku for me, 'kay?"

Satsuki nodded. "You bet. I can't leave such a cute girl with a bunch of wild boys all alone now, can I?"

"I'll go to school. I have a change of clothes there and I'll come back. With an umbrella this time."

"Sure."

Katsunori watched Aya from across the gym with narrowed eyes. _So she went after him... What an idiot..._ He hoped she'd be okay.

"Aomine-kun." Satsuki said and turned to him with dangerous eyes. "If Aya-chan gets sick because of you, you'll have a serious problem. Is that clear?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever."

"And don't _you_ dare catch a cold. Go get changed. Now!"

"Didn't you hear, Satsuki? Idiots don't catch colds." He repeated what Aya had said.

"Now!" She pointed at the door.

 _Geeez..._ He turned around and followed after Aya, leaving pools of water behind him.

Aya was leaving trails of water behind her too. Once he entered the school building he could see where she went. It was tempting to go and spy on her... He was playing with the idea in his mind, he was a curious teenager after all, but Aoyama's face flashed in his head, and no... He wouldn't go down to that idiot's level.

He headed towards the boys' room and took out fresh clothes. Shiro's white hair was stuck to his pants. He chuckled at it and took it off. After this he would finally sleep in his own bed and see his dogs.

Just when he headed towards the showers he realized it was right next to the girls' one. Aya's water trail was leading towards the door, so she was already inside. He couldn't hear the water running yet though.

 _Maybe one peek won't get me killed._ He thought and quietly approached the door. When Aya's phone rang inside the room, he almost got a heart attack. _Nope. You're not risking your life any more..._

Aya picked up the call and turned the speaker on. "Hey, Senri! What's up?"

 _"Yo. Just wondering how did you manage the club?"_ A manly voice sounded from the phone and Aomine frowned. For some reason it made him uneasy.

"Without any problem. Seriously, what did you expect?"

 _"Who did you use as a partner? I promised I'd pay him for helping out too."_

"As if you need to ask... Taiga of course. There aren't many men who can lead me well." She said and Aomine could hear her squeeze the water out of her clothes. He leaned against the wall, and decided to eavesdrop a bit. He knew he shouldn't, but...

 _"He is your twin. Of course he can lead you well. Probably even predict your movements."_ Senri pouted.

"No. Well, maybe that too, but Taiga has one quality most lack... He isn't scared of me, Senri."

 _"... Am **I** scared of you?"_ He asked curiously. This wasn't why he'd called her, but whatever.

Aya laughed. "Sure you are. I can feel it in your every step, every touch, you are intimidated by me. You are not sure how to lead me, or if you can."

 _"I'm nothing that special when it comes to dancing. Of course I'd be a bit doubtful when dancing with a world champion. I mean... I'm not my brothers and it's not like I can ever match up to you."_

Aomine's jaw almost hit the ground at that very moment. 'World champion...'. The words rang in his head. After hearing this conversation, he understood why the coach had assumed they were similar. So that 'Senri' guy was afraid to dance with her, because she was a world champion... Then of course she could sense it... If she was as good at dancing as he was at basketball... So many things suddenly made sense. Why would she keep that a secret though?

"A former world champion, if you must." She corrected.

Senri chuckled. _"Not true. There were no world championships since then. So you and Ray still are the world champions."_

"Urgh... I won't participate this year, so I'm not the world champion anymore... And stop distracting me from the problem! Honestly... You are leading the club! You have no reason to doubt yourself. I agreed to dance with you, which means I trust your lead, stupid. So, man up. You are old enough."

" _Ouch... Harsh as always."_ Senri wasn't sure whether to take that as a pep talk or a scolding.

"Of course! So... Why are you really calling me?" She wanted to hit the shower already and not to deal with Senri's insecurities. It'd never crossed her mind that Aomine could be sitting outside listening to everything.

 _"The business trip will last till next Monday. And I don't feel well..."_

She rolled her eyes at Senri's roundabout way. "You want me to take over the practises for the next week or two as well, right?"

 _"If it wouldn't trouble you much..._ " His voice sounded almost apologetic.

"Whatever. You know I don't mind. Now if you excuse me. I almost froze in this storm outside, so I want to take a nice hot shower. I'll call you when I get home."

 _"Ah... the training camp. Sure kiddo. Bye."_ He hung up.

Aya sighed. "Talk about responsible adults... Taiga's gonna kill me for this."

When all he could hear was the running water, he got up and went to the boys' showers. The phone call was stuck in his head. He sure shouldn't have listened, even though it gave him such an important information.

######

"You going back?"

"Shit!" She almost jumped out of her skin when she heard Aomine's voice coming out of the boys' room she had to pass if she wanted to head out. "Do you want to kill me?!" She hissed with a hand over her heart. "I though no one was here."

"You do the same to me, Sweetheart. Just my payback."

"Oh right. I really appreciate it, Honey-bun..." She said sarcastically.

He flinched at the nickname; he so didn't like it. His eyes wandered all over her figure. So that was a body of a world champion, huh... No wonders she had such a bottomless stamina.

 _What do you wanna know now?_ She thought desperately, but ignored his wondering gaze. "I want Kiku's cookies, and to say goodbye to the other team. You should come too, ace."

"Nah... I pass. I don't feel like getting drenched again."

"Why do you think I have this?" Aya waved with an umbrella she had. "Come on."

After some banter as of who was supposed to carry the umbrella, they stumbled into the gym, successfully avoiding any unnecessary attention, because it was just about time the opponents were leaving. No one noticed the duo until they popped up near Satsuki.

The pinkette looked at them curiously. "Glad you came back."

"Of course! I want those cookies." Aya whispered to her. "Kiku's sweets are heavenly!"

"What a sweet-tooth you have."

They said their goodbyes and the other team ran towards the changing room to hit the showers and then sprint to their bus without getting too drenched.

"Okay guys!" Aya clapped her hands to get her team's attention. "Before you start cleaning up, there is one more thing we prepared for you. Now Kiku, if you would..."

Kiku took a few steps forward to stand next to Aya. She was carrying the box – already opened, and everyone tried to get a peek at what was inside. Happy whispers spread among the boys.

One step before she would've reached her destination she tripped over her own feet. The least thing she wanted was to embarrass herself like this, and yet.

A strong hand caught her elbow and the box before they could fall. She looked up at the person to thank him, only to meet Wakamatsu's hazelnut eyes. "You sure trip a lot." He said, scratching his cheek that turned slightly pink.

Kiku blushed too. "I'm sorry. Thank you!" She said, surprisingly without stuttering.

Aya and Tada-senpai exchanged knowing looks, which didn't escape Imayoshi's attention. "I feel some schemes." He said, so only Tada could hear him.

"No way captain. You are imagining things." He whispered back. _We have to include Imayoshi later on_ , he sighed inwardly.

"Uhm..." Kiku stood next to Aya, and the redhead smiled at her encouragingly. "A-A-Aya-san asked me t-t-to prepare a treat f-for y-you... Y-you did a g-g-good j-job." She stuttered and stuck the box out in front of her, as a sign for everyone to take cookies from it.

The boys teared up. They were exhausted and tired, and this cute little thing would bring them sweets.

"THANK YOU!" They shouted in unison and bowed in gratitude. Then they proceeded to take their treats. There was a package for everyone.

Kiku had tears of happiness in her eyes. Good she held her head down, so they couldn't see. It was the first time in her life that schoolmates thanked her for something she'd done. It wasn't like she deserved it or anything. She was glad she could be useful.

"I believe I have good news for you too." Katsunori announced, getting all the attention. "Since we need to repair the hoop, there won't be practises on Thursday and Friday." He was considering giving them the next two days free anyways, but it was good he could blame it on the hoop.

"Yes!"

They couldn't get luckier.

"Thanks man!" Kano patted Aomine's shoulder. "Good job on that one." He grinned widely.

Aomine shrugged, but he couldn't believe it.

"See? Not everyone thinks you are a monster..." Aya said from behind his back so only he could hear and then went to talk with Kiku.

######

"Ne, Satsuki?" Aomine asked her on their way home. Of course she forced him to carry her stuff as a punishment for running off in the storm.

"What is it?" She asked curiously. Her hands were clasped behind her back and she was enjoying the few sun rays that escaped from behind dark clouds.

"Did you know Kagami is a world champion?"

She could see he was very perplexed about it. Not sure what to do with that information. _How cute._ "Yep. She told me the other day. What about it?" She asked calmly.

"I can't believe it..."

"No, you can't wrap you mind about it. The girl you thought was full of talks, has actual results to back her every word."

He frowned at Satsuki. It wasn't true and she knew it. "I never thought that, I just... Why isn't she bragging about it?"

"Who knows? She isn't you?" Satsuki shrugged and teased him. She chuckled at his annoyed glare and continued. "Aya-chan isn't the arrogant type, even though I believe she can be if she wants. And she probably has her reasons to keep it secret."

"... Even you decided to keep it..." It occurred to him that Satsuki must have known for a longer time, since when? The practise match? Probably. And she didn't tell him anything.

"How did you found out?" She looked at him with a suspicious glare.

"I overheard her talking on the phone in the showers. She had the speaker on, so I heard the entire conversation." He explained.

Suddenly, Satsuki jabbed his ribs; the second girl attacking him that day. "OI! What was that for?!"

"You went there to spy on her! Didn't you?! Admit it! Pervert!" She accused him. "I was so stupid to send you away, knowing Aya-chan would take a shower in the same building. You don't have any delicacy, Aomine-kun. What were you thinking?..."

He tuned Satsuki's voice out after a couple of seconds of her rant. He felt like his head would hurt the next morning.

At home he avoided his overly curious mother, who would've definitely interrogated his bandaged palm – Aya had forced him to have it treated. He went straight to his room, followed by Shiro (Samoyed) and Kurome (Black Labrador retriever) to snuggle with them. The third one, Akari (Belgian Malinois) was working with his father at the police station. He missed them so much. Scratching their heads lulled him into a deep dreamless sleep. The training camp was surprisingly eventful even for him.

* * *

 **A/N:** This is my idea of how Touou's training camp might look. Can rice cooker blow up? - Pressure pots can, otherwise, I have no idea, but I liked it, so... Then we got to know the weakest member of Touou - Arai Souta, who is actually pretty good in the kitchen. Then a little treat from Aya and Satsuki. And then practise match. Aomine might be a little OOC when it comes to breaking the hoop, but there had to be the first time it happened, and even for an arrogant prick it would be pretty shocking, I believe. And is that Kiku crushing on Wakamatsu?

Let me know what you think and remember, reviews are appreciated, but never necessary.

-S.


	10. Chapter 10: Unexpected development

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone who followed and favourited and reviewed! It makes me very happy. I'm very surprised about the number of followers, I though that 42 was a miracle and now it's more than doubled!

I'm not sure if I can manage to keep up with the updates as I'm entering the final year of a university plus I have a part-time... You know, master theses and all. However, I have 8 more chapters ready so I should be able to update regularly till Christmas.

This chapter is kind of a leap of faith, and I hope I managed to keep everyone in character and that you'll like it... Enough of rambling, Enjoy! :)

* * *

 _The snake will always bite back. **– Jake Roberts**_

 _Martial arts are not about fighting; it's about building character. **– Bo Bennett**_

 _There's a part of martial arts where we need humility and respect. **– Eddie Alvarez**_

 _Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring **. – Marilyn Monroe**_

 _Twins have a special bond. They feel safer with each other than with their peers. – **Jeanne Phillips**_

 _The finest steel has to go through the hottest fire. **– Richard M. Nixon**_

 _My best friend is the man who in wishing me well wishes it for my sake **. – Aristotle**_

* * *

Two days without practises after the training camp were a blessing for Aya. She could sleep a bit longer, and focus on work throughout the whole afternoons. Sleeping longer, could however, turn out to be dangerous…

Aya sprang up on her bed. _What time it is?!_ She remembered turning her alarm clock off, but after that… She groped around her to find her phone.

"TAIGA?!" She called out to him, but no one answered. "SHIT! Of course he went for his morning practise!"

She finally unlocked the screen to see it was already 9:30. She had missed almost two classes, and would miss another until she'd get to school.

Like a spitfire, she flew towards the bathroom to wash herself and get dressed. In her rush, she forgot to tie a ribbon, which was a part of the girls' uniform. She loosely hung it under her collar, but she was already putting on her shoes, grabbing her bag and shutting the door, letting the ribbon untied.

She sprinted into their classroom two seconds before Irihata-sensei walked in for the English class. And she didn't hear the teacher shouting at her to not run in the hallways.

"Someone's in a rush." Aomine snickered. At first he thought she was skipping, but it wasn't like her and judging by her totally messy hair, barely buttoned shirt (he would never oppose to Aya's first two buttons undone), and a necklace publicly displayed on her neck – which he hadn't noticed before and which was forbidden in Touou – he concluded she had overslept. Kagami wouldn't make a mistake to wear jewelry when it was against the rules, at least not visibly.

"Oh, shut up." She growled quietly, still grumpy from her abrupt wake-up and tied her hair into a loose braid.

The class started, and Irihata-sensei was calling her out to translate, read, fill in, or explain the grammar, more than usual. The class was aware of a certain hostility the teacher had towards Aya, and they knew it was mostly because the girl was better in English than her and Aya scored 100 each time they had a quiz or small test. So Irihata-sensei was trying to humiliate Aya whenever she had a chance. Not that she could ever succeed in the field of the subject she taught.

Aya was bearing with it only because she didn't want to unnecessarily provoke the teacher. Disputes like that were never good for a student and so she ignored it. Whatever Irihata-sensei came up with, as long as it was within the English class, Aya passed with flying colours, and sometimes the teacher made an idiot out of herself.

"Kagami _-san_." She stopped near Aomine's desk, while they were doing pair dialogues.

Both, Aomine and Aya looked up at her. They were doing what she had told them, and Aomine was actually trying. After their little date-not-date he was paying attention whenever Aya decided to teach him some English. And after the training camp, he seemed a bit more interested in what she was saying. Or maybe he was just staring at her again...

"Yes?" Aya asked warily. She didn't like the teacher either.

"Would you mind to cover your cleavage, it must be disturbing for Aomine- _san_ , and tie your ribbon." She said bitterly.

Aya looked down. _Crap._ She hadn't noticed! The necklace!

"And that," Irihata-sensei grabbed a ring hanging on a chain and yanked it off of Aya's neck, before the girl could react. It required more strength than Irihata originally thought it would. The chain was thick, boyish, just as the ring hanging on it. _So a boyfriend, huh?_ She threw it, on Aya's desk. "is forbidden. Keep that in mind." She added and returned to the teacher's desk in the front.

Aya hissed in pain as the clasp broke and scratched her skin. With her movement, the teacher almost yanked Aya off the chair. It surprised and shocked her, so she momentarily didn't know what to say or do.

The class went eerily quiet. No one knew what to say.

The usual process should be: 1. tell the student they broke the rules, 2. ask them to take their jewelry off, 3. if they cooperate, warn them and let them off the hook, 4. if not, confiscate the piece, and punish them with a detention…

Not this.

Aya quickly buttoned up her shirt and tied the ribbon, not to cause a scene, but oh how she wanted to give the teacher a piece of her mind.

Well, Aomine didn't seem to have a problem with causing a scene.

"What the fuck was the meaning of that?!" He growled at the teacher.

"Pardon me, Aomine _-san?_ " Oh, she didn't like this boy either. Why the hell did she have to use honorifics when it came to those stupid children? They didn't deserve it. None of them.

 _Don't!_ Aya thought.

"What the fuck was the meaning of that?!" He repeated threateningly. He hated this kind of unjust behaviour; mostly when it involved people close to him. And as a manager, his partner, and Satsuki's friend, Kagami was close to him. "It was unnecessary!"

"I'm the head of the disciplinary committee. I decide what is necessary, Aomine _-san_." She said icily.

"You –"

Aya stomped on his foot, which made him wince in pain. It hurt like hell.

"He means he is sorry for disrespecting you, Irihata-sensei." Aya said politely and bowed her head, but there was a dangerous undertone in her voice and her eyes were burning with anger and hurt. _Choke with it, stupid bitch._

"Oh?" She raised an eyebrow. "Very good." It felt awesome when she heard those words from Aya. But that rebellious glare… "Please, continue with your task."

"Why you did that? It fuckin' hurt." Aomine hissed at her the moment she looked at him, holding the necklace in her hands.

 _At least she didn't confiscate it._ "I don't need you to protect me, and you sure as hell won't argue with that…" She glanced over her shoulder, knowing that the woman had an unbelievably good hearing, " _sensei_ ," she spat it out as an insult, "over me. It's not worth it. She could make you repeat a year."

"And I sure as hell don't need _your_ consent to do whatever I want." He glared at her.

"Yes, when it involves me!" She hissed.

"Tch."

Lightning was flying between them as they glared at each other.

"What is that anyways?" He eyed the boyish chain and ring. "Token from a boyfriend?"

"Memento of friendship, there are three of these actually. And it's none of your business." She retorted.

 _Yeah right… because you would wear a boys' necklace and ring just for 'friendship'._ He thought and wanted to bark something back when he noticed a red stain forming on her white shirt. His eyes widened.

"What?!" She hissed. Thank gods the bell rang and the teacher left. She couldn't go on with this quiet argument anymore.

"Your neck is bleeding." He said and suddenly, all the anger at Aya dissipated and was replaced by anger at the teacher and worry. His fists clenched.

Aya's eyes widened too and she touched the stinging skin on her neck. It sure hurt, but she didn't want to give the teacher a satisfaction of showing her pain.

When she looked at her fingers there sure was some blood; nothing serious, probably just a scratch from when the clasp broke and pierced her skin. _Oh, fuck that bitch_. She thundered inwardly.

"Y-you should go to infirmary." Kiku advised. She was scared of the teacher and the way she had treated Aya-san, yet she didn't have the courage to do anything. _Coward…_

"It's just a scratch, nothing serious. Don't worry." She smiled at Kiku to ensure her that she was fine. "But I should probably have it cleaned. I wear that necklace all the time, but I don't remember the last time I cleaned it… Can I ask your assistance, Kiku?"

"Huh?" The girl blinked at the redhead, not quite getting what was going on.

"I don't feel like going to the infirmary with just a scratch, so could you come with me and have a look?"

"Uh, oh, sure."

######

"Did you try to hang yourself?" Taiga asked her, when they passed each other in the bathroom door. Aya was going to take a shower, so she didn't bother wearing her clothes; she was waltzing around in her underwear and tied-up hair.

"You'd wish that, eh?" She teased back.

"Tough I can't imagine the position you had to have for it to leave a mark on the back of your neck…" He mused for a moment, but then his expression got serious. "What happened?"

"I'm not liked by our English teacher. And I overslept and forgot to hide the necklace." She shrugged. "She decided it was a good idea to yank it off of my neck in front of the entire classroom."

"WHAT?! And you didn't punch her?"

"It's a teacher, Taiga. Even if I am fiery, and don't fear arguments, we are here on our own. Fifteen year old brats... Realise our position…That teacher is venomous snake, I don't wish to take that on... And cause problems for Katsunori."

"So you'll go along till the graduation ceremony?"

"Probably… And then I'll give her a piece of my mind for sure…" Aya's smirk turned evil for a moment.

He sighed. She was right. They were fifteen year old brats with only the name to back them up. So of course there were situations when they needed to lower their heads and go with the flow. "Why do you even wear that thing? After all that Tatsuya drama?"

"Because! It's important for me! And besides…" She pulled at Taiga's own necklace he was wearing. "You wear _that thing_ too, if I'm correct."

He gave up with a low grunt. The ring and chain were as much important for him as they were for his sister. The proof of the trio's friendship, siblinghood… He couldn't bring himself to throw it away or stop wearing it. As long as he and Tatsuya didn't resolve things, he wouldn't stop wearing it. As long as there was hope that Tatsuya would remain his friend and brother, he would keep the ring.

"Does Katsunori know?" He asked.

She gave him an _I-have-no-idea-I-haven't-told-him_ look. "I bet the whole school knows. Words travel fast."

* * *

"What are we gonna do today?" Taiga asked on Saturday morning, while munching his breakfast. Aya's neck looked a bit better, but she had a bruise there now.

She was sitting on a couch, with her back to him, reading financial reports on her tablet. She stayed up all night working and now she was just checking up some last details. Because of that, she had had her breakfast before Taiga got up.

"What's on your mind?" She asked, but truthfully, the only thing she wanted was to get some sleep.

The two days between the golden week and this weekend could have been better. They could have been completely free. She hadn't caught a cold, thankfully, but the entire week had exhausted her a lot, and those two days in school hadn't helped much. She had overslept on both days. Aomine had been, once again, grilling her with his stare – she hadn't had the energy to investigate his reasons this time. At least he'd listened when she'd been explaining English to him, but then the necklace drama...

"We could play some basket, eat outside and finish the day watching movies?" He proposed with a shrug.

Aya yawned, and put the tablet aside. "I'll take a thirty minute nap, and we can do that. And tomorrow we will go through the training plan for the dance club and then I have a date with Kiku-chan. 's that okay with you?"

"Urgh. Do I have to?" He whined. "You said it was only for those two weeks."

"Senri is down with a cold now, so yes. We are gonna lead the club for another week... or two." She explained. Then she sighed. "You promised. And the pay is nice."

"But only on Tuesday." That was their deal. He helped only on his free days.

"Sure, don't worry. You're gonna have a good time too, like before." She smiled at him encouragingly. "Now, if you excuse me for a while..." She snuggled with pillows on the couch and was out in two seconds. Aya didn't get much sleep and she never knew when the next chance to take nap would be, so she had the habit to sleep whenever she had a chance. It was like a switch in her head.

Taiga just shook his head watching her. "The ability to sleep whenever, wherever..." He mused quietly and continued with his food.

Normally he would come up with some prank to remind her that falling asleep at places was dangerous, but Aya seemed really tired, and he didn't want to risk facing the consequences of waking up a demon.

For the next half an hour at least...

######

Daiki had planned to have an absolutely lazy weekend: just lying around the house, resting, reading magazines, and watching movies, going out with their dogs... He didn't want to think about any unnecessary stuff. Like Kagami being a world champion... Or Kagami in general...

His entire plan got shattered when his father pulled him out of a bed at 5:30 AM.

"What's your problem?" He asked sleepily, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

Daisuke sat on a chair in his son's room, slightly annoyed by the reaction, but he couldn't really blame him. "There is an event organized by the police station. We are having martial arts trainings entire weekend and we are allowed to take our children. You are going." He announced; he hadn't had a chance to talk with Daiki beforehand and so he had already signed him in.

"Urgh. Can't you take your other child?" Daiki grumbled.

"What nonsense are you spouting? You are my only son."

"Then make another... I wanna sleep." He slumped back into his mattress, and closed his eyes.

Daisuke rolled his eyes. What a problematic teenager his son had become. "You should learn everything you can, while you are young. Who knows, maybe you will save a girl of your life once-"

"She can save herself." Daiki mumbled half-asleep, not knowing what he was saying.

"Oh?" A teasing smirk appeared on Daisuke's face. This were big news to him, his son finally crushing on someone. Well, he and his wife had been making theories, but this was the first time his son's tongue slipped. "Mom did mention you were acting strange these days..."

 _Huh?... What's he talking about?_ His sleeping brain was just slowly starting to work.

"So what's the lady's name?"

 _WHAT?!_ He immediately sprang up, blinking away the last shreds of the sleepy haze. "There is no... It's nothing!"

"Hmmm... It didn't sound like nothing. ' _She can save herself.'_ " Daisuke imitated the sleepy voice of his son, and it was a scarily accurate imitation.

Daiki buried his face in his palms and let out an embarrassed groan. What was his father's problem so early in the morning? "Urgh. Just leave it, will ya?!"

"No. Not until I have the name. But seeing you are awake... You might as well come with me." He got up and headed out of Daiki's room. "Get ready. You have 10 minutes. We'll talk in the car."

"Fuck!" He rubbed his face with his palms aggressively. He wanted to find some way out, but... _Fuck!_ ... was the only thought that popped up in his head. This weekend would be so damn long and exhausting.

He dragged his feet out of his room, gobbled up his breakfast, almost got run over by their three big dogs, saluted to his mom and got into the car. His bag with training gear was resting on his thighs, and he was regretting that his father couldn't be some sort of an office rat rather than a policeman (former soldier to top it).

"Don't make a face like you are about to die."

"Y' dragged me out of bed at 5; I might as well die from lack of sleep."

Daisuke rolled his eyes and started driving. "5:30, that's not that soon, princess... You usually go out with dogs sooner than that. So, who's this lady who can save herself?" He asked, after half-ignoring his son's annoyed comment.

"No one." Daiki sad curtly and looked out of the window. For a moment he considered taking out his headphones and listening to music, but his father would probably find some way to get back at him later on.

"The name, Daiki. Or I'll ask mom to investigate." He threatened in gravely voice.

"Ha?! That's playing dirty!" The sheer idea of his mother getting hooked on finding out something was scaring the shit out of him.

The last thing he wanted were his overly curious parents sticking their noses into his strange relationship with Kagami. Daiki didn't know what it was, or what he wanted to achieve. He only knew that Kagami Aya was an enigma. Respect deserving enigma, who made him feel the way he'd never had before. And she was damn hot.

"The name~"

"Urgh... But you'll leave me be for the rest of the weekend."

And that was the moment Daisuke knew he won. "I can only promise I won't tease you and keep mom out of this as long as I can, my son. Other than that..."

Daiki was still frowning at him threateningly, but then he nodded. "Fair enough... Kagami Aya. And I ain't crushing on her. Y' hear me?"

"No one ever said you were crushing on someone." He smirked, knowing very well how it felt to be young. And in love...

Daiki groaned in annoyance and turned away from his father, refusing to talk anymore.

######

"Aominecchi! I've missed that frown of yours so much!"

When Kise's overly cheerful voice reached him after exiting the car, he rolled his eyes, and braced himself for a bear hug the blonde would give him. Because he knew a hug was coming, though Kise was the last person he wanted to see or get hugged by.

"Let go, or I'll punch you." Aomine growled, when Kise rammed into him full force and tried to squeeze his soul out.

"Oya? Someone got up on the wrong side of the bed?" Kise asked with a smile on his face, but let go. He acted as if there never was any dispute. "You can try to punch me all you want once this training starts."

"Right... What are you doing here anyways? Aren't you in Kanagawa?" _I didn't need to see your face._

"You didn't want to see me at all!" Kise accused him in a whiny voice.

"That's pretty accurate. We are not friends."

"How mean! We are friends Aominecchi! I've never thought that you would be so cold towards me one day. Reminds me of the Ice-queen-chan, but she at least came to cheer me up after the match..." His voice trailed off when he thought back to Aya.

"Huh? You don't seem bothered about the loss anymore. Getting used to it?" Aomine teased, observing Kise by the corner of his eye as they were walking towards dojo's entrance. But there wasn't much of bitterness reflecting in Kise's eyes. It seemed Kise was somehow over it, or he played it well. It'd been couple weeks already...

"It was Kurokocchi after all." This time, the blonde acted at least a bit serious. "And Kagamicchi is not that bad. Maybe you should be wary at least a little bit."

He snorted. "What nonsense are you spouting? No one can beat me, but me. Kagami or not, I will win."

"I wonder about that. Ice-queen-chan..." _Right, Aominecchi can't know..._ "I mean, Ayacchi, his sister, is really something. I wouldn't dare to provoke her too much."

 _Ayacchi? When did she earn this guy's respect?_ Aomine thought and sighed; he'll have to cope with Kise for two whole days. "Tell me about it. She is a manager at Touou–"

"Eeeeeh?!" He noticed her Touou uniform, but he would've never guessed that she was in the basketball team, or that she knew Aominecchi. "So that's why she knew so much about basketball! I thought she was there just to support her brother. Wait... she didn't know me! How come, she didn't know me? Momocchi must have told her about all of us, no?"

"Beats me. I have no idea. Never talked with her more than necessary..." It wasn't completely true, but he didn't need the blonde to take initiative and make a complete mess out of his strange relationship with Kagami.

"What a shame! She is fun to be around, and she seems to know her business well." After the middle school dispute, Aomine had been no fun anymore, and Kise felt truly sad about it, because if anyone from the team had been close to being his best friend, it would've been Aominecchi. And now, he was so bitter and grumpy about everything. But to think that he would avoid Ayacchi because she was a little bit challenging... _What a shame._ Or so the blonde thought.

"Shut up already, and get changed. We don't have the whole day." He grumbled, already half dressed in his judogi.

"Hai, hai." Kise shook his head. Since when was Aomine serious about martial arts?

Aomine was quick to change, and not everyone in here had judogis, which in itself was strange. They were all policemen, who went out to the field, and yet not everyone had a black belt.

"Eh? When did you get a blue belt, Aominecchi? How come I wasn't your uke?" With his work piling up, and commuting to school daily, Kise barely had any time to stop by jiu-jitsu practises, and even if he did, Aominecchi was usually not there anyways.

"Tch. I don't really remember. March? Father kept nagging and lashing at me, until I took the exam."

"Unfair. I wanted to do my exams the same time as you. Now I feel like I've lost again." Kise pouted and tied his green belt around his hips.

"You have that belt to keep your judogi on, not to show off or compete with someone, Ryouta. This is not a competition." A deep voice of Kise's father rumbled behind his back and Kise immediately felt apologetic. His father was right, but maaan...

"Sorry. I know." He said, and lowered his head.

"Hello, Daiki, it's been a long time."

"Hello. How have you been?" He bowed his head slightly and got up to go into dojo. Kise would catch up with him later.

If there was anyone in this room Aomine respected it was this man. Yes, his father and Kise too, but Kise's father... Despite being a head shorter than Aomine and Kise, there was no way they could best him when it came to jiu-jitsu. No matter what they'd do, Kise's father would be already a step ahead. And despite that, he was always willing to explain the technique or help when needed. Aomine couldn't understand it, and so he admired it.

"Same old stories... How 'bout you, young man? Your father's been worried, you know? And Ryouta kept unusually quiet about basketball for some time too. Somethin' happened?"

"Not really. It's nothin'. Why this event anyways? I mean... Dad works me to the ground pretty fine..."

"And why are we here?" The man asked with a raised eyebrow and a humorous spark in his golden eyes. "Ryouta might attend school in Kanagawa, but we haven't moved. I still work with your father at the same precinct. Not the same team, but still."

"I thought you were transferred..." Daiki muttered, when they joined his father and some other policemen, he vaguely recognised.

He greeted with them all, and bowed to them respectfully according to their technical levels in jiu-jitsu. This was the only place where he paid respect to anyone, mostly because he would get grounded otherwise, literally, but also because it somewhat fitted this place. When they started talking about their work, he looked around, not interested in their talks.

There were some other kids, but they were mostly around his age. Some fragile looking flat girls without judogis seemed to be at this sort of a training for the first time in their lives. There was no way he wanted to end up paired with them. If he was supposed to train to the bone, he wanted to really train, not to keep worrying about hurting princesses.

Ryouta wanted to get to Aomine, but four girls, probably daughters of someone in the dojo, stopped him, and demanded his autograph. He dreaded the fathers' reactions, which would most likely make him feel the pain of talking with their daughters, but there was no escaping.

"Oi! This is not a date, but jiu-jitsu practise. Stop being a bother." Daiki rumbled at the girls. Not to save Kise, nope. He just wanted to spar with someone already. And with his copying ability, Kise was rather a formidable opponent.

The girls paled under Aomine's hard gaze, and retreated to a safe corner of the dojo.

"Thanks." Kise mumbled. "I hoped I'd have some peace here at least."

"I didn't do it for you, stupid."

"Meanie!"

Aomine rolled his eyes. "Come on, we need to line up."

######

After the entire day of practising, Aomine and Kise were laying on the floor exhausted and bruised, but satisfied. Rotating and changing sparring partners all the time, facing skilled policemen; it was difficult and taxing. Even with his copying skills, Kise wasn't that good when it came to martial arts. Simply because everyone was different, and he needed to adjust his movements, steps and strength according to the person he was facing. Only copying moves wasn't enough here.

"We are staying the night here, right?" Kise asked, staring at the ceiling.

" ' s'pose. It's a weekend-long event."

"We are gonna die tomorrow. I feel like a pudding now."

"What?"

"Pudding. You know... soft and mushy, and unable to get up or do anything, because your muscles just gave up on you. Don't you feel like that too? And we just finished training camps!"

"Sort of. But I'm sure I know one idiot who would get up and ask for more." Daiki mumbled and Aya's face flashed in his mind. He was sure she would do something like that.

"Eh? Who is that crazy?"

"Kagami."

"... No way."

Aomine sighed. "She won a race against me. It was only once though. We haven't competed since." He conveniently omitted that he'd managed to play basket with her.

Kise turned his head at Aomine. His eyes were wide in disbelief. "No way... That's... No way. Someone won a race on you? On you? Even I can't do that! How the hell could she... No way. No."

"Yeah. I felt like that too. But she won." Why was he even telling all this to Kise? They were enemies now, right?

"The only one who can beat you is you, huh?" Kise chuckled quietly. "So that's why I got the feeling that it's no good to play around with her."

"Hm?"

"You know... She is my type, personality-wise, sort of... If it weren't for that strange feeling I would've probably asked her out already. But I guess I chickened out."

"You chickened out? You?!" Aomine asked with a snicker. He couldn't believe it, but at the same time, it stung. He frowned at the ceiling. Aya was just a manager, just a classmate; she could have a boyfriend already, so why did it bother him? Just like that Senri-guy on the phone...

Kise narrowed his eyes when he noticed that Aomine was burning a hole into the ceiling with his glare. "Would you not?" He asked.

"Why are you asking me that?"

 _He is avoiding the question!_ "Just hypothetically... Let's say that you fall in love with Ayacchi, and she reciprocates... Would you dare to date her?" He could already sense that Aominecchi cared about the girl more than he'd like to admit. The sheer fact that he himself brought her up in a conversation proved Kise's theory.

"In what universe would that happen?"

"Don't avoid the question." Kise's voice sounded unusually serious and it made Aomine turn his head to look at him.

Golden orbs of a lion were staring back at him seriously; observing him. It made Kise look like a predator waiting for its prey to make a mistake. But Aomine wasn't a prey, and Kise wasn't waiting for a mistake. He simply wanted to read his long lost friend; to understand him.

He sighed, but answered truthfully. "I don't know." Kise was his rival when it came to basketball, but other than that... He would even consider him a good friend. And right now, it was not about basketball.

After they had had a major dispute and he had stopped contacting the blonde, he thought their friendship was through. Now he learned that he could still tolerate him and that he had even missed the bastard and his two-faced personality. There wasn't another person he would talk so openly with; this little 'training camp' turned out to have a good timing. And he knew that **_if_** there was anything to happen with Aya, Kise was probably the only one who could and would help him if needed.

"You actually thought 'bout it." Kise nodded in satisfaction.

"Why was it important to you anyways?"

"Who knows?" He answered mysteriously and forced himself to get up. "We should take a shower and go to sleep."

"A voice of a reason now?" Aomine snickered, but pushed himself off the ground.

"It's refreshing sometimes." He chuckled and took his water bottle and towel. "Anyways, there is gonna be a new Horikita Mai-chan's photo book next month. It's a different company from mine, but maybe I could get you one before it officially gets out. What do you say?"

Aomine's eyes sparkled, but then he frowned at his blonde friend. "What's the catch?" He asked, knowing very well that Kise didn't do favours for free.

"Come with me to one goukon."

"No way. I'm not interested in your screechy fangirls."

"Horikita Mai-chan~"

"Tch... You play dirty."

"No one said I don't. It won't kill you though."

"Fine." Aomine rumbled, already regretting his decision. "But gods protect you if I don't have the photo book before it gets out."

"'s. 's. Don't worry." Kise said with a foxy smile, which went unnoticed. _Oh this is gonna be so fun._ He thought. An evil plan was already forming in his mind.

######

"I want to go out for a walk." Aya said after they finished their second movie of the evening.

Taiga looked at her surprised by this sudden idea. "Why would you? It's already dark out, and you need to sleep properly too."

"I feel like having some fresh air and a mango juice from the vending machine in that park. I haven't seen it anywhere else."

With a sigh Taiga pushed himself off the couch. "Alright then. Let's go."

"Huh?" She turned her big eyes on him. "You don't have to accompany me."

"I want to. Got a problem with that?!" He huffed. It was dangerous outside at night, though he wouldn't say it like that to his sister, even if she probably knew the reason why he'd decided to go with her.

"Not at all. Take the ball too then."

"You wanna play more basket?" He asked hopefully.

"I don't know yet. Maybe." She shrugged and went to put on her sneakers.

######

"Where are you two heading?" Daisuke asked the two boys from his futon. "Are you not tired enough?"

"Just want some juice, ol' man."

"Bring me some tea then." He requested, and picked up his book again.

"Sure. Anything else?" Daiki asked Kise's father.

"No thanks. But you might want to go already, or they'll all request something."

"Right..." He nodded and quickly exited the room. Kise was waiting for him outside, already surrounded by girls. Aomine just rolled his eyes, grabbed Kise by his collar and pulled him away.

"Seriously, why won't they mind their own business?"

"Don't be jealous, Aominecchi! If you didn't frown that much, they would certainly flock around you too!" Kise said with a smile, and avoided a punch that followed.

"I'm more than glad they don't."

"See, that's the attitude..."

After that, they walked quietly towards a small park near the dojo. Aomine was in this neighbourhood for the first time, so he just followed the blonde, who seemed to know his way around.

It was a quiet night, almost no one was out in the streets anymore. When they arrived at the park, much bigger than what Kise had said, a big clock showed it was past 10 p.m. There were some people walking their dogs but other than that it was pretty vacant.

They bought drinks from a vending machine, and went around walking for a bit longer. Even though they were both exhausted, the cool night breeze felt nice.

The sound of a ball hitting the concrete reached their ears.

"'s there a court?" Aomine asked suspiciously.

"Yup. I thought of playing some." Kise said, though he was sure Aominecchi wouldn't agree to it.

"Yeah, with what? I could draw you a ball if you'd like... But oh... Wait, we don't have a chalk either."

Kise laughed at Aomine's sudden humorous spark. "Let's see if they'd lend us theirs."

"What kind of idiot goes playing in the middle of a night anyways?"

"Uuuh... Us?" But it made him happy that Aominecchi didn't completely turn him down.

When they neared the court, a loud voice reached them. "Would you stop doing that?!"

Kise came to a halt, recognising it.

"What?" Aomine turned to him curiously.

"That was Kagamicchi. Why don't we just observe from a sidelines, for a bit?" He suggested cheerfully, and dragged Aomine to a side of the court, where he knew was a dark spot good for hiding. He passed this park quite often; he knew it well.

"Why do I feel like some creepy stalker?"

"Don't worry about it, Aominecchi! It's gonna be fine."

 _Right_. He thought, but then something caught his eye. _No way._

"Well, who'd guess that we'd run into those two." Kise mumbled to himself.

Aya was smiling, teasing her brother with movements he couldn't quite react to, even though he knew them. She was on offensive this time. They were both still, looking at each other, evaluating, guessing. The only thing moving was Aya's hand and the ball. And then she moved. She faked left, and then with perfect spin, she changed to the right. Taiga had no chance to change his momentum, so he ended up stepping left. But he spun around just as quickly and caught up with her. She shot at the hoop, but he leaped up and knocked the ball down without much trouble.

It was very similar to what she had done when playing against Aomine.

"Seriously. Would you stop dancing around me?" Taiga huffed and wiped his face with his t-shirt.

 _So it **is** dancing, huh?_ Aomine thought, a deep frown appearing on his forehead. It wasn't that surprising she used something she was good at.

She smiled and picked up the ball. "Why? It doesn't seem like you have trouble following." But the truth was that her speed was nowhere near her top speed. She was too tired to go all out. And Taiga was holding back a lot too.

"Still. It's basketball, not dancing."

"Is it bad if use dancing to my advantage? I mean, you didn't mind it when we were on one team."

"You didn't use it against me then." Taiga pouted. "It's not fair."

Aya laughed and threw him the ball. "What's not fair, is your height, and built and that freakin' jumps."

"It is to my advantage." He smirked and shot a three pointer over Aya's head. It missed, but he was already beneath the basket and jumping to dunk it.

 _Haaa? Not that bad..._ Aomine smirked and dangerous aura emanated from him almost instantly.

"Aye, aye." She took the ball and dribbled again.

"You still okay?" Taiga asked with concern, taking a defensive stance.

"I guess." She shrugged; her pace slowing down even more. With that Taiga knew it was about time she went to sleep.

"What are you planning for the Monday practise? I want to have one more day to prepare mentally..."

"Huh?" She blinked at him, and the ball rolled away from her. "Didn't you originally say you would go with me only on your days off?"

He scratched his cheek in embarrassment. "Well... I guess it won't kill me."

"Hmmmm... You, dancing in front of people more than is absolutely necessary out of your own free will... Teaching even... Please wake me up."

"You are up." He growled.

"Then who are you and what have you done to my twin?" She asked chuckling.

Taiga just rolled his eyes and offered his hand to her, inviting her for a dance.

A happy smile spread across her face, when she grabbed his hand and let him spin her around. It couldn't be called dancing, just fooling around, but even that looked good, when Aya was the one performing.

"I'm planning to repeat the cha-cha choreography I extended on Thursday. And then mix in some jive and another, quicker cha-cha at the end. I suppose it's only good for them to learn how to adapt to a changing pace." She explained her plans.

"Just the basic routines or do you wanna teach them some stunts?" He asked leading her around in cha-cha rhythm.

"I don't know yet. We'll go through that tomorrow."

"Okay. But I'd prefer to do something I know."

"Don't worry brother, when it's ballroom, there aren't things you don't know. and besides, you can lead me better than Senri."

That was the first time Aomine saw her dancing. Every move was smooth and elegant; and her hip movement looked incredibly hot. Her entire figure looked like it was designed to do exactly this. Even if what she was doing now was probably far from what an actual dance should look like, he couldn't take his eyes off of her. It looked magical. Now he regretted ditching that one practise she had led.

"You are drooling, Aominecchi." Kise whispered. His eyes were observing the duo. He wanted to remember the steps; maybe he could use it sometimes.

"Mind your own business." He hissed back.

After a moment, she was leaning against Taiga's chest, obviously relaxed and resting and he was moving to some music only those two knew. She was slowly dozing off, too tired to move more than that. It was comfortable and warm and safe. Her brother was her safe ground. It was during times like these, when unpleasant thoughts invaded her mind.

"Ne, Tai?" She asked quietly, and the two stalkers had to stretch their ears to hear, almost falling over one another and causing ruckus.

"Hm?" He tilted his head to a side in a sign that he was listening.

"Are you angry with me?"

"Hah?!" He stopped and almost jumped away from her. "What is going on inside your head, stupid? Why would I be angry with you?"

"Because... Every fucking decision of mine that backfired ended up hurting **_you_**. Probably even more than me..."

"You really are an idiot, huh?" He shook his head. Then he grabbed her waist and threw her over his shoulder.

Aya squealed. "What are you doing?! Let me down!"

He just chuckled, and adjusted her, so she couldn't seriously hit him. "We are going home; you need to sleep, because you are having some very stupid thoughts. If I were angry with you, you would fucking know about it, dear sister. And if we are at it, you have all rights to be angry with me too."

"Why would I?" She stopped fighting his grip, and focused on what he was actually telling her.

"Many reasons? Like Tatsuya –"

"Okay, okay, okaaaay! I get it! Stop! I don't want to go over every little injustice that happened between us."

"Good you understand. We could go over it for couple of weeks actually." Taiga chuckled.

"Would you let me down now?" She demanded.

"Nope. You are getting carried home, so shut up, and go to sleep. You haven't had a proper sleep ever since the school started."

"Urgh." She groaned in annoyance. "If you draw a dick on my face, I'm gonna fuckin' kill you tomorrow."

"Language, Robin." He said jokingly, picked up the ball and calmly walked in the direction of their home.

Aomine and Kise were staring at the court, unable to fully comprehend what they had just witnessed.

"Did they just..." Aomine started, but he wasn't sure what to say about it.

"Go from basketball, to dancing, to arguing, to drawing dicks on faces?" Kise summed up. "I guess they did."

"The hell?" He got up, and started walking in the direction of the dojo. "She is even crazier than I've thought."

"What's 'robin' anyways?" Kise mused. "But doesn't that make you interested in what were they talking about? It has certainly piqued _my_ interest."

"Nickname..." Aomine answered and got a surprised glance from Kise. He shook his head and continued. "Maybe... What was that about, anyways? I mean... I don't know whether I'd hug a sister if I had one."

"It's not that strange, Aominecchi. You just can't relate to it. My sisters tend to have hugging moods too. Not to mention those two are twins. Their relationship is probably much closer." When Aomine didn't say anything more, Kise added, "You know, the people who seem to be strong are usually those, who struggle the most. You are a good example of that too."

"Huh?" Aomine looked at him perplexed. _What nonsense is he spouting?_ He didn't understand where Kise was going. "You have some strange thoughts too."

* * *

"Kiku!" Aya waved at the girl when she entered their hang-out spot – a small, cosy bookstore, named 'Arami's books'. The owner, Arami Ken, had a good sense of humour and Kiku was his regular customer. They could chat there without being interrupted, while drinking coffee and eating biscuits.

"Hello." She looked up from a book she was currently reading. "Are you sure it wasn't a problem for you to come?"

"What are you saying? 'f course not."

"I just…" The girl looked at her hands. She couldn't wrap her mind around the concept of having friends. She wanted them, friends, but suddenly having them after years of solitude, was something hard to believe, even though this wasn't the first time she hung out with Aya-san.

"Just what?" Aya tilted her head and stared at the girl. "Thought you are not good enough?"

Kiku bit her lower lip and dared not to look at the redhead.

Aya reached over and gently touched Kiku's hands. "I don't give a damn about your scars. And if anyone ever dares to tell you that you are not worth something, I'll personally go and punch them. You are my friend. Talk to me if you want, but I won't force you to. Okay?"

Kiku opened and closed her mouth. She didn't know what to say. Those words were so encouraging. She avoided Aya-san after the redhead had noticed the scars she had on her torso, even though Aya-san tried to calm her down. But the redhead didn't give up on her… And so, Kiku ended up helping with the training camp and finding some more friends. "B-bullying…" She whispered.

"Hmm?" Aya didn't hear.

"I-I was bullied in junior-high. The scars…" She wanted to open up, but she had a knot in her throat. She'd never talked about it with anyone. She gulped.

Aya frowned at the though. _Who on earth would go with bullying that far?_ "You don't have to force yourself to talk about it _now_ , Kiku." She said comfortingly, seeing Kiku's struggle. She wasn't sure she could talk about her own problems right now either. "Just remember that you can."

Kiku nodded and a small smile appeared on her lips. "Thank you…"

"So! Now tell me! What do you think of Wakamatsu-senpai?" Aya asked cheerfully. It was obvious that Kiku kept watching him the entire practise match.

Kiku's eyes widened and her cheeks turned rosy pink. It was unbelievably cute. "I-i-i… H-he is a good person, very cheerful… And good at basketball…"

"Oh? And he doesn't have a girlfriend!"

Her cheeks turned deeper red. "I-I-I'm not…" Then she frowned at Aya. "What are you implying?"

She liked when Kiku threw away her fears and talked back to her. "Nothing." She played innocent. "Why don't you come over to watch some practises?"

"That's too embarrassing."

"But he won't notice you otherwise!"

 _Oh we've been bumping into each other quite a lot, Aya-san._ "I'm not trying to get his attention!" Kiku's voice rose, which was unusual for the timid girl, but Aya was smiling at it. It was nice to see how the shy and quiet girl could change in a month when she was given enough space and support.

 _Good. Don't be afraid to speak up your mind, Kiku._ "Hmmm… You sure 'bout that?"

"Yes! And anyways, my father would kill me! I can't date someone who doesn't do something 'traditional'."

"Traditional? What do you mean?"

 _Oh, crap._ She didn't mean to talk about her family. But it was Aya-san, so she could, right? "Uuuhm…" She was drawing circles around her coffee mug. "My family owns a dojo. We teach Kyudo, archery… And so…"

"What?! You do Kyudo?! Why haven't you said anything!"

Kiku pouted. "You haven't told me about being a world champion either…"

"Wha-?! I… That… It wasn't important." Aya stuttered, baffled by Kiku's sudden jab.

"You didn't trust me with it!"

"Neither did you!" She jabbed back accusingly.

Kiku frowned. "Can you blame me?"

 _Bullying…_ Aya sighed. "No, not really. And it's not like I didn't trust you. I was scared you would run away."

"I wouldn't. And it is the same for me too!"

"I know. Sorry… How did you figure it out? I've only told Satsuki." She said and carefully observed her.

"Ah well… My mom is a big fan of dancing. When I told her about you, she suggested you might be _the_ Kagami Aya, she saw in some magazine months ago. And so… I asked Satsuki-san, and she confirmed it." Kiku shrugged. When she noticed Aya's narrowed eyes, she quickly added: "But she didn't rat it out!"

"Hmmm… Interesting coincidence. Does your mother dance?"

"No, she does Iaido and Kyudo. I was too clumsy to do Iaido, so they focused on teaching me Kyudo."

"Iaido, Kyudo, please explain. I'm not confident I really know what this activities are about."

Kiku smiled. This was something she was good at, and she could it explain to someone who was genuinely interested. It made her very happy. "Okay. And then you'll explain the dancing stuff to me, okay?" Aya nodded. "So… Iaido is the way of a sword. It's the art of drawing a sword. It was developed to…."

Their conversation dragged on for hours; it was interesting for both of them, as each learnt something new, and got to know the other one better. Aya was happy that Kiku was opening up, sharing her interests, despite cooking and books, and it was surprising that this little girl had something to do with martial arts. It was rare that Kiku talked about something with such a vivid spark in her eyes. And Kiku learnt more about Aya-san. The redhead never ceased to amaze her, and she finally understood that she wasn't all sunshine and rainbows, but she had struggled too, and she had overcome it.

At the end, Arami-san had to remind them of his closing hours.

######

When Kise finally got home, he slumped on top of his bed. He was playing with his phone, thinking about what he had talked about with Aominecchi, and what they'd seen in the park. On the spur of the moment he dialed Satsuki's number.

 _"Ki-chan!"_ She greeted him cheerfully. _"What can I do for you?"_

"Long time no see, Momocchi. Or hear..." He chuckled. "I have a favour to ask."

 _"But of course!"_ By the sound of her voice he knew she switched into her investigative mode, but he couldn't care less. _"What do you need?"_ She asked.

"I'd like to know Kagami Aya's number and e-mail address, if that is possible." He pleaded.

 _"Why would you need that, Ki-chan?"_ Suspicion laced her voice. Of course she was rooting for Aominecchi, and this whole situation looked like Kise wanted to confess to Aya or something along the lines.

"But to contact her, of course!" He explained. _"_ If you can't then I'll ask Kurokocchi."

He knew what bringing up Kurokocchi would do.

Satsuki squealed _. "Tetsu-kun has Aya-chan's number?! How close is she with the Seirin's team? How do you even know that?"_

"I do keep in contact with Kurokocchi and Midorimacchi and even with Murasakibaracchi. Unlike Aominecchi, **I** like to stay in contact with my 'friends'." He huffed. "So I know."

 _"You are as sly as ever, Kise-kun."_ Satsuki switched to more formal name, her voice serious. _"What is your business with Aya-chan?"_

 _Hmph..._ He smirked. Satsuki sure was one clever girl. _"_ If I say I fell for her and want to confess, what would you do?"

 _"I wouldn't give you the number. And ask Tetsu-kun to do the same. But I'm pretty sure you would find a way to contact her anyways."_

Finally; it moved in the direction he wanted. "Is Aominecchi in love with her, then?"

 _"I don't know. But he sure has a crush on her."_

"And Ayacchi?"

 _"She didn't completely deny 'liking him' when I asked her, but she is unbelievably enigmatic."_

"So... Are you rooting for them then?"

 _"Of course I am! If you saw how well she can handle him! Aya-chan manages to pull old Aomine-kun out in times. But I don't think he's realised that yet. So I sure as hell don't want you to meddle with them, Kise-kun."_ Oh he could so imagine her pouting face.

"Who said I want to come in-between? Ayacchi would surely turn me down. But I got Aominecchi to agree to attend one goukon with me. I was thinking of inviting Ayacchi too. What do you say?"

 _"How in the bloody hell did you manage that?!"_

"What do I say? I have my ways..."

 _"..."_ Satsuki was considering his idea. She knew that Kise could be really sly if he so decided, but she could tell he wasn't lying _._ And if anyone could be considered Aomine's best friend, it would be Kise. _"Fine, I'll send you her contact info. But Ki-chan, if you mess it up, I'll get back at you."_

* * *

 **A/N:** Well... The first part and 'date with Kiku' was added after re-reading the whole thing. I hope it's not interrupting the flow of the story. Please remember the relationship between Aya and the teacher as it will be used again later on. The rest was actually written before the training camp chapter and it evolved according to the plot.

I had this image of Aomine knowing how to fight in my head for a long time - plus if he ditches basketball practises he has to keep in shape somehow (running is not enough). And Kise... Ah well...

I'm anxious about your reactions now.

Also I've started writing story for Kiku, so you can check it out if you want.

Let me know what you think and remember, reviews are appreciated but never necessary.

-S.


	11. Chapter 11: Invitations

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone who followed and favourited and reviewed. It makes me very happy :).

* * *

 _No other animal bonds to a human being the way a dog does. And I suspect there is no other animal to which human beings can bond the way we can bond to a dog. **– Robert Crais**_

 _When you don't talk, there's a lot of stuff that ends up not getting said **.―**_ ** _Catherine Gilbert Murdock_**

 _Love, friendship and respect do not unite people as much as a common hatred for something. **– Anton Chekhov**_

 _If you're gonna hit it, hit it until it breaks. – **Oikawa Tooru, Haikyuu**_

 _A friend to all is a friend to none. **– Aristotle**_

 _I believe that every single event in life happens in an opportunity to choose love over fear. **―**_ ** _Oprah Winfrey_**

* * *

Aomine almost overslept on Monday. It was Shiro that jumped into his bed and woke him up with lots of doggie kisses.

"Urgh, stop it. Y' 're heavy." He complained grumpily and pushed the Samoyed's head away. He didn't like when she did this.

When she didn't stop he frowned. "Down. Now." He said in a strict voice.

Shiro jumped down at his order, but she didn't stop wagging her tail furiously. His father had taken them all out earlier in the morning, so Daiki knew she just wanted to play and cuddle. Too bad he wasn't in the mood for that. He wanted to sleep. He was sore and bruised all over after the weekend of practising jiu-jitsu.

"Go play with Kurome, Shiro. I'm not in the mood." He said, and turned his back to the dog.

Shiro whined.

Daiki sighed, and turned over. To this whining, he couldn't resist. He started scratching Shiro's head with one hand.

The idea of skipping was very tempting. He closed his eyes. Shiro's presence was lulling him back to sleep. Then he cracked opened one eye to look at the clock again.

He wanted to see Kagami, though he would never admit it. After the golden week, she'd acted strange. She'd looked tired, and distracted, but he couldn't tell why. Then he'd seen her at the park... It was the first time he'd seen her vulnerable. Yeah, during their little basketball match, she'd relaxed around him – enough to forget about her scar, but she hadn't been vulnerable.

With a groan he rolled out of his bed.

He quickly washed himself and changed into his uniform. He couldn't care less about wearing it properly. There was no bento waiting for him, but mom prepared some small breakfast. He wolfed it down in one gulp, and went out of their house. A brisk walk should be sufficient to get into school on time.

He came just as the bell rang.

Kagami shot him a curious glance, but didn't comment on it. She continued talking with Ohno about some book the bookworm had read again. He didn't understand what was so good about the scaredy-cat.

######

During the last class before the lunch, the math teacher decided to give them an unannounced test.

 _I knew I should have skipped..._ Aomine thought after glancing at the equations. He had no idea what those strange things on the test were. He shrugged and then he randomly guessed the answers, hoping at least some of them would be correct. Not that he really cared about math problems.

"Did you know how to solve the question 10, Aya-chan?" Kano whined during the lunch break after the test. "Or any question? It was terrible?! And so soon after the golden week. Do they have any mercy?!"

"I'm not sure about everything, but the 10th question was actually simple." She shrugged. Math wasn't her favourite subject and there were things she didn't get, but she had the logical thinking, and usually got the right answer. "According to my calculation, x was supposed to be 15/4. Am I right, Ishii?" She turned towards the one who was excellent at math and physics.

"I got the same result." He nodded in agreement.

"Whaaat?!" Kano cried out. "I got -23. How is that possible? What about you, Aomine?"

Aomine was picking his ear. His expression was so uninterested that Aya feared the answer. "I guessed 4." He answered lazily. "Close enough."

"You guessed?" Aya asked with a raised eyebrow. "Did you do anything at all during the weekend?!"

Aomine thought back to his jiu-jitsu practises. No, it was no one's business. "Why d' you ask? Wanted to hang out?" He smirked.

She rolled her eyes. "As if! But you have to do at least something! You can't fail every single small test."

He stared at her for a moment and then he yawned. "It's enough to pass mid-terms and finals. Don't fret over it. Math results are all individual anyways."

Aya and Ishii exchanged exasperated looks.

"Oi, Ryou, what's for lunch?" Aomine asked suddenly, glaring at Sakurai, who just pulled out his bento box.

"Eh?" He turned his wide eyes at the ace. "S-Sorry, I only brought one. I'm really sorry, Aomine-san. I should have made more. Sorry."

"-san?!" Aya asked and watched as Aomine approached Sakurai's desk and stole some of the meatballs that were neatly arranged in his lunch box.

"Since when are they on good terms?" Kano asked in whisper, not really believing his eyes.

"No idea." Aya shrugged. "Training camp, maybe?" She tried to guess.

When almost half of Sakurai's lunch had fallen victim to Aomine's hunger, she frowned. "Oi, Aomine."

She leaned over Sakurai's shoulder and covered his bento box with its lid. The poor shy boy went as red as tomato from Aya's sudden proximity. She was basically kneeling on her chair so she could reach, her boobs were pressed against Sakurai's back and she was glaring at Aomine.

"Stop stealing his food. He needs to gain some more muscle! And there is P.E. at the end of the day too." She scolded him, and then turned her eyes on Sakurai. "And you. Don't be scared to tell him off."

"Err... Sorry! I'm so sorry!" He said, looking everywhere but Aya.

"Mind your tits, Kagami." Aomine said, eyeing the way she was leaning over Sakurai.

"What did you-?!" Then she looked at poor Sakurai, suddenly realizing her position. She immediately jumped back to her seat. "Sorry, Sakurai-kun! I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable!"

"He sure wasn't uncomfortable." Aomine remarked with a smirk.

It made the poor boy go even redder, unable to speak up.

"See? That's your fault!" She frowned at Aomine. "If you didn't steal his lunch..." She started and then narrowed her eyes at him. "Why would you steal his food?"

"It looked good." He said with a half shrug.

His stomach, however, decided to betray him and growled. "Tch." He stuck his hands into his pockets and turned to leave.

It never occurred to Aya, that Aomine might not have brought lunch, or that maybe he also hadn't had any breakfast… She reached over and grabbed his elbow.

"What?" He turned around.

"If you are hungry, just say so, stupid." She said in a scolding voice, but not angry anymore.

He raised his eyebrow. As if saying that would change anything… "And?"

Aya fished out her own lunch and handed it to him. "Here. Take mine. I'm not that hungry."

He was staring at it in disbelief.

Then Aya's stomach growled and she blushed, frowning at her flat belly.

"Not that hungry, huh?" He teased with a mocking smirk. Then he grabbed her elbow and pulled her away from the class. They'd already caused enough ruckus in front of their 'friends'.

"Did he just kidnap Aya-chan?" Kano turned his big eyes at Ishii.

"Seems like it."

Even Kiku couldn't believe it. She blinked at the door, and then shook her head and continued eating quietly.

The rest of the class wasn't paying much attention to the basketball club idiots. Soon after the school year started, they had learned that those five were idiots. Well, majority of the class liked Aya, because she could organize things better than their class rep, and she was easy to talk to, but when she was chatting with the circle of the basketball boys and Kiku, they kept their distance.

"Oi!" She tried to yank her arm away from his grasp, but he was too strong. "Where are you dragging me?"

He didn't answer and quickened his pace. What has gotten into him? He didn't know. But what he did know was that he didn't want to be questioned about his actions, because he didn't get it himself.

Some people standing in the hallways gave them curious glances and then shrugged it off. Not worth gossips.

It wasn't that she couldn't keep up with his long legs, but it was damn difficult when he was holding her right elbow with his right hand and dragging her behind him. She was trying not to trip over _his_ feet! "Aomine! Where are you dragging me?!" She demanded, and shifted her entire body weight into her heels in a useless try to at least slow him down.

He either didn't notice, or he didn't mind. And she was aware that she wasn't the lightest girl out there – muscles always weighted more.

"Oi! Don't ignore me!"

He came to a sudden halt and she rammed into his back. "Would you stop whining?" He grumbled.

"Then tell me, where you're dragging me!" She exclaimed and rubbed her nose that got hit.

"Rooftop." He answered pointing at the last staircase they needed to climb. He took a first few steps – this time letting her walk on her own.

When he turned to look whether she was following, she wasn't. She was standing below the staircase, staring at him with a perplexed expression.

"To eat lunch somewhere quiet." He explained.

"…"

"Are you coming, or do I have to throw you over my shoulder?" He asked teasingly after she hadn't moved a muscle.

She shook her head and blinked. His sudden change in behaviour confused the hell out of her. "You wanna share **_my_** lunch with **_me_**?"

For a moment he was thinking about her question, then he shrugged. "Y' hungry too, no?"

 _What the fuck?_ "Right… I'm coming." She said.

They sat on the ground, and Aomine put the lunchbox on the ground between them. He was staring at it, not sure what to do now. There was only one set of chopsticks.

A small laugh escaped Aya, because she could almost see his thoughts. "You haven't quite thought it over, have you?"

"…" He frowned at the lunch.

"Help yourself." She said and leaned against the wall, closing her eyes. The sun on her face felt nice. "I'll eat what's left."

He nodded and approached to open it. Her lunch looked almost as nice as Sakurai's – but without the childish motif. He blinked at it. "You made it?"

"Yeah."

She had prepared meals during the training camp. Of course she knew how to cook. And it had tasted delicious. He didn't hesitate.

"So did you forget yours?" She asked after a moment.

"Mom didn't prepare one." He shrugged and wolfed down half of her rice.

"Too bad." She smiled, remembering her mom's cooking. It hadn't been that good, but she'd always tried her best. "Why don't you go to the cafeteria then?"

"Forgot my wallet too." He mumbled with mouth full of food.

Aya chuckled and shook her head. "Talk about a lucky day."

"Here." After he finished half of her bento, or a bit more than a half, he passed it to Aya.

"Oh. So you've really left me something too." She teased him. "Thanks."

Without thinking twice about it, she took it from him and adjusted the chopstick. It was only then when it occurred to him that she'd use the very same chopsticks as he had. Indirect kiss. He stared at the first bite she took.

 _So she didn't even think about it._ He thought.

After a moment of staring, she looked up from her food. "What?" She asked with a raised eyebrow. He'd been watching her curiously the whole day, and now it got more intense. _What is his problem this time?_

He felt the heat rising to his cheeks, and he looked away. Admitting that he was thinking about indirect kiss was way too mortifying for him. But her reddish eyes were grilling him. He needed to find something to say, and real quick. Before she'd see through him.

"Are you really a world champion?" He blurted out, to divert her attention.

Aya almost choked. "W-what?! Where did you hear that?!"

So far, she knew about three people in her school who knew. One of them was Satsuki – Aomine's childhood friend, then Kiku – but she wasn't on speaking terms with him, and she would never tell him, and the last one was Katsunori – her godfather. Her mind was racing a mile per second, to figure out who could have spill the beans. She wanted to trust Satsuki. And she wanted to trust Katsunori too. Aomine could have figured it out on his own as well, but Aya doubted that.

Her eyes were wide and staring at the food.

That reaction pretty much confirmed it.

Aomine could see one more thing – she'd never expected him to know. He kept quiet, because he wanted an answer from her.

"Satsuki?" She asked quietly after a moment. She seemed as if the question itself was physically hurting her. She didn't want to blame Satsuki, she really didn't. But who else could have told him?

Aomine frowned. "No. You."

"What?" She snapped at him, her stomach tightening. That was not possible. She'd never talked about it with the others, let alone Aomine. She didn't want them to know.

"Answer my question." He demanded.

It was a fight of flight situation, and Aya knew what she'd choose. "And what if I am?" She straightened her back and held up her chin in a defensive gesture.

Reading in others wasn't his strongest point, but he could feel she was cornered. He raised an eyebrow at her. That question-answer of hers wasn't sufficient.

"I was. And? What does it have to do with you?" It came out more aggressively than she had wanted, but Aomine didn't seem to be affected by it much.

"Was?"

"Was." She said curtly. "You said I was the one who told you. When?"

"The training camp." If possible, he wanted to avoid saying he overheard her phone call. However, blaming it on her little speech in the storm was not possible. She had never implied anything like that.

Her eyes narrowed. "When?"

"Why didn't you tell me?" He asked accusingly. She wasn't obliged to tell him, or give him answers, he knew that, but she had many chances to do so. She could have… no… she **_should have_** told him.

"When?"

"Why?"

He wasn't going to leave it.

Neither was she.

They stared at each other. No one wanted to give in and answer first, because that would mean losing the staring contest. And neither of them was good at losing.

Aya was usually the reasonable one. Not this time. She felt that this conversation got out of her hands and she didn't like it. She didn't want to talk about it with Aomine, because that would mean opening up to him.

He sighed and looked away from her, scratching the back of his neck. "If I answer, will you tell me why?"

That in itself ticked her off more than his stubbornness. _Why do you want to know it this much?_

"Tch." She clicked her tongue. No, she wasn't in the mood to give answers. "Because it has nothing to do with you! With any of you! … You know what? Forget it. I don't care how you figured it out, but I recommend you to keep your mouth shut." She got up, and yanked the door open.

"Runnin' away, Sweetheart?" He asked cockily just to hide that it, in fact, hurt him. Little did he know how close to home was his question.

Aya bit her lower lip at hearing this.

"So what if I am? I'm not the only one." She said bitterly and left. Talking about her reasons, her scars and hurt; she wasn't ready for it.

 _Congratulations._ He thought bitterly.

He didn't bother to stop her. Instead, he stared at the lunch she left behind; she'd barely touched it. He had a sudden urge to throw it against the fence.

######

"What did you do to Aya-chan?" Kano asked as they headed towards the gym for the P.E. class.

The classmates hadn't noticed anything. But Kiku and the boys, who knew Aya slightly better than the rest, noticed that she was distressed about something. She had returned to the classroom alone, without her lunch or Aomine, and even though she'd spoken with them and smiled, they could feel something was off. That she was only half-present.

"Tch. Nothin'." He said, with his usual arrogance.

He wouldn't let this situation bother him. After all, he wasn't at the wrong. He had all rights to ask, and she should have told him. He was more than sure that Kagami knew lot of things about him thanks to Satsuki, but Satsuki decided not to share much about Kagami with him. Why Satsuki decided to basically leave him in the dark, was beyond him. And maybe he was a bit jealous about it.

No. Girls took effort; Kagami Aya even more so.

He didn't need this.

######

During the P.E., classes 1-3 and 1-4 were joined together. It was warm enough to exercise outside. The boys were playing football under Yoshioka-sensei's supervision and the girls were divided into teams to play volleyball on neighbouring courts.

Class 1-4 had four girls from volleyball club, and those four were put on the same team. The P.E. teacher, Umaki-sensei, was also the coach of the girls' volleyball team, so she liked to keep those four on one team; even if it meant giving them an unfair advantage.

Aya was on one team with Kiku. No one wanted to be on the same team as Kiku, but Aya. She didn't mind the clumsy girl. She was okay with covering for her. And today, after her little argument with Aomine, she was ready to fight as never before.

She didn't know why it had angered her, or what exactly caused her to snap at him that much.

With Kiku on their team, it was like playing with five players instead of six. The girls weren't happy about it, but whatever, it was just P.E. and they weren't that good either. It was another stupid match against the other class they had to survive. If the teacher's volley-girls won, everything would be okay.

Nothing unusual.

Team 1-4 was starting with the first serve. One of the volley-girls was serving, and she purposefully hit it with her full strength, aiming it at Kiku – the girl who had the least chance of receiving it. If she didn't dodge, they'd get to see the embarrassment of the shy girl when it hit her face.

They didn't consider that there was a certain redhead – currently furious redhead – who pulled Kiku aside and received the ball perfectly, sending it right to their setter.

"How cute! But you can't cover up forever, Kagami!"

Anytime they would target Kiku, Kagami would be there. Completely fine with guarding both positions.

As long as she stayed focused, she was pretty efficient. She did mistakes; the ball flew out couple of times, when it was too quick; she missed a spike from time to time. But out of all the girls on her side of the net, she was the best.

After one set they lost, they changed sides. As unusual as it was, Aya seemed tired. She was running and jumping around much more than the others.

"Look at the losers. Congratulations, Ohno. You did a good job!" One of the four said mockingly, looking down at the small girl, who was trying so hard to hold back her tears. "Thanks for tiring Kagami out." Said another one.

They were doing it on purpose. Targeting Kiku was their strategy. Since Aya was competitive and protective, they knew she'd overexert herself, and since the beginning of the match she seemed somewhat off from her usual overly-energetic-self.

"Sorry. I'm so sorry, Aya-san." She mumbled under her breath.

Aya gently touched Kiku's shoulder, in reassuring gesture. It meant – _'I don't mind.'_

"Fuck off!" Aya growled at the girl and stood in front of Kiku. She was more hungry than tired. In her head, she was cursing Aomine for ruining her lunch with his curiosity. But no way in hell would she let it influence her performance.

"Hmph." The girl turned and crossed under the net. Maybe infuriating the redhead more then she'd already been wasn't the luckiest choice.

"You don't have to try that hard, Kagami-chan." Miyuki, the setter, said and patted Aya's shoulder. "It's not like we can win against them."

Aya chuckled, and wiped her forehead; wildness and pure thirst for victory glimmering in her eyes. "Well, we certainly haven't lost yet."

"Eh?"

"Call the others; I think we could take this set." Aya said.

Her managerial and observing skills, as well as her volleyball experiences came in handy. She explained what she had noticed, and what they could try. They lost a set but the difference in points wasn't that huge. The two girls, Rei and Aki, who she had shot down in class for badmouthing Kiku, didn't want to participate in anything Aya proposed. But sure as hell it pissed them off, when the girls from other class made fun of them.

Aomine was standing in a goal. As a basketball player, he didn't like football much, but as a goalkeeper he didn't have to run around. Catching the ball wasn't that much of a problem for him anyways. He was watching the girls play across the court, and he didn't get why Kagami would go to such lengths for a stupid game she probably didn't even like… helping Ohno, and even calling the others for some strategy meeting. _What a useless effort_. He thought. He was still angry and hurt, but he couldn't take his eyes off of her. He wanted to figure her out. He wanted to see if she could get those girls to win.

And he wanted to see her boobs bounce every time she would jump to get the ball.

After the small meeting they had, the girls from the class 1-3 seemed ready to tear their opponents to shreds. Even the two gossipy-geese (Aki and Rei) were fired up this time. It wasn't about covering for Ohno anymore; it was about showing those four bitches their place.

Thanks to Aya's observation, they kept the set in tie.

Whenever the opponents scored, they scored back. It was back and forth game.

Sometimes, the ball was kept in the air for unbelievably long rallies. The girls playing on the other court stopped and watched them.

Even the boys got their attention dragged away from football, and rather hung on the fence staring at the girls running after the ball. Yoshioka-sensei couldn't make them oblige, so with a sigh, he joined them to watch the games and his female colleague.

Umaki-sensei was watching in delight, turning blind eye on occasional insults her girls spouted towards Aya's team. She didn't want the class 1-4 to lose, because it would mean her new additions to the volleyball club weren't as good as she wanted to believe.

"Bring it!" Aya called for a spike running up to the net from the right side.

"Here!" Miyuki set it up higher, according to Aya's jump. She was an excuse of a setter, but after Aya had explained what kind of sets she wanted, and after they had tried and failed several times, she got it right.

This time, she got it right. She could see it from the ease with which Aya spiked it in, avoiding the block.

They got one point and were currently one point ahead.

Unfortunately it was Kiku's time to serve and the precious one point was lost immediately.

"Don't worry about it." Aya said. "I'll teach you how to serve later."

Kiku blinked at Aya. _How nice…_

The next serve from the opposite team targeted Kiku again, and Aya received it again. It was off, but Miyuki managed to set it for Aya again. Not as well as before, so the opponents were quick to return the failure of a spike.

The girl from the volleyball club who spiked it back was robust, tall and her spikes, as well as serves were unbelievably powerful. Only Aya, and somehow Miyuki managed to receive them.

She targeted Kiku, as per usual.

Aya wasn't close, and she had barely landed from her jump, and no one else dared to jump between the small girl and the cannon ball.

 _Shit._ Aya thought and sprang forward. She knew she wouldn't make it, so she leaped forward, jumping in sort of midair dive.

She hadn't calculated the trajectory right, or she jumped with more force than she needed to, all in all, the ball hit the side of her cheek, making her bite into it. It hurt. She could feel the metallic taste of blood in her mouth, but the ball was up.

"Cover it!" She shouted.

"Ah!..." Rei jumped in and touched it. It was not enough for a spike.

"Just get it over the net!" Aya shouted, not realizing that blood traced out from a corner of her mouth and dripped down her chin.

Miyuki had the last touch.

"Direct!" Robust girl shouted, and spiked it.

"Tch." Aya dived forward to catch it.

"Eh?!" So far, Umaki-sensei hadn't seen Kagami to dive, or to be so ferocious. Some of her girls didn't know how to do that properly, and they did wear knee pads during practises and even now. Kagami wore none.

Kagami wrestled the point, and there was a short break before Aya would serve.

"Aya-san!" Kiku exclaimed in panicky voice, upon seeing blood on Aya's face. "You're bleeding!"

Aya touched her chin and the right side of her mouth. There was warm sticky blood indeed, but all the teeth were intact. Her right cheek was throbbing and she knew she'd have a bruise there. She spat out the blood which had collected in her mouth and wiped her lips and chin. It was an ungirly gesture, but running for a handkerchief and fussing over something so insignificant wasn't in Aya's nature.

"Kagami-chan! Are you fine?" Miyuki asked with concern. Suddenly her entire team gathered around her.

"Yeah, yeah. Leave it. I'm fine. I just bit the inside of my cheek. No big deal." She spat out some blood once again; it was getting better already.

"You should go to the infirmary, Kagami." Umaki-sensei said. She shouldn't have been happy about a student's injury, but with Kagami out, the tied game would turn into hers girls' favour.

Kagami narrowed her reddish eyes at the teacher; _I-see-through-you._ \- they sent the message, and a chill ran down Umaki-sensei's spine.

"I'm fine. Besides, there isn't much the nurse could do. My teeth didn't get knocked out." She said firmly.

The teacher looked at Yoshioka-sensei in charge of boys, looking for a support. But her colleague was frowning at her, sending her a scolding look. "Let her play if she wants. It's not like she has a concussion."

 _Shit…_ She swore in her mind. "Fine. It's your serve, Kagami."

Aya took the ball from her with a victorious smirk. _I-win._ But she got equally irritated at Umaki's attitude.

She dribbled the ball and took a deep breath, redirecting her anger and irritation into the ball. Her accuracy was only 5 out of 10 tries with this serve. But if she could make it… It could make those mocking idiots shut up. If she couldn't, she'd only get angrier.

"Cover the back of your heads!" She shouted and threw the ball up.

She ran up, leaped up, and hit the ball with her entire body strength. For a moment, she looked like she grew wings. Because Aya could use the entire strength of her body, it was stronger cannon than from the robust girl, who only used her arm's strength. The sound it made was terrifying. The ball made it through in such a speed that the 1-4 team didn't have time to react at all.

"No touch service ace!" Miyuki squealed in joy. "We didn't know you could do that!"

"Jump-serve!" Yoshioka-sensei whistled. That one was difficult for boys, let alone girls. "How good is that girl in sports?" He asked Ishii, because he knew they were both on the basketball team.

"I didn't know it applied to volley too." He answered in bewilderment.

"Don't celebrate. My accuracy isn't all that good." Aya muttered and dribbled before her serve again.

Aya managed to get two more service-aces before the ball hit the net right next to Rei's head, which made the gossipy-goose glare at Aya.

"Sorry." She shrugged with a mischievous smirk.

It got them three points ahead, and they managed to keep it.

The class 1-3, despite having a complete sport anti-talent on their team, won the set. And after that they won another, shorter one, due to the class ending.

"Yes! We did it!" Aya high-fived with all the girls. "You were awesome, girls."

"What were you doing?!" Umaki-sensei shouted at the four girls from her volleyball team. "You are in the volleyball club! How can you let **_them_** win so easily!? How does that make me look!?"

Aya laughed at that. _If you taught them humility first…_ "So what do you say? Wasn't it worth the sweat?" She asked Rei and Aki, the two gossipy-geese.

"Hmph. It certainly doesn't make us friends." They said, but they couldn't fight off a smile. Winning felt awesome. Even though it was with Ohno and Kagami on their team, it was worth it.

"Fair enough. What about a truce?" Aya asked.

"I guess it's fine." Aki said and shook Aya's hand.

Then they turned at Kiku.

The shy girl turned to face them, but she couldn't hide the fear in her eyes. It was her fault Aya-san got hurt. If only she could…

"You too." Aki said grumpily. "We are not friends, but… A truce."

"H-h-hai!" Kiku said and bowed deeply. What was happening?

The four volley members passed by Aya, all giving her hostile glares. _Bitches._ She thought, and then waved them with a sunny smile on her face.

The P.E. was over, and all they had to do was to go get changed, do their class duties and head home. Aya caught Aomine's stare. He immediately broke off their eye contact and left towards the changing room.

 _Serves me right._ Aya thought. Now that her anger got dismissed by the match, she didn't know why she got that bitchy, when the only thing Aomine had done, was ask her a question.

She didn't notice when her boys surrounded her with worried eyes.

"You cheek is bruising, Aya-chan!" Kano gasped.

"Eh?" Aya touched her stinging cheek, he was right. "I suppose I'll have to wear make-up for couple of days." She shrugged.

"We didn't know you played volleyball too." Ishii said, calmly observing their manager for once.

"Ah well." She smiled. "Los Angeles, sun, ocean, beaches and beach volleyball contests… Let's say streetball wasn't the only free-time activity I did there."

"Did you argue with Aomine-san?" Sakurai asked warily.

Aya gave him a short glare. She didn't mean to scare him off or anything, but she was finally feeling a bit better and he just **_had to_** bring that up. She didn't want to think about Aomine. Not now. There was dancing club awaiting her in the evening and she really wanted to at least try and enjoy that.

"S-sorry. I didn't mean to pry. I'm sorry." He was bowing to her continuously.

"Oh, it's fine, Sakurai-kun." She was still using honorific when it came to Sakurai, or those she didn't know much. "You don't need to apologise."

"So?" Kano peeked at her from behind Ishii as they were heading towards the changing rooms.

"I don't know, okay?"

"You don't know?" Arai asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I don't know." She repeated. "Would you mind leaving it? I need to sort it out myself." She said, disappearing into the changing room.

"That was weird." Arai muttered.

"Certainly" Ishii nodded.

"Sakurai, you shouldn't apologise that much. It tick's people off." Kano pointed out good-heartily.

"Sorry! I'll try not to. But sorry for annoying you! Sorry!"

######

"Are you going to talk about it or not?" Taiga asked when they were heading home from the dancing club.

"I'm fine. There's nothing to talk about."

He could feel his sister wasn't feeling as _'fine'_ as she tried to make it look. He knew her masks, and he also knew the girl with scars beneath them.

Saturday had been just a slip due to Aya's tiredness, but the more she kept others at arm's length the more tiring it would be. Always watching out what you say, how you say it, who to… Knowing the others without letting them know you… Unsaid things and secrets never did well to friendships. They'd both learned a lesson, yet Aya didn't seem to get it.

"Right… _Fine_ enough to actually step on my feet." He provoked, knowing where it hurt her pride. "Twice." He added with smirk.

"Taiga…" She said in tired voice. "Don't start."

"Then talk. I ain't gonna judge." He insisted, knowing her all too well.

"I might have screwed up." She said with her eyes cast to the ground; so unusual for the proud and confident Kagami Aya.

"You screwed Aomine?" Taiga asked with a mocking tone.

"Wha-?" She punched his shoulder. "Taigaaa." She said accusingly.

"What? You talk about that guy a lot you know. I wouldn't be **_that_** surprised if you did."

"For a guy who shies away from sex, which I don't understand, you sure don't mind mocking me with it." She looked at him with a raised eyebrow and he turned away with a blush.

Just because he hadn't found the right girl yet, she didn't have to make fun of him. Not that she was any different.

Aya chuckled. "No. I didn't screw Aomine. But I might have pissed him off. Or…" She told him the whole story, and Taiga stared at her. That Aomine guy sure was brave for dragging his sister somewhere. "I don't know what to do now."

"… What if you give him some space too? I mean, if you don't want to give him answers, then don't.. uhm… lead him on? You get what I mean, right?"

Taiga wasn't good at giving life advice, let alone love advice. Wait, was Aya in love? If so, she didn't seem to be. He'd already seen how good she could be at hiding such a thing, or how efficiently she could deny it and deceive herself, so he decided not to trust the impression she gave out and assume that she, at very least, genuinely cared for that guy – more than for anyone else.

"Yeah, I get it." She said, already lost in her thoughts. "Do you think I should talk with them about it?"

"The basic back story wouldn't hurt… I think…"

"Have you told your team?"

"Errr… It never came up." He shrugged.

"Right… So basically you have no clue what to do either." _Awesome._

"…No…" He admitted. "But… Try talking with uncle Kyou. Or Hiroto. Or Katsunori. Or Alex. Or Suzume. Or Shiranuis. Or… Wait… Who else do you trust enough?" He scratched his chin, thinking about someone else.

She chuckled at his question. There were some more, but Taiga got it right. She knew hundreds or more people – too much considering her age. Some were just acquaintances; many called themselves her friends, some even best friends. But in reality, there was only a small circle of people she trusted. Really trusted.

Aya nodded. "But I'll try to think about it on my own first."

Taiga nodded. "Now… Who gave you that bruise?" He asked and pointed at her cheek.

######

She got out of the shower and laid on top of her bed. Her mind was still running in circles.

"Urgh!" She knew the work wouldn't distract her enough, and there wasn't much she had to do. Only some mails she'd have to send and reply to, she could finish that within an hour.

Her phone rang – the personal one. And there was an unknown number.

She stared at it for a moment. The last time that had happened, it had been Aomine asking her to play basket with him. That day had been nice.

She shook her head and picked up.

"Hello? Kagami Aya here."

 _"Ayacchi! Hello! Good you picked up. I have something–"_

"Who am I speaking with?"

 _"Eeeh?! You don't remember my voice? How saaaad, Ice queen-chan."_

"Ah. Model-kun." She recognized the nickname and the attitude.

 _"Kise Ryouta here."_ He introduced himself nonetheless.

"Ayacchi?" She asked in amused voice. "Why –cchi?"

 _"Oh. I call my friends that. The close ones I respect."_ He explained proudly, as a child showing off his new toy.

"When have we become such a good friends, Model-kun?"

 _"You don't want to be friends?! Why not? I thought a friend could be handy to you."_ The last sentence – he said it seriously. Not threateningly, but in a way that said _I-see-through-you._

Aya picked up on that quickly. In fact she was aware that Kise Ryouta was an intriguing man, who could be as harmless as a puppy one second and deadly dangerous the next. She knew the type, and she usually avoided it, but those she avoided were indeed bad to their core. Kise, on the other hand, was essentially good and jovial, but perilous if things precious to him got threatened.

 _Frighteningly similar to Tatsuya, yet so different._ That was how Aya felt about the blonde. He indeed saw through her, during that short time they had talked. _Really…_ It was admirable.

"It was you who said I didn't want to be friends."

 _"You do know your way with words, Ayacchi. But that's what's intriguing 'bout you."_

"Why are you calling me, Kise-kun?" She asked staring at the ceiling, unimpressed by the compliment. "I doubt it is to hear my lovely voice."

He chuckled. Of course she wouldn't get swayed by him. Whenever he wanted something from girls, he would usually send a text, or there was no end to their ranting about pointless stuff, and they would jump to a conclusion they were special. _Urgh…_ But he was sure Ayacchi would shot him down rather than jump into any conclusions, so he didn't mind calling her.

 _"Unfortunately, no. But I have an invitation for you!"_ He said enthusiastically. _"I believe you could use a distraction."_

A shiver ran down her spine. What the hell was with this timing? "What invitation?" She asked cautiously.

 _"I'm organizing a goukon on Saturday – I wanted to do it the next Saturday, but that's right before the prelims, and Kasamatsu-senpai would have killed me for that, so, anyways."_ Kise talked a lot for a guy, but Aya didn't mind at the moment, as it made her think about something else. _"You know what a goukon is, right?"_ He asked, but he didn't wait for an answer – Kurokocchi had told him what he knew about Kagami siblings. _"It's a blind date. Were random, or… well, people who don't know each other meet, with intention to start dating. Honestly, I go there to gather more contacts and hook up with someone occasionally. You can invite friends and all, but we need to have, or should have the same number of guys and girls to match up."_

 _Hook up with, huh?_ She thought, not commenting on it. "I get the general idea, Kise-kun. I might have lived in the States, but I do know. Anyways… Is it okay if **we** know each other?"

 _"Well… The girls might not like it, but I'll know Hana-chan too, so. I believe **you** are not gonna be intimidated by random girls, or are you?"_

"Of course not, Model-kun. Is anyone else I know going?"

 _"Not that I know of."_ He said and smiled for himself. Originally he'd thought it wouldn't be so easy to get Aya to agree. But manipulating her the same way he had Aominecchi would be peculiar, since he barely knew her. He bet on the fact that she was similar to him in a way, and that she would want some new contacts too.

"It'll be a new experience… Why not. I'll go." She agreed. Maybe it was a good opportunity to come to different thoughts; though she still had an entire week of trying to deal with her little Aomine problem.

 _"Awesome! I'll send you the details later. The estimate meeting time should be around two PM, but it might change. If there's anything you need to ask, feel free to call me or text me, Ayacchi."_

"Sure. I'm interested in this event of yours." She smiled. "Make it worth it, Model-kun."

 _"Great! I'm looking forward to it. Bye, Ayacchi!"_

"Bye."

She stared at the ceiling for a moment, and then she saved Kise's number.

 _So I'll go to a goukon then._ She thought.

######

Aomine's phone vibrated.

He was staring at the ceiling thinking about Kagami. He had wanted to know if she was okay after that nasty hit, but he couldn't bring himself to ask, and so he had left.

 _'It has nothing to do with you.'_ Sounded in his mind.

 _And maybe that's how it's supposed to be._ He thought.

When it vibrated again he reached for it with annoyed groan. Who on earth would bother him in the middle of a night?

Kise.

Of course.

The first text said:

'I have a date for the goukon!'

The second text said:

'Are you not curious?'

It vibrated again.

The third one:

'Don't ignore me, Aominecchi! T-T'

The fourth:

'Are you asleep?'

Aomine quickly typed his answer, before the blonde would spam his phone:

'Get it into one message, will y'?! Stupid.'

Kise replied almost immediately:

'Oh, so you are up. Great!'

After that one Aomine thought he'd throw his phone out of the window, when it rang.

"What?!" He barked.

 _"Don't be so mean, Aominecchi! I just wanted to hear your lovely voice."_ He said, taking a small inspiration from Ayacchi.

 _Urgh…_ "If you have nothing to say, I'll hang up."

 _"Oh, but I have. The goukon we spoke about previously... This Saturday at two PM. Once I'll have more details I'll text you."_

"In **one** message."

Kise laughed. _"It's fun to tease you, Aominecchi. I'll send dozens of texts if you want. Not like you'd text with anyone else."_

"Tch. Idiot." Aomine hung up on him.

######

"Eeeeeh! He hung up on me! Aominecchi hung up on me!" Kise whined, staring incredulously at his phone.

"Shut up Ryouta!" His sister banged on his wall, because their rooms neighboured. "I want to sleep!"

"Sooorry, Aiko-nee-cchi! But Aominecchi hung up on me! Do you believe it?!" He whined. "Do you?!"

"YES! Now… SHUT UP!" She shouted back.

"Would you **BOTH** SHUT UP?!" Kise's mother intervened from across the hallway.

"Sorry!"

"Sorry!"

They apologised in unison.

* * *

 **A/N:** Maybe a bit too much volleyball, but I got carried away. I've seen Haikyuu couple of times actually, so inspiration came from there. :) And a goukon arc is coming up - two more chapters before the goukon, but... Well, I hope you don't mind delaying the Inter-high, don't worry it'll come... (Around 18th and above chapters, according to my timeline - at the end of May)

Let me know what you think and remember, reviews are appreciated but never necessary.

-S.


	12. Chapter 12: Getting over

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone who followed, favourited and reviewed! It makes me very happy.

Warning for this chapter: mention of blood and death. I hope it's still within the rating. (If not, let me know.)

* * *

 _My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. All I am I owe to my mother. I attribute my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I received from her.―_ ** _George Washington_**

 _Behind all your stories is always your mother's story. Because hers is where yours begin. **―**_ ** _Mitch Albom_** ** _,_** ** _For One More Day_**

 _‚I loved my mother too,' I said. 'I still do. That's the thing - it never goes away, even if the person does.' **―**_ ** _Anna Carey_** ** _,_** ** _Eve_**

 _There is something about losing your mother that is permanent and inexpressable - a wound that will never quite heal **.―**_ ** _Susan Wiggs_** ** _,_** ** _The Goodbye Quilt_**

 _You never know how strong you are until being strong is your only choice. ―_ ** _Bob Marley_**

 _I love you every day. And now I will miss you every day. **―**_ _**Mitch Albom** **,** **For One More Day**_

 _She went around with a broken heart, and she wasn't sure who'd broken it. She thought it was herself, mostly. ―_ ** _Ann Brashares_**

 _We are made of all those who have built and broken us. **― Atticus Poetry, Love Her Wild**_

* * *

Aya was feeling strange the day after the argument with Aomine. They didn't talk, and he avoided her, or so she felt. He skipped practises – not unusual, but still…

She managed the dancing club with Taiga's help, this time not stepping on his feet, but they didn't talk much either. Regular lack of sleep got to her, and she fell asleep, without doing her work. If it had been urgent, she would've been in deep trouble.

Her dreams that night, took a strange route. They were all memories, replaying in her head.

 _"I want to be like mama! Ballerina!" Tiny Aya proclaimed and spun around, falling on her bottom at the process._

 _"Ooh, you…" A woman with black wavy hair caught her into her arms and snuggled with her chubby toddler. They spun around together. "Of course you will!"_

 _"Me too, me too, mama!" Taiga was jumping up and down trying to get mother's attention._

 _"Of course you too. Come." She opened up her arms and took him into the embrace too._

 _"You really enjoy dancing around, don't you?" Father's voice reached them from a couch._

 _"Papa too!" Aya stuck her hand out, calling out to him._

 _With a deep chuckle he got up and joined them._

 _###_

 _"I want to do Latin dances!"_

 _"Didn't you want to become a ballerina?" Her mom asked with a surprised expression._

 _"I don't wanna! The music is boring, and slow! I want other dress too!"_

 _"Hmmm…" She thought about it. "Okay, but you'll keep at it twice a week."_

 _"…" She thought about it for a while. "Deal."_

 _"Oh my. She'll be a good negotiator one day." An old man chuckled as he watched the child. She was one of the best students he had had. "I can teach her, if you'd like, Keiko-san."_

 _###_

 _"We are moving to America, Shiranui-san. I'm sorry, I'm taking her away."_

 _"You got an offer, right, Keiko-san?"_

 _"Yes. Haruka is looking for a job too. It's one in a lifetime opportunity." She sparkled with joy and optimism. Aya loved her mother; in fact she loved her the most when she was happy and cheerful._

 _"Hmmm… Please, don't let her compete yet. I know she wants to, but it still has time."_

 _"I'll see what I can do. But my Robin is too competitive. Taiga in comparison… I just hope he will get sharp elbows thanks to her one day."_

 _"They are twins, they are better together than apart, Keiko-san."_

 _Adults' conversations were boring, and impatient Aya was fidgeting around, looking for anything she could to. Someone caught her interest. "Oi, wait! Let's play outside, Pinky." She ran after a pink-haired girl, whose face she couldn't see._

 _-_ The scene disappeared before she could see the girls face. _-_

 _"Next time, I want to conquer the world! Mwahahaa!" Aya laughed victoriously after winning her first local competition. "I'll be like you mama!"_

 _"Slightly different, sweetie." She chuckled and kissed Aya's forehead._

 _###_

 _"I don't wanna go there!" Aya cried crocodile tears; crouching in the changing room, squeezing a tattered dress in her small palms. "They say I'm a monster, mama!" She sobbed._

 _She opened and closed her mouth, unable to quiet down her daughter._

 _"You wanted to conquer the world?" Taiga laughed at her. "And you cry like little baby."_

 _She threw the dress at him. "Go to hell!"_

 _"Oi, Robin!" Mother tried to scold her, but it was too late and they were already in each other's hair. When she finally tore them apart, they both stuck out their tongues at her._

 _"Now. You, young lady, are not gonna complain, and will go out there. And you, young man, will dance with her, since Raymond is not going to come."_

 _"In what?" Aya asked. "We don't have the costumes."_

 _"Mom will figure it out."_

 _###_

 _"Mom, mom! Look at that park! Let's go in!" Aya pulled at her arms dragging her towards a park. "It seems fun."_

 _"We said we were going home. Mom is tired." She said._

 _The past month, or more, she was looking extremely tired and strained, sometimes in pain. Aya didn't know what was happening, but she wanted to make her smile and laugh again. And playing in a park was usually enjoyable for everyone._

 _"Pretty pleaaase!" They said in unison, knowing she couldn't resist their double cuteness._

 _She sighed. "Only for an hour."_

 _They were running around with some other kids that were in the park, playing cops and robbers, climbing trees. Aya wanted to climb the highest. To show Taiga that there was nothing to be scared of._

 _"Come on! It's simple! Look!" She hung upside down, on only one leg. "See?! Ea-" The branch broke with a cracking sound and Aya fell down, with a scream and a loud ' **thud'.**_

 _"Easy?" He finished her sentence and laughed. She glared at him. Then he helped her up. "You okay?"_

 _"Yeah…" She grumbled. Thankfully, nothing felt broken, only scratched. "Don't tell mom– Sssss…." She hissed in pain, and reflexively reached to touch the left side of her waist. She could feel the torn fabric of her new dress and something warm and sticky._

 _"Blood!" Taiga shouted, and pulled her._

 _"Oii! Don't make mom worry!" She yelled at him, but he was already running and dragging her towards where their mom was resting on a bench after she had played with them for a while. Aya tried to struggle, but it was pointless._

 _"Oh dear." She said after she looked at Aya's scratch. It wasn't as bad as it looked. "It's just a scratch, but we should go to see a doctor. I fear it might leave a scar, Robin. We don't want that, do we?" Her kind smile and soft palm, stroking Aya's head almost made her forget her fear of hospitals. Almost._

 _"No. U-uh. Not going." She said stubbornly, shaking her head._

 _"Robin, we need to have it cleaned up."_

 _"U-uh."_

 _"Taiga can tell you there is nothing scary. Right?" She looked at her son, who was staring somewhere past them. "Right?"_

 _Instead of answering, he pointed his finger over Aya's shoulder. A man standing there looked scary. "Look–"_

 _"YOU FUCKING BITCH!" The man shouted, waving with a machine gun at a woman who was playing with her little child only a few meters away. "YOU DARED TO ABANDON ME?!"_

 _The woman immediately stuck her child behind her, but before she could speak up, before anyone could react, he started shooting around randomly._

 _BRA-TA-TA-TA-TA…_

 _Aya suddenly screamed out again. It was a horrid sound she made. Blood gushed out of her left shoulder, when a bullet grazed it tearing her skin and damaging the muscle._

 _Taiga cried out in pain a second later, as his right hip got grazed by another bullet._

 _Their mother's face twisted in fright, shock and panic. She grabbed both of them, forced them down, and covered them with her body the best she could._

 _It all happened so quickly._

 _The sound of a rifle was terrible. It wasn't stopping at all._

 _"It's gonna be okay. Mom will protect you." She was whispering to them in a shaky voice, holding onto them desperately. "It's gonna be okay. Mom loves y –"_

 _Her voice suddenly stopped._

 _Her body became heavy._

 _"Mom?" Aya asked. She couldn't move. Their mother held them too tightly. She couldn't get away. "Mom!"_

 _"Mom!" Taiga tried too._

 _Shooting stopped._

 _" **Mom!** " _

_They both struggled to get out of her embrace. She fell to the ground._ _Not moving._

 _Blood pool started to form beneath her._

 _"Mom!" Aya shook her shoulder, not understanding what was happening. She was talking to them just a moment ago._

 _"MOM!" Tears started to flow down her face._

 ** _"MOM!"_**

 **"MOM!"** Aya sprang up on her bed breathing heavily. She was covered in cold sweat. Her heart was beating frantically, hurting, and tears were staining her cheeks even in her sleep.

"No way…" She breathed out and clutched at her covers, her left shoulder, anything.

She was rocking back and forth, trying to calm down, to not think about **that day**. But she couldn't stop her tears. If she hadn't dragged her to that park…

She didn't know how much time had passed.

Her door creaked open. Taiga slipped into her room, his eyes already adjusted to the darkness ruling in their apartment. It wasn't her scream that had woken him up. He simply got up, as if sensing her panic and distress.

His arm gently touched her shoulder. He wasn't used to seeing his sister like this... Like this, Aya seemed so fragile.

"It's okay." He said in barely a whisper. "It was just a nightmare."

Aya stopped rocking. She didn't look at him, but her nails dug into her scar.

"I dreamt 'bout mom." She said quietly.

 _Oh…_ By her current state, he knew exactly what she had dreamt about.

"It's been almost eight years…" He hugged her around shoulders and rested his chin on top of her head. "It's not your fault." It still hurt him too. He had cried a lot too. But…

"If I hadn't forced her to go to that park…" Her voice broke.

"Mom was sick, Aya. Even if you hadn't suggested the park, she would have died couple of months later." It was a fact. They had overheard their father talking with medics and police. Keiko had been hiding her disease from everyone. She hadn't wanted to worry them. Taiga came to terms with it long time ago.

"She could have had couple of months…" She sniffled.

He hugged her tighter. Back then Aya had been the first one to get over it – or at least she pretended she was over it, in order to keep father and him from depression. Their father had changed and so had Aya. She felt like she had to protect their family in Keiko's stead. She had entered competitions and world championships again, only few months after the shooting. And she had won it for the first time. At that time, Taiga had even hated her for that, for every smile she flashed, for her trying to substitute mom. It was much later when he finally understood how painful it must have been for Aya. But she'd never complained. When she had cried she had done so alone in her room.

"Painful months full of struggle. She had protected us, Aya. She decided to protect us, because she loved us." His voice broke too. He wasn't a type to cry, but this was… Every time he remembered the love with which she had shielded them… The love she'd given them. Always… "Mom would have never blamed you for it."

"…"

He subtly cleared his throat. "It's not your fault." He repeated. And he was willing to repeat it over, and over, and over again, until she would understand.

She sniffled again. But she didn't retort anything.

Minutes went by, as they both remembered her.

They did so in silence. No words were needed for them.

Eventually, Aya sighed. She was feeling much better with Taiga by her side. It was safe, and comfortable. He could understand her without words.

"Oi… Don't get your snot on my t-shirt." He pulled away when she rubbed her face against his chest.

A small smile appeared on her face.

Taiga reached out and took a handkerchief, forcing her to blow her nose. "Good girl." He patted her hair after she was done.

She growled at him.

He chuckled. _Hm…_

Suddenly he grabbed her and rubbed the handkerchief – with its snotty content – all over her face.

"OI! STOP!" She fought back – uselessly. "Stop it, idiot! It's disgusting!" She yelled, but chuckles escaped her here and there.

When she managed to escape his hold, she went to wash her face off, mumbling curses all the way to the bathroom and back.

"I'll get back at you, Taiga." She said threateningly, and he could feel her glare.

"Yeah, yeah." He said stretching on her bed. "You laughed, you know."

"It was still disgusting."

"It was yours."

"Hate you."

"Love you sis'."

"Sure." She climbed over him, to get onto the other side of her huge double bed, near the wall. She didn't forget to press her hand and then knee into his stomach.

"Urgh." He groaned. "Mind where you crawl."

"What was it? Your crotch next time?"

"Good to see you are fine already."

She sighed and he could already guess her answer. "I'm trying."

"We all are."

"I know… I miss her."

"Me too."

"Will it get better?"

"I don't think so. We can only get used to it."

"We already had almost eight years for that."

"We weren't only grieving for eight years. We had lots of fun too, made lots of friends… And… You've got dancing, I've got basketball, well you too now. We've got each other. Seems manageable, don't you think?"

"Behold, spark of wisdom from Bakagami Taiga!" She said in a storytelling voice.

Taiga kicked her leg. "You are Bakagami too, so shut it."

She was giggling, but his words got home. It was nice having this dork for a brother. She'd never change him for anyone else – most of a time.

"Thank you." She said seriously after a moment of staring at the ceiling.

"Thank you too."

"Love you, you big dork."

"Love you, you stupid witch." He said and sat up.

"Stay." She pulled at his wrist like a little kid. "I don't want to be alone."

He sighed in exasperation. "What a big baby." But he didn't have the heart to leave her alone.

So he laid down and turned on his right side to face her.

She was smiling softly, already drifting off to sleep. She took his hand and held onto it, squeezing it tightly. He squeezed back, closing his eyes to get some sleep too.

* * *

Next morning, she was staring at her reflexion in a mirror.

She took a deep breath. _"You are balanced, happy, a little bit crazy and cheerful young lady. You are gonna nail it like you always do. Everything is as it is supposed to be. You are over all that shit."_

 _"Nice pep talk."_ Taiga walked into the bathroom with a yawn, to brush his teeth, when he spotted her talking to herself.

 _"Of course it is! It's mine."_

 _"Yeah, yeah…"_ He mumbled and took his toothbrush, ready to leave.

"Wait!" She grabbed his wrist, almost causing him to fall backwards. "How is it?" She asked and pointed at her bruised cheek, which was perfectly covered up with make-up.

"Eh?! Where did the bruise go?!" He blinked at her with wide eyes, yet again. This was magic for him. Magic he never understood, and his sister seemed so experienced in using. _Witch._

She smiled and patted his shoulder. "Nowhere, Tai. It's still there, but covered up."

 _That's crazy._ He thought.

"I suppose I did a good job." She mumbled praise to herself and left.

* * *

"Come to see me during lunch, Robin. I should receive the matchup for preliminaries, and I need to discuss the competition itself with you. Okay?" Katsunori asked her after the morning practise.

"Sure. I'll come." She nodded, as she was finishing her daily report. "When are the preliminaries supposed to start?"

"In two weeks on Wednesday, but we'll know the exact dates and times after the official announcement. And prepare for a hell lot of paperwork." He said; happy that this year, he didn't have to be the one dealing with.

"Well thank you!"

After cleaning up the gym, she changed into her uniform and headed towards shoe lockers, to change her shoes.

One neatly folded note was awaiting her on top of her indoor shoes.

 _Another 'confession'?_ She thought.

But when she opened it, her heart sank. She was used to numerous rumours circling about her back in America, but there was none here. Yet… The words written there weren't the nicest:

'Basketball team's whore…'

She read it couple of times and then she smirked. _Whore, huh? Well, thank you for announcing me your impression of me._

Bad things were slowly piling up, and she was feeling down. Still, she pushed the aftertaste of that message to the back of her mind. She tore the paper to shreds and threw it away. It wasn't worth her attention.

######

Satsuki came over to the class 1-3 during lunch break. She didn't have time to talk with Aya-chan in the morning, and this was important. To her surprise, the classroom was almost empty, and Aomine stayed - sleeping on his desk. The others probably didn't have the heart to wake him up – or they didn't care.

Aya came in a minute after Satsuki.

"Ah! Satsuki. I have the matchups from Katsu- coach." She said. "What's that?" She asked looking at a file Satsuki held at her chest.

"It's for you!" She placed the file on Aya's desk. "I thought you could use some help."

"Eh? What is it?" Aya asked and picked it up, quickly paging through the file.

It concerned detailed information about various schools with strong basketball teams. Aya had talked with Satsuki about checking out several schools, and asked her what were her thoughts, because Satsuki definitely knew more about good high-schools in Japan than Aya.

"I listed and analyzed the schools we talked about and some more, just for your information. Personally I think Kaijo would suit your friend the best, but…" Satsuki shrugged. Out of all the guys, Ki-chan was the friendliest one, and could help a newcomer fit in – if he came to like him that is.

"Wow. That's awesome. Thank you very much." She genuinely admired Satsuki at the moment. Doing all that in couple of days was remarkable. "But I don't think Kaijo is an option."

"Why not? Ki-chan is the friendliest of them all."

"Exactly." She said. "I don't think Tatsuya and Kise could mingle well. Not as friends and definitely not as teammates… Plus he wants to be as far away from Tokyo as possible…" Aya rolled her eyes; thinking about the stupid argument between Tatsuya and her brother.

"Why?" Satsuki asked curiously and took over Sakurai's seat – currently vacant.

"Tatsuya is… similar to Kise in a way. He isn't all smiles and sunshine, but… He has his poker-face nature, which can be both appealing and infuriating at the same time. He is a top-notch shooting guard, usually an ace. Kise and he would probably hit heads; two suns on one team. Not a good combination." Aya shrugged. She'd known Tatsuya for years. "He'd make a good team with someone laid back, who wouldn't pressure him much and give him space. As his motto is _'Keep a hot heart, and cool head, always think before you act.'_ And usually he could keep to it, but..." She rolled her eyes. "Urgh… Sometimes I wanted him to choke on those words…"

Observing was one of Satsuki's strong points, and Aya wasn't even trying to sound discreet. "I sense love story there." Satsuki squealed with hearts in her eyes. If anything made her happy it was a love talk with girls.

The pinkette glanced at Aomine, who surely awake by now, kept pretending to sleep and playing indifference, but she would swear he was listening.

"Yeah. Uh… Didn't work out quite well." Aya said with a shrug and a soft smile. She wanted to think positively about it, even if it had hurt her before.

"How come? What happened?"

Aya raised an eyebrow at her. This one shouldn't hurt, she had told Kiku about Tatsuya already, so... And Taiga was right, she probably needed to talk, and she had to start somewhere. Plus that dream…

 _'Get to know me…' you told her._ Aya thought.

"I'm not exactly a definition of a 'laid-back' person, am I?" She chuckled. "Well, let's say that I loved him. We were not exactly dating, or… Urgh, who am I kidding here?" She snorted, she wasn't sure how to explain things to Satsuki. There'd been years of friendship before they had fallen in love… "I can't explain it well?" Aya asked with a crooked smile. "It was complicated..."

"Eh? Why don't you start at the beginning then?" Satsuki asked out of habit, not expecting an answer.

 _The beginning huh?..._ Aya looked around, realising that Aomine was there – sleeping, which meant that rooftop was vacant. "Uhm… I suppose I need to take a walk. It's easier to organize my thoughts when I'm moving."

"Oh." Satsuki immediately got up. _Serves you right, Dai-chan. I've done what I could…_ "Sure. Let's go." She said and headed out of the class 1-3.

Aya took the file and her phones and followed after Satsuki. Her lunch would have to wait till later.

They strolled around the hallways. For once, Satsuki was trying to be patient, but Aya could feel her burning curiosity. They ended up on the rooftop – Aya liked it there. When Aomine wasn't occupying it, she sometimes climbed up, to enjoy a calm spring breeze and watch clouds.

They climbed to the upper part, above the door. Aya was sitting on the edge, kicking her legs in the air.

"Tatsuya was our childhood friend. We met in L.A. and eventually the three of us, Tatsuya, Taiga and I, became best friends, almost like siblings. Taiga and I are not exactly composed, we act before thinking at times, so Tatsuya's calm personality was something we needed."

Satsuki was all ears. She noticed that Aya had a short temper, and struggled to control it at times. Sometimes she'd just blow up, without a second thought. The pinkette didn't want to interrupt her, and wondered what had caused Aya to talk to her. She was starting to think that she was the last person Aya would ever trust…

"Tatsuya got my brother hooked on basketball, something no one else could have done before. He was like an older brother to Taiga, to both of us. He was a friend, and then he was like a family and then not like a family at all. It was all so confusing. You know…" She was playing with the file, opening and closing it, rambling out her thoughts.

"Falling in love with your brother's best friend… It's … Weird… Complicated… Uhm… We never explicitly said we were dating, you know… But we did date. We hung out very often, or whenever I wasn't out for competitions, because it was normal. However, I argued with Taiga over it, real bad. I was stealing his 'brother' away…" _When he caught us making out… And then **that** **photo** …_ She added inwardly. "And… so I broke it off. Not just because of the argument, there were more things to it. I didn't want to ruin their friendship? I didn't want to ruin my relationship with Taiga? It was the wrong timing? I had lots of other things to deal with? Tatsuya wasn't the one? I don't know, but now when I think about it I have a feeling that we wouldn't have lasted either way."

Satsuki was devouring every word Aya was telling her. It could help her to understand the enigmatic redhead a little bit better. "Weren't all those just excuses so you wouldn't hurt yourself?"

"Oh trust me Satsuki, I hurt myself plenty by rejecting him. It was a shitty period of my life in general. And being in love with Tatsuya didn't help it. We were better off as friends…" She sighed. "I came up with many reasons after we'd broken up, to soothe my broken heart I suppose." She chuckled. It sounded as if she said _How-stupid-right-?_. The look in her eyes wasn't sad or hurt, more like she was levelled with it.

"You are fine now." The pinkette stated, bewildered. She felt this was of huge importance to Aya and that there was much more behind the story – things Aya preferred to keep to herself for now. Was that 'shitty period' what made Aya so grown up? How could a person transform in a couple of months? Satsuki wished to know. And she wished to know the previous Aya too.

"It took time, and I think leaving America helped it... And when he called me to help him out the other day, and I didn't miss him and it didn't hurt, I realized that I'm already past it."

"Don't you regret it?" Satsuki asked. She was in love with Tetsu-kun, he most likely knew about it, but were they dating? No. Did she have the guts to actually confess? No. Still, it was **_her_** pestering him with her presence most of the time, knowing he wasn't the type to send her to hell in Aomine-ish way. It was all she could do. But gods she wanted more out of it.

Aya raised an eyebrow in question. "What? Falling in love with him, breaking up, or getting over it?"

"Uuuuhm…. All of it?"

"Hmmm… I've never thought about it in this way. I had 'what if' thoughts, but… We talked it over, and I suppose it's fine on both sides." She shrugged. "Hot heart, cool head, remember?"

"You remained friends?" She asked curiously.

"It's not the same as before, but yes. We are still friends. The boys though… they had a big quarrel anyways – not involving me, thank gods, and they are not talking at all now. I got told off, that it's a men's quarrel. Whatever… They are both idiots if you ask me." She chuckled good-heartily. "I only hope they will eventually resolve it."

Aya wouldn't say more than that – her tone made it clear – and even that was more than Satsuki had ever expected. She was thinking back about Aomine they'd left in the classroom. She so wanted to know his thoughts about this.

"Hmm…" Aya looked into the distance, and then looked at the pinkette curiously. "Have you never thought about dating Aomine?"

"Eh? Why would you ask?" But Satsuki knew it was only fair to be question after she had finished her questioning.

"You said there were rumours in your middle school. And you are childhood friends who know each other well. I'm curious. And let's face it, he **_is_** hot _._ "

Satsuki's eyes almost bulged out. So Aya-chan thought he was hot? "Hot, huh?"

"Aah, well… Doesn't mean I have a crush. Nope. Just stating the facts." Aya rambled out.

Satsuki giggled. It was a bubbly, pleasant sound. Then she quieted down and thought about Aya's question. The redhead wasn't pressuring her; she was patiently waiting for an answer.

"I have. For a while." She chuckled, thinking back about it. "I mean they all talked about it… But it was only platonic, before Tetsu-kun appeared with the popsicle stick and swooned my heart over. I was never really in love with Dai-chan. And neither was he. He was too preoccupied with basketball to bother himself with girlfriends. Or rumours… Or me. I loved that passion of his, but he was never my type, physically-wise and all... and when he changed… Well…" Satsuki might have never been in love with Aomine, but she worried about him enough to follow after him into high-school. Just like what a sister would do. She fumbled with the hem of her skirt, and it was obvious she didn't want to talk about it more.

"Popsicle stick?" Aya looked at her in confusion as if she overlooked the rest of what the pinkette had said. "What are you talking about?"

The way Satsuki fumbled with the hem was so familiar! Aya felt that it was important, but she couldn't remember in the slightest. The little girl from her dream flashed in her mind, but Aya refused it immediately. _Not possible._

"You know the popsicles with winning sticks in them, when you get another one for free? He gave me his prize! It was so romantic!" Satsuki held palm over her heart.

 _Wow. That sure was simple._ Aya thought and smiled softly at Satsuki's excitement as she told her the entire story of how she fell in love with Kuroko Tetsuya, she hadn't yet told her.

The class started to slowly fill with students again. Aya and Satsuki returned sooner than the others, so Aya could eat something from her lunchbox. Satsuki was excitedly telling her about the upcoming preliminaries, when Kano's loud voice interrupted her mid-sentence, and she sent him a glare.

"Aya-chan! You should have come and played with us!" Kano said with a wide grin, when the boys – surprisingly with Kiku at tow, returned from the outside courts.

"I would, but by the time I came back from Katsunori's you were long gone." She pouted a bit.

"What did coach say? Do you have the preliminaries matchup? When does it start? What block are we in?" Hideki flooded her with questions.

"Whoa there!" Aya stopped the overly excited Kano. "One question at the time." She smiled at him, and took out the sheet with matchups – Satsuki had had one since the previous Friday and had showed it to Aya – but didn't want to give it out to the boys before it was officially out.

The managers had already started with data collection about the other teams. Aya really wanted to know how Satsuki acquired and worked with all that personal data, and what she could do. Having a manager like that when she had competed would have been awesome.

"Here's the sheet." She handed him the paper. "Prelims start at the last week of May. We are in the block B. And no, you are probably not going to get your 5 minutes of fame."

Kano gasped with teary eyes. "Did you have to shoot me down like that? Did you, missy?!" He played offended, but they both started to laugh soon after.

"Yeah! to motivate you…"

It was the first time Satsuki experienced the atmosphere of those four in their classroom. It was nice, slightly crazy, but very friendly. Aya used to banter with the guys in this cosy manner often.

"I envy you this, Aya-chan." Satsuki said whining-ly and sighed. "Hasegawa-kun is so distant towards me. Like he doesn't want to admit that we are on one team!"

"Y' 're annoying. That's why." Aomine grumbled rubbing his eyes as they had woken him up.

"Aomine-kun!" She scolded him. Her pink eyes were warning him. "Don't say that!" _Or-I-won't-tell-you-about-what-I-discussed-with-Aya-chan._

The message got through. "Tcs. But it's true…" He looked out of the window.

"Don't worry 'bout it, Satsuki." Aya smiled at her. "Hasegawa-kun doesn't talk with me much either. Probably we just don't vibe well with him." She shrugged. "He talks with the others, so it's fine by me."

"Even Oyama-kun would be better to talk to." Satsuki pouted.

"Hai, hai." Aya said and wolfed down the rest of her lunch.

######

"Are you not gonna ask about Aya-chan?" Satsuki asked curiously when she was walking home with Aomine.

"I don't care."

"Wha-?" She looked at him incredulously. "Last Friday you asked me 'bout her cup size!" Her tone was very disapproving, and frustrated.

"That does interest me."

"Not telling. Ask her yourself, perv." She huffed and rolled her eyes.

"Tch." _She won't tell me._

When he kept quiet, she asked. "What happened anyways? Did you argue with Aya-chan?" It worried her. Yes, those two argued about petty things on daily basis, but it was usually only small banters they forgot within hours, if not minutes.

"None of you business."

It hurt. When he told her off in that way, it hurt, and she wanted to smack him. The only thing she managed was: "Aomine-kun!"

"Don't call me that." He grumbled. They were alone, so why the fuck would she still address him like that?

"Well I do. So get used to it."

"…" Aomine didn't bother himself with answering.

Thought of Aya dating some random guy weighted on his mind ever since those two had disappeared onto **_his_** rooftop – he was sure they had ended up there. He heard Aya's short description of his personality – polar opposite of him – and he so wanted to know what had happened, but he didn't want to hear it from Satsuki. As childish as it may be, he wanted the flamboyant girl to talk with **_him_** , even if they argued and yelled at each other. He didn't care. He wanted to corner her. Now it was a matter of his pride, to make the redhead tell him whatever he wanted to know. _Easier said than done, genius. You are avoiding her…_

* * *

 _"Ki-chan! We have a problem!"_ Satsuki sounded impatient, pouty, and irritated.

Kise knew it was a dangerous combination when it came to Satsuki, so he tried to sound calm, but very interested in whatever what had happened, and what she called _'a problem'._

"What happened, Momocchi?" He asked.

 _"Dai-chan and Aya-chan are not talking to each other! He avoids her. And he didn't want to know what we had talked about – Aya-chan's ex-boyfriend, who –"_ She immediately bit her tongue, after spilling that out, but she'd already said it. _"Anyways… He refuses to tell me why!"_

"Have you talked with Ayacchi, about it?" He kindly overlooked the ex-boyfriend comment, because he noticed how abruptly Satsuki had stopped mid-sentence (though he certainly stored it in his memory).

 _"Eh? Uhm…"_ Ki-chan caught her by surprise. _"I didn't get a chance to ask her. She ran for her dancing club and said something about going to the ocean or what…"_

 _Dancing, huh?_ He smiled and what they had witnessed with Aomine, was finally giving some sense. Now he could alter the plans for the goukon. "You weren't listening." He stated, because he knew that once Satsuki was too preoccupied with something, she tended to shut out everything else. And if he was correct, she was most likely gathering and processing the data about the teams they would face – distraction of a year.

 _"I-I-I… Hm! I need your help, not accusations, Ki-chan!"_ She whined and he could imagine her pouty face.

"With what exactly?"

 _"Find out what happened! Dai-chan might talk to you. And the goukon… Wait, is it decided yet? You've never called me!"_

"Oooh… I'd swear I called you! It must've slipped my mind. I was so busy with work and all, that I forgot to report to you, Miss Chief." He said sweetly, to hide the fact that he simply wanted to avoid Aominecchi or Ayacchi figuring out they'd meet there.

 _"Kise-kun. It's not funny!"_

"Momocchi." His voice sounded firm, and it did shut her up. "Don't overthink this. It's a goukon, nothing has to happen, they might not talk at all if they so choose. We can't force them. And anyways, why don't you let them deal with whatever happened on their own?"

 _"Because! Dai-chan is idiot when it comes to girls! I worry!"_

"True, but… **I** am going to be there, so it's okay. And Ayacchi will handle herself too. I'll let you know how it turned out, but I'm simply creating an opportunity. Please, keep that in mind, Momocchi."

* * *

 **A/N:** Slightly depressing chapter, but it needed to be. I was thinking what could have happened to Taiga's mother, since according to knb wiki he only has a father. And I had this idea the moment I decided to write this story, so... (That's why Aya's scar was mentioned before - now it's explained). Characters with tragic past are a bit cliche, but in my opinion it fits Kagami twins and their close relationship.

Let me know what you think and remember, reviews are appreciated but never necessary.

 _-S._


	13. Chapter 13: Plans

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone who followed and favourited and reviewed! It makes me very happy. Special thanks to my very first beta reader, who helped me with grammar. I hope the quality of my work will go up a bit.

Depressing topics are over for now! Enjoy.

* * *

 _I never said I wanted a 'happy' life but an interesting one. From separation and loss, I have learned a lot. I have become strong and resilient, as is the case of almost every human being exposed to life and to the world. We don't even know how strong we are until we are forced to bring that hidden strength forward. – **Isabel Allende**_

 _Happiness is a choice. You can choose to be happy. There's going to be stress in life, but it's your choice whether you let it affect you or not. – **Valerie Bertinelli**_

 _My brother is one of my true heroes. Steady and sober where I am impulsive and emotional. – **Mark McKinnon**_

 _I don't need a friend who changes when I change and who nods when I nod; my shadow does that much better. – **Plutarch**_

* * *

"I need to make a phone call, Tai. I'm going out for a bit." Aya said after their morning run on a beach. They'd gone for a trip on Thursday evening, and decided to skip classes on Friday. Katsunori covered for both of them.

Being on the beach and close to water had always calmed her down and made her feel at peace. So after that nightmare and two days of half-struggling at school, analyzing opposing teams, dealing with pre-preliminaries stress, small tests and work she wanted to get away, even if it was only for a little while.

"Who are you calling?" Taiga asked curiously while eating roughly his fourth portion of breakfast.

"Araki Masako, coach of Yosen." She shrugged, and looked at the number Katsunori had given her.

"Why?"

She was thinking about shrugging him off with _'business'_ , but then again… Lying to Taiga, keeping things from him, she didn't see any good in it now. "… Tatsuya's coming back. He asked me to help him find a suitable school. And Yosen has a very good team that could use some shooting power – at least that's what Katsunori told me."

Taiga's food stopped in mid-air and he was staring at Aya with wide eyes. " _WHAT?! WHEN?_ " He blurted out in English. _"Why do I not know about it?!"_

It wouldn't be Aya if she hadn't come out of it as the innocent one. _"I thought you didn't want to know. You two aren't talking with each other, so…"_

 _"That's not… I… You should've told me!"_

 _"Why? Would it change something?"_ She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Yes! I would have known!" He pouted.

"Now you do." She giggled and stole a bite from Taiga's breakfast, which he reflexively shielded from her.

"Do you have to do that?"

"Stealing your food?"

"No! …" Then he thought about it. "That too! But… Grrrr, you're doing it again! The topic change!" He rambled. "But not that… the upper hand! You always have that. It's unfair!"

She laughed and stole another bite.

"Stop it!" He smacked the back of her palm.

She sat on the corner of a table and smiled mischievously at him. "It is to my advantage when dealing with father's business! You should know that too, dear brother."

Taiga narrowed his reddish eyes at her and it was burning with concentration. "When did he call you?"

She wondered whether she could make the same look. "Before the golden week. I suppose it was Saturday." She specified for him. "Then I called him two or three days ago."

"… How is he doing?" Taiga asked quietly, almost forcefully. He was worried for Tatsuya, and at the same time, he was still hurt and disappointed.

"Good, I suppose. His shoulder is healed, and he is coming here with his father. If I can help, I want to."

"Hmm. You want to help?" Taiga was observing his sister carefully. Maybe he was an idiot when it came to others, but he knew Aya better than anyone. "And you are completely okay?"

She smiled and it was genuine. Happy even. "Yes. We are still friends. If the two of you refuse to talk, then so be it, but Tatsuya is my friend too, and even if I do stand on your side on this one – and he knows it – I don't need to be hostile, right?"

He sighed and scratched the back of his head. "As long as you're okay…" _I don't really care._ He added inwardly, and is seemed that Aya understood.

"Thanks." She patted his shoulder and stole yet another bite from his breakfast.

"Stop it!"

She laughed and elegantly ran away from his reach. "I'm calling Araki-sensei." She started to dial the number she had, hoping someone would pick up.

"Good! My food is safe!"

She chuckled and rolled her eyes at the amount of food her brother was able to consume. Then she got up and left to the balcony from where she could look at the sea.

 _"Araki Masako here. How can I help?"_ The woman picked up almost immediately. Her voice indicated that she was rather strict.

"Hello. Kagami Aya here. I'm calling you to ask about your team."

 _"What about it?"_

"My friend, Himuro Tatsuya, who's returning from America, wants to be a part of some good team. I've seen some of your plays, and I thought you could use a good shooting guard." She summed it up, because from Katsunori she knew that this coach didn't like chatty girls, and she didn't want to ruin Tatsuya's chances. He liked the idea of going to Yosen.

 _"Ah. The one Harasawa mentioned?"_ She pronounced the name as if it burned her tongue.

That surprised Aya. Had Katsunori really talked with Araki already? "I believe so. I can send you some videos of Tatsuya's plays, so you can decide whether he is worth being a part of your team."

 _"That sounds good. Don't be disappointed if I reject him, little girl."_

A vein popped on Aya's forehead. _Little girl, you say…_ "I don't think you will." She said sweetly, but there was a dare underneath it and if Masako was as scary as Katsunori claimed, there was no way she would _not_ notice that.

 _"We'll see about that. Have a good day."_ She hung up.

Aya hoped she didn't piss her off too much. She walked back and Taiga gave her a _that-was-quick_ look.

"Don't even ask." She took out her laptop and started to browse through the videos she had, in order to send it. She gave one quick call to Alex, asking for the most recent footage of Tatsuya's skills. The quick call turned into an hour long discussion with Taiga included.

######

"Don't you know what happened to Aya-chan? Is she sick, or what?" Kano asked in the changing room in the morning. So far, Aya hadn't missed one practise.

"I don't know. Do you, captain?" Ishii turned his eyes to Imayoshi. As captain, he was usually informed about absences.

"No. But she seemed off for the past few days." He said. When it came to reading people he was an expert. Aya played it well, but he could see the slight change in her expression. "Maybe she just needs a day off. She has a lot of work after all."

"Maybe you are right." Ishii nodded, and they headed for the morning classes.

######

Aomine walked into the classroom just as the bell rang. He didn't feel like seeing Aya in the morning, but when he found her seat empty; to his surprise he wasn't happy about it at all. Classes took much longer when he couldn't observe her from behind, so he slept during most of it. His mind wandered to the goukon, which was planned for the next day, but he couldn't care less. He hoped Kise would invite at least one big chested girl that he could stare at. That would be enough for him not to get bored to death. Otherwise, he wasn't interested in the event in the slightest.

The others didn't talk to him, obviously worried for their suddenly absent manager.

"Kiku-chan." Ishii tried to get the girl's attention.

"Y-yes?" She stuttered again.

He blinked at her in surprise. He had thought they were already past stuttering, but it seemed that when Aya wasn't there, Kiku reverted to her closed-off state.

"Don't you know why Aya-chan isn't here?" Kano, who was just coming back from a cafeteria, asked.

Kiku turned her big brown eyes at Kano, almost immediately she looked away as if noticing something behind his back, and tried to hide behind her glasses. He wanted to shake her to make her answer, but he controlled his urge after Ishii had given him a scolding look. It could be difficult to be around overly-shy people.

"A-aya-san said s-s-she was g-going to the o-o-ocean. T-to… T-to c-clear her head." Kiku managed to get out in a quiet voice almost choking on her words.

Kano and Ishii exchanged looks. They were sure Kiku was okay talking with them normally by now. She was Ishii's partner, and she seemed to enjoy Kano's humorous nature.

"Eh? Ocean? What happened?" Kano asked curiously. His voice was impatient, but he tried to speak nicely.

Under the steady glare of the two stormy eyes of Aomine, Kiku felt so small, so weak. His glare was scary. She couldn't handle it like Aya, she couldn't even ignore it. Those eyes were drowning her, and so she was trying to hide. Invisible hand was gripping at her insides, squeezing them and making her unable to talk properly, or look up. It was embarrassing to stutter in front of her friends, but she couldn't help it.

"I-i-i…" She tried to start and then she wanted to get up and run away.

Before she could get up, Ishii noticed Aomine's stare and guessed that was the problem.

"Could you stop burning a hole into Kiku-chan?" He frowned at the ace. "If you want to know, why don't you just ask?" … "Politely." He added.

"Tch. Useless Scaredy-cat." He mumbled and frowned even more. He wouldn't bite her, but if he scared her this much, it was better he got out. He wanted his banana milk and Kano would tell him later. And so he got up, his chair almost falling backwards at his sudden move. "You'll tell me later." He looked at Kano and headed out.

"Did he just…" Kano started, unable to finish his sentence.

"… take Kiku-chan's feelings in consideration?" Ishii filled in. "Seems like it." _But he still insulted her._

"Soo… Now when the big bad wolf is away. Will you tell us?" Kano's tone changed almost immediately. It was burning with curiosity and impatience.

"S-s-sorry." She said with a blush. Then Kiku took a deep breath, exhaled and shook her head slightly. Aomine's comment stung. "H-he is scary."

Both boys nodded, and Kano took Aya's seat. He was fidgeting like a little kid.

"I-I don't know her exact reasons. She said she needed the ocean and that she should be back for afternoon practise." Kiku said. She wasn't sure about Aya's reasons either, so she just shrugged it off. Their friendship was strange. The girls were so different, and yet they had invisible bond of strange understanding between one another.

"But why?"

Kiku shrugged. "I-I don't know that, Kano-kun. And I didn't ask. Sorry."

"No, it's fine… We'll ask her later." He said. Then he groaned in annoyance. "I'm gonna look for Mr. Ace…" He reluctantly headed out to look for Aomine.

"Are they friends?" Kiku peeped quietly.

"I don't think they are, but they might be… Aomine is complicated…"

"Scary." She repeated. "And he doesn't like me at all."

Kiku said it with sadness and bitterness that made Ishii look at her expression. It wasn't sad in particular, more like accepting the obvious – she wasn't likeable, and it hurt her. Or so Ishii thought. He questioned her mental processes inwardly. Outwardly he smiled, "He doesn't like any of us." He said encouragingly.

Kano was stomping down the halls, looking for Aomine. It should've been easy to find the tall ace in a flood of much shorter schoolmates. Still, the ace sure had a talent to go by unnoticed. Kano almost gave up, when he spotted him sitting on the ground under a window. Well, he spotted long stretched legs at first, and after he leaned over the window he saw the navy hair and yawning Aomine.

"There you are!" He exclaimed. "Do you always have to hide?"

Aomine just looked up at him with a raised eyebrow, wordlessly saying 'no-one-asked-you-to-look-for-me'.

"Nah." He jumped over the low window, joining Aomine. "Kiku-chan doesn't know Aya-chan's reasons. She went to the ocean to clear her head, as you've heard. Maaaan, why would Aya-chan need that? Oh. And she should be back for afternoon practise…" He said, not really looking at Aomine. "Why do you even want to know? Do you have a thing for Aya-chan?" Kano asked teasingly.

Behaviour of those two could be viewed as a pure competition, but it wasn't just that. It was more. Aomine would stare at Aya-chan during classes and she would stand for him when someone spoke behind his back. She could be a mere friend, she did the same for Kiku-chan, but Kano wondered if it wasn't more. Aomine was, after all, trying to push everyone aside. Except Aya-chan.

"Tch. As if." He grumbled and sipped from his banana milk.

Kano chuckled. "If you say so."

"Aomine-kuuuun!" Satsuki's high pitched voice reached them and Aomine groaned in annoyance. She found him once again.

"What?" He answered when her head popped up above them.

"You are coming to practise, right?"

"Maybe."

"You are! Aya-chan should be back by then."

"So?" His eyebrow went up.

Satsuki puffed her cheeks. "So, you should apologise!"

"Hah? Why should I apologise?" There was no reason for that.

"Because you must've done something! Otherwise she wouldn't leave like that!" She accused him. "She didn't even tell me!"

"Or you ignored her when she did." He jabbed back and got up to leave. He was not in the mood to argue with Satsuki about him apologising. He did nothing wrong and if the redhead needed to clear her head, then something else must have happened.

Satsuki gasped, huffed in anger and left. _Stupid Dai-chan._

######

Now when Aya was standing in the ocean, she felt so small. It was like the water was making all her troubles insignificant. Her mom was long gone; there was no reason to mourn anymore. Taiga was right. _Let go, forgive, but never forget…_ She thought. _Easier said than done._

The small argument with Aomine, which wasn't even an argument, was so stupid. And Aomine was right, she was just running away. Maybe he hadn't meant it badly, but it was what had triggered her nightmares. It didn't matter, sooner or later the nightmares would've resurfaced on their own anyways. They always had.

Who exactly was Aomine to her anyways? She knew when she had a crush, but this was somehow different. She found him attractive, there was no doubt about it, but she was trying to understand him, find out more about him, befriend him, not date him. Right? When she compared it to what she'd had with Tatsuya, it was different. Then again, she had known Tatsuya for years before they had started 'going out'. Why was she even comparing it?

She sighed and tried to not think about anything.

The salty smell of the ocean invaded her nose and she inhaled deeply. She took a few more steps into the water, so it soaked the ends of her knee-length jeans. The idea of jumping into cold water was playing in her mind but she wouldn't have the time to get changed afterwards. And after she had done it the previous night, Taiga would kill her this time.

"We should go, if we want to catch our train." He came to Aya, who was standing in the water and looking towards horizon. He had taken their stuff from the hotel – and checked them out earlier.

"Mhm. Five more minutes." She said softly.

"You really like water." Taiga chuckled. He took off his shoes and joined Aya in the water. It was cold, but it felt nice.

"Mhm. It calms me down."

"We should go surfing sometime." It'd been quite some time since he'd stood on a surfboard.

"We should. You have to teach me how to stay _on_ it for more than five seconds." She laughed at her mediocre surfing skills. Aya was good when it came to sports where she had a firm ground beneath her feet, but surfing… Taiga was thousand times better.

"It's a matter of balance, Robin. You should be an expert when it comes to that."

"It's different, when you have a mischievous, ever-changing water beneath your board!" She said accusingly and frowned at the water swirling around her calves.

He laughed at her. "I'll try to teach you next time we get here. I suppose waves aren't so bad."

"Deal." She grinned widely and high-fived with Taiga. "Now we should really go."

######

In the afternoon, she went straight to school and basketball practise. The boys were already warming up.

She didn't bother with changing into her school uniform. She appeared at the door wearing knee-length jeans with stains from dried salt and a simple white t-shirt. Her small bag was hung over her shoulder and her hair was tied into a high ponytail.

"Hey!" She greeted everyone with a happy smile.

"Hello!" The boys greeted her back in unison. Her smile was somehow brighter than before, but they couldn't say what had changed.

The first years wanted to go to Aya and figure out what exactly had happened for her to miss the morning practise and classes, but Wakamatsu's firm voice stopped them before they could take two steps.

"Don't slack off on your warm-up!" Aya told them from the side. "We can talk later!"

To her surprise, Aomine was there. The first time in the entire week he showed up for afternoon practise, and it was on Friday. _Interesting…_ She thought.

"Did it help?" Katsunori appeared next to her and leaned against a wall. Satsuki stayed on the other side of the gym, carefully observing the boys and taking notes. She was fully immersed in her analysis. With preliminaries closing in, it was more important than ever.

"The ocean?"

"Mhm." He hummed and pulled at his curly fringe.

"As always." She nodded with a smile. "But Taiga's presence helped the most."

"What was it about anyways?" He asked. "I don't mind covering up for you, since I'm almost your guardian here, but I'd like to know." The squeaking of shoes and ball dribbling were giving them enough privacy to speak about whatever, without being heard, so he hoped Aya would talk.

"We don't need a guardian, but you are our only family in Tokyo now. … I argued with Aomine a bit and then I dreamt about mom, I had tasks to finish, a club to lead and all that preliminaries stuff that is slowly piling up. I just needed some time. A few hours for myself. It feels like three weeks has passed since Monday."

 _So Keiko…_ He thought back about Keiko's bright smile, but he didn't want to bring it up when talking with Aya. The girl had to deal with lot. So instead of poking the dream he added one more activity to Aya's list. "And to top it you deal with finding a suitable school for your ex…"

"Tatsuya is my friend."

"That too… Have you talked with Masako?"

"I have. And I hope I didn't kill Tatsuya's chances…" She sighed and rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly.

From that he knew Aya must have said something challenging, or threatening, and maybe she hadn't even meant it. "She is brash, but she likes bold people, so if you said something daring you might have as well gotten on her good side."

Aya's reddish eyes turned her scrutinizing look on Katsunori. She was scanning his expression. "Do you two have a thing? You and Araki-san?"

His eyes widened and he coughed. "No way. Why would you think that? We are just acquaintances."

"But you did have some affair with her, no?"

Why could his god-daughter read so well in people? He sighed in defeat. "We annoyed each other to no ends, so…"

"Oh… Too bad. You'd probably need someone caring. "

 _Why am I discussing this with her?_ "None of your business, Robin." He flicked her nose and she rubbed the sore spot. "The bruise is almost gone." He said when he noticed yellowish stain on Aya's cheek.

As a coach he had heard about the heated volleyball match, but he never saw the actual bruise due to Aya's magical skills with make-up. Now, when she hadn't have time to apply it, or she had forgotten, he could see how big it actually was.

"Thank god. I don't mind make-up, but doing it so thoroughly every morning is tiresome." She complained. "Ne…"

She was staring at the boys, who started doing drills, at Aomine in particular. He was too preoccupied to notice, but Katsunori did. "What did you argue about?" He asked before she could form her own question, because he felt she would ask about Aomine anyways.

"I didn't want to tell him about the world championships. Or rather I didn't want to explain why I keep it 'secret', though it's not… Not really. And he told me I'm running away…" She bit into her thumb nail. "I don't know. Am I? Running away…"

"That put you off?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes! I'm the last person to run away… But…"

"You think he was right."

"Maybe? I don't know. Ok? So… Should I explain myself? And how do I even talk to him now? We've been avoiding each other since Monday."

"It's only been four days." He said with a humorous spark in his grey eyes. "And I believe, because surprisingly I was a teenager too, that he is just as confused as you are. So talk with him. You can probably overcome that awkwardness much better than him."

She nodded in agreement. Katsunori gave her a similar answer to the one she'd reached on her own. They'd have to talk.

If only he didn't go home right after practise…

 _Oh well… I'll talk to him on Monday._ She thought when it was only the usual guys and her staying over-practise.

It was most of the first years, and some second years, who wanted to play a bit more on their Friday evening. Aya didn't have much time to be with them out of practises, so she gladly stayed longer.

"Aya-chan, wanna play with us?" Tada asked her. "We need one more player."

One team was made up from Kano, Ishii, Naito, Arai and Sakurai. Oyama and Hasegawa rarely ever stayed over-practise. On the other team were second years; Wakamatsu, Tada, Shoda and Morihata. While the first year team were missing a center, the second years didn't have a power forward.

"Sure!" They didn't need to invite her twice. Aomine had left, and there was nothing better to do. Just taking notes and waiting till they'd finish was never her cup of tea anyways.

######

Michiko was surprised when someone rang at her doorbell past eight in the evening. She didn't have a night-shift and so she was watching movies with her husband and Kurome and Akari laying at their feet.

"Who could that be?" She asked as she was getting up.

"I have no idea." It must have been someone familiar though because the dogs weren't making ruckus.

She opened the door and stared at the young blond model.

"G-good evening, Ryouta-kun." She stuttered in surprise, but she quickly overcame it. "How unexpected to see you here! Come on in!" She cheerfully invited him in, happy that at least someone would come to see her son.

"Good evening!" He greeted her with a bright smile. "I'm sorry to bother you this late, but I just got out of work and I want to speak with Aominecchi." He explained. "And he's been ignoring his phone." Kise pouted.

"Do you have some plans or something?" She asked curiously, while Kise took off his shoes and greeted with the dogs.

"Y-"

"Ryouta." Daisuke's voice rumbled from the living room, interrupting Kise's answer. "Welcome. If you want to talk with Daiki he should be in his room."

The boy bowed to him as if they were in jiu-jitsu practise out of habit. He didn't get to meet Aominecchi's father outside those practises anyways. "Thanks. I got him to agree on a goukon." He answered to both of them with a sly smirk. "I suppose I should tell him some details, or he'll kill me tomorrow."

Michiko squealed, pleased by this turn of events. "Please do! And tell him how to treat those girls properly. I thought I taught him well, but when I hear Satsuki-chan's complains…" She shook her head in disappointment. "Anyways… It's 'bout time he brought some girlfriend. Don't you think, anata?"

Daisuke rolled his eyes. "He has time for that… Well… Not that I would mind." He shrugged and returned to his spot in the living room, followed by the dogs.

"Make yourself at home, Ryouta. You know where Daiki's room is. I'll bring you some tea later." Michiko said and winked at the young model. She liked this cheerful and slightly childish boy. It'd been sad when he had stopped coming over.

"Sure. Thank you."

He went up the stairs and towards Aomnecchi's room. The door was closed and Kise wondered how to approach him and whether to tell him that Ayacchi was coming tomorrow as well. If they had argued, as Momocchi had said, maybe it would be wise to warn him in advance, so the things between them wouldn't get worse. _Hmmm…_

He knocked, but didn't wait for an invitation. "Aominecchi! Hello!" He barged in with a bright smile, and got immediately attacked by Shiro, who wanted to greet her old friend.

"Kise! What the hell?!" Aomine was frowning at him. He had ignored his phone calls and messages for a reason – he didn't want to deal with him. And there he was, barging into his room like he owned the place.

"Oh?" He looked up at him from the ground where Shiro pinned him as he was rubbing her fur. Samoyed's tail was furiously hitting the wooden floor and she was smiling, so happy to see Kise after so long. "Were you jerking off?" Kise asked teasingly, playing innocence.

"Wha-?!" It'd been some time since he had this sort of conversations. "'f course not, stupid."

"Really? Hmmm…" Kise looked all around.

The room was different than what he remembered. The bed was new, bigger and probably custom made, so Aomine would fit into it. It had been moved to the other side, so it wasn't facing the door anymore. Shiro too, had a new dog bed in the corner of the room, under Aomine's feet, hidden by a wardrobe from the prying eyes of whoever would enter the room. A desk with a laptop was under the window and Daiki was apparently watching some movie, which was now paused. A bookshelf was added and now it hosted a number of books; Kise had no idea Aominecchi read. They were mostly history books and historical novels, but some manga and comics appeared there too.

"… it changed here."

"Why are you here, Kise?" Aomine grumbled, ignoring Kise's statement. It was true after all. His room had gotten renovated during the last summer break in their junior high school.

"You've been ignoring my calls!" He whined. "No girl has ever done that to me! Not even Ayacchi!"

Aomine rolled his eyes at Kise's usual tantrum. "I ain't a girl, if you haven't noticed. And why is Kagami coming up here?"

"You curious?" Kise asked with a mischief in his golden eyes.

Daiki was considering killing this stupid idiot, who invaded his room, made himself at home and who was grinning at him while scratching his dog.

"You're thinking about hitting me, aren't you?" Kise felt Aominecchi's murderous thoughts and shivered. "So mean!"

Aomine glared at him. It was a glare saying _spit-it-out-or-I'll-seriously-punch-you._

"I'm here because of our plans for tomorrow. I'm organizing it and so, you can't show up in cargo pants and a plain t-shirt." Kise said and sat up into more comfortable position, while Shiro laid over his lap.

"Why not?" He frowned, Kagami momentarily forgotten, because Kise wanted him to dress up. What a nightmare! "What's wrong with cargo pants?"

"U-uh. No way. It is a group date, Aominecchi! A date! You might end up with a girlfriend…" His voice trailed off when Aomine raised an eyebrow incredulously, and he rolled his eyes. "Anyways! Your clothes are the first thing a girl will notice. You need to look serious, but not too serious. And you certainly can't show up in clothes you would wear while walking the dogs."

"Well said, Ryouta-kun." Michiko's head peeked into the room carrying a tray with steaming tea and some snacks she found. "Just dress him up however you want. I'll make sure he'll wear it tomorrow." She winked at him.

"Urgh. Mooom!" Daiki protested. "Why'd you even tell her?!"

Ryouta had the most innocent look he could produce. "She guessed it on her own!" He said.

"I did, I did." She was nodding. If anyone was a great comrade when it came to teasing Aominecchi, it would be his parents. "I'll leave you two alone then." She waved and exited the room.

Daiki tensed. Shiro, as if sensing her master's mood got up and hid in her bed. Kise was looking at her with sad expression.

"So?" When Aomine was sure his mother was out of earshot, he attacked. "Why are you involving my mother?"

"Gah!" Kise groaned when the air got forcibly pushed out of his lungs. "Un-fair." He squeezed out, while wrestling Aominecchi off him.

Aomine sure had the weight advantage and experience advantage. He went to jiu-jitsu practises more often than Kise, and his father drilled him outside of practises too. Kise managed to grasp Aomine's lower ribs into scissors with his knees, but it was pointless. Aomine stood up, holding Kise's collar and pulling him up. Kise loosened his grip, before Aominecchi could hit him against the floor; with Daisuke downstairs, they couldn't make noise, or they would get into trouble. Kise managed to pull Aominecchi back down, with only a quiet 'thud', which could also be caused by a falling book. Aomine quickly switched into a strangling hold. Kise knew how to get out of it, but the more he'd struggle the more noise they'd make.

 _Shit. I so hate doing this!_ "Okay, okay. Yield!" Kise tapped out.

With satisfied smirk Aomine let go. "Afraid of my father much?"

"Like you aren't." He massaged his neck, hoping there wouldn't be any bruise. His uniform was slightly wrinkled, but nothing could be done about that. "I don't feel like having a round against him today."

 _I'm so gonna regret this._ "Tch. What do you want me to wear then?" Aomine asked, yielding too.

Kise's expression brightened and he got up to rummage through Aominecchi's wardrobe. "Huh, it's surprisingly neat... Something…" Then he spotted black fitting trousers that felt soft under the touch. "This!" He pulled it out and set it on Aomine's chair.

Aomine was sitting on his bed and he frowned at those trousers. His mother had bought it for him but so far, he hadn't worn it. It wasn't skin tight, but too tight for Aomine's tastes.

"Aaand some fitting white shirt." Kise added. "Liiike this one!"

It was, again, a piece which his mother had bought.

"You'll roll up your sleeves to show your forearm muscles – girls find it attractive. And you'll need some accessories. Like leather bracelet or necklace, to make it look sporty enough… and let the first two buttons opened. And wear those leather shoes you have – good for free time – not sneakers."

"Really? This looks so uncomfortable." He grumbled.

"Don't worry. You'll get used to it."

"No necklace though. I can't have that thing around my neck."

"Ah, right! I forgot you hate necklaces. How can you wear a necktie then?"

"Hate that too, but school uniform…"

"Me too… but necklaces are nice." Kise argued, this time with a smile, because he knew Aominecchi yielded, and he would wear what he chose.

"So what about you calling Kagami?"

Kise scratched his cheek. He was hoping Aominecchi wouldn't mention it. "Actually… I invited Ayacchi for the goukon."

"You WHAT?! I'm not going!" He freaked out. He couldn't bring himself to talk to her in school, and this was basically a date. "No. No way!"

"I'm only telling you, because Momocchi told me you had some argument with Ayacchi. I want to know. Maybe I can help." He said seriously. There was no reason for teasing now, he'd tease his friend later on, but Aominecchi looked worried. And it wasn't like the bluenette to freak out.

"I'm not going tomorrow."

"Mai-chan's photo book."

"Not worth it."

"Aominecchi. It's surely not that serious. Why are you avoiding Ayacchi?"

"…" He was frowning and refusing to cooperate. Opening up wasn't his forte.

"Is it something about her past? She talked about something in the park that time… Did she refuse to tell you?"

"…"

Kise took it as a yes. He had known Aominecchi only for two years, but he could understand him. A sigh escaped him and he frowned at his friend.

"And because you are avoiding her, you aren't giving her a chance to explain herself even if she wanted to… From what Momocchi told me, you have much closer relationship with Ayacchi than you've admitted. I'm really disappointed now. Do you not trust me at all?" He whined in childish manner, but his eyes had a scolding look in them.

Aomine was well aware of Kise's two faced natured, but he knew that deep down, Kise was a good person. There was a difference between Kise being nice to people and Kise being kind to people – he'd been kind only to those who were nicknamed with –cchi attached to their names. Now he was playing childish, meant scolding and beneath all that, he was worried and trying to help.

But Satsuki running her mouth – even though it was normal – it pissed Aomine off.

"You sure seem to have a great relationship with Satsuki, if she tells you everything." The bitterness in his voice was almost touchable.

"Oh, don't. She's just worried about you. And don't change topic."

"I've never asked for it. I can take care of myself." He felt like he was suddenly left out of everything, and he was mostly angry at himself. He pushed people away, because he wanted this, right? So why did it stung when his friends discussed _him_ without confronting the real person?

"Of course you can. And because of that you will come tomorrow and face Ayacchi like a man. And it's been only four days. I wouldn't worry too much. Ayacchi is probably just as confused as you are."

He sighed. Kise was probably right. "Does she know?"

"That you're coming? No. I haven't told her and neither has Momocchi, so the reaction will be genuine. Doesn't it interest you?"

Aomine groaned and let his back hit the mattress. "I give up. I'll be there."

"Very well." He hummed victoriously and sipped from his, already cold, tea. Dealing with Aominecchi's inner struggles was damn difficult.

"Did she agree immediately when you invited her?"

"Is it jealousy I hear?" Kise chuckled and spread himself next to Aomine staring at the ceiling.

 _Jealousy? Hmph… As if…_ "Curiosity."

"Sure… If you say so." He chuckled. "Yeah, she agreed to come, out of curiosity. To come to _'different thoughts'_. I suppose she would agree no matter who asked her, so don't worry. I ain't gonna steal her from you."

"No one said–"

"Oh, stop it." Kise rolled his eyes, which he did only when he was extremely annoyed. "You should know by now that you have a crush at least."

"No. Definitely not. She is annoying."

"You almost refused Mai-chan's photo book over some small argument with Ayacchi, and you dare to claim you don't have a crush?"

"Tch."

That one _Tch_ was as good as any agreement. Kise grinned in satisfaction. "I planned the goukon to be at a chocolate shop I know. It should be neutral, cosy and good for talking. Maybe Ayacchi will feel good enough to talk about herself more. Afterwards, there is this big dance party Shiracchi is organizing. I believe Ayacchi would be delighted to go there."

"Shi- … Who?"

"Shiranui Hikaru." Kise repeated without his nickname. "The stylist from my work. He is a fashion designer, who happens to love dancing too. He invited me, actually. And I can bring friends if I want to. So…"

"Definitely not." Daiki refused immediately. Dancing and him in one room was not going to end up well.

Kise shrugged, giving him a look _If-you-say-so._ "I will ask Ayacchi though. I want to see her dance."

"What do you know?"

"Errr… That she dances? Momocchi happened to tell me… Probably by accident, but we did see her dance in the park. I want to see her when she gets serious."

A soft knock on the door reached their ears.

Daisuke's head peeked in. "No porn, good." He said with a teasing sparkle in his eyes and entered. At his comment Aomine grabbed the closest pillow and threw it at his father, who caught it without trouble.

"What do you think of us?!"

"Teenage boys? Pretty normal to jerk off…" He avoided another pillow. "Michiko just wants to know if you'll stay the night, Ryouta."

"Ah. I don't want to trouble you, so I should be going." He said and abruptly sat up.

"Oh don't worry 'bout it. It's rare for our son to bring any friends, so feel free to stay. You can chat 'bout girls whole night if you so wish. And you'll be sure he won't run away from that goukon."

"Urgh…" Daiki groaned in annoyance. "Not you too."

But both men ignored his comment.

"Oh he wouldn't. There is someone interesting coming, so…" Kise said with a wink.

"Hmmm…" The older man rubbed his chin while thinking. "Someone interesting enough that Daiki wouldn't bail out… Could she be Kagami Aya-san?"

"Wha-?" Kise asked with wide eyes. "Even you know?! Aominecchi!" He whined and shook his shocked friend who was staring at his own father with wide eyes.

"Not hard to guess…" He laughed. "You can of course borrow Daiki's clothes and you know where the spare futon is... If you don't want to share the bed, that is…" He exited the room, chuckling all the way to the bedroom.

"I hate this." Aomine grumbled and covered his blushing face.

"You seriously told your _father_ about Ayacchi, and not me?!"

"Go get that futon or you'll sleep on the floor."

"Why would you do that?!" He protested again when his friend ignored his previous complaints. "Unfaiiir!"

"And grab those pillows on your way."

"Aominecchiiiii!"

Daiki frowned at him. He had an annoyed expression on his face and he continued to ignore Kise's whining. God he could be worse than Satsuki in this. His eyebrow went up sending the blonde a clear message _Continue-whining-and-I'll-attack-you-again._

Kise shook his head in disappointment. "Hai, hai…"

* * *

 **A/N:** That's it for now. I hope Aomine isn't becoming too OOC. I'm really trying to keep him in character, but these are some situations which don't occur in manga or anime, so...

The goukon is going to happen next! And a dancing party? Are you curious?

Let me know what you think and remember, reviews are appreciated, but never necessary.

 _-S._


	14. Chapter 14: Goukon

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone who followed, favourited and reviewed. And special thanks to my beta reader! Thank you!

* * *

 _I think if I've learned anything about friendship, it's to hang in, stay connected, fight for them, and let them fight for you. Don't walk away, don't be distracted, don't be too busy or tired, don't take them for granted. Friends are part of the glue that holds life and faith together. Powerful stuff. **―**_ ** _Jon Katz_**

 _Count your age by friends, not years. Count your life by smiles, not tears. ―_ ** _John Lennon_**

 _I don't know who invented high heels, but all women owe him a lot. **– Marilyn Monroe**_

 _When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile. **– Regina Brett**_

 _Being jealous of a beautiful woman is not going to make you more beautiful. **– Zsa Zsa Gabor**_

 _Red is the great clarifier - bright and revealing. I can't imagine becoming bored with red - it would be like becoming bored with the person you love. **– Diana Vreeland**_

* * *

Aya was ready to leave for the goukon Kise had planned, when she received an e-mail.

It was on her work phone, which she wanted to leave at home. She sighed and grabbed the phone. Maybe she wouldn't be able to go after all.

 **To:** Aya Kagami

 **From:** Shiranui Hikaru

 **Subject:** HELP!

Aya dear, pleeeeaase help me out! I'm organizing Latino party tonight – mainly for dancers. It starts at eight PM, but I need to prepare the place and all. Could you come around six PM? Of course you are invited! I know you have plans for today, but… take whoever you want? Please?

I love you!

– Hikaru ^.^

Aya had to read it twice to take the message in. There was invitation with an address attached too. Hikaru was basically announcing her to be there at six. No previous warnings… Preparing the place was the least she was afraid of, it was _'and all'_ that scared her. She sighed and noticed that the same mail arrived at her private mail address too.

 _That bastard, he wanted to be sure I'll read it no matter what!_ And he knew she'd probably react to her work phone quicker. And wouldn't ignore it, like she might on her private phone.

Either way, she was ready to help him. It'd been half a year since she had last seen him. Because their schedules didn't match at all, they had only exchanged messages and several phone calls. The goukon shouldn't take that long, and anyways, an additional plan could help her run away if it turned out as a disaster.

She shrugged and headed out, leaving a message: **'Don't wait for me, I'll be late.'** for Taiga, who was out with his team.

######

Aomine and Kise were at their meeting point 20 minutes before the said time. For some reason, Kise decided they should be there earlier.

Aomine was awkwardly standing next to Kise, or shuffling from one foot to another. He didn't feel comfortable in his clothes; he wasn't used to be dressed up like this. His mother praised him to heavens, but it just wasn't his style.

 _Why the hell am I here?_ He thought desperately. At that point, it was already too late to hightail.

A taxi stopped next to them.

Kise's eyebrow went up, and he glanced at Aominecchi, who was as grumpy as ever. He barely noticed the taxi. And the person who was – unusually – sitting next to the driver.

It was still around 15 minutes until the set meeting time.

Aya thanked the driver with a kind smile and gracefully exited the car. She had had a nice conversation with him, despite his original scepticism – taxi drivers usually didn't chat with their clients, nor did their clients insist on sitting in the front.

At first she didn't notice them. Only after she took several steps did she noticed Kise's bright yellow hair and then Aomine standing next to him.

Aomine's presence shocked her. This was one thing she'd never expected. _What's he doing here?_ She bit into her tongue to remain outwardly calm, but she was freaking out. Handling Aomine, who ignored her almost the entire week wasn't something she wanted to deal with.

She smiled, as per usual, and her eyes looked both of them up and down. She had to admit, it was a very pleasant sight. Both boys were dressed up, but it looked casual enough, and she was glad she didn't overdo it with her clothes or make-up.

 _Good._ She thought. She decided to wear a rather simple black a-dress, which reached about a palm above her knees. That simplicity was enlivened by denim jacket with leisurely rolled up sleeves and several silver bracelets with crafted beads. The beads were made from coin silver, or murano glass in black and white colours. She wore high-heels matching the dress that made her a lot taller, but she could walk in them with unbelievable confidence. Her make-up was light and decent, just enough to cover her still yellowish bruise and highlight her eyes. Red locks were left free, cascading on her back, but the top part was pinned back, so it wasn't in her face.

For a moment, both boys were left speechless. They stared at the girl in front of them and couldn't believe that she was, indeed, their age. It wasn't her outfit that made them think so. No. It was the feeling she gave off. The air around her was vibrating with something they couldn't quite name. It was very lively and mischievous, yet seductive and dangerous at the same time.

"Ayacchi! Hello! I'm glad you arrived sooner! You look awesome." Kise said smoothly after the initial shock, which lasted only for several seconds. His smile was bright and welcoming.

He dragged Aya's attention from Aomine, because she'd been staring.

Kise was dressed in a similar style to Aomine, but he chose a sand coloured trousers and a black shirt, with first two buttons opened. Unlike Aomine, he wore a necklace and a hat. Aya had to admit that he sure knew how to dress well. But her eyes roamed over Aominecchi slightly longer than over him, and the blonde noticed this detail. Yes, she was surprised by his presence, but it was barely visible and Kise wondered what was going on inside her head.

"Model-kun." She pronounced carefully, and Aomine snickered at the nickname. "Long time no see. You look handsome." She complimented and added; "Of course you too, Aomine. I haven't expected you here… ?" She wasn't asking, but there was a hidden question mark in her words. _I didn't think you were friends?_

"Ahaha!" Kise laughed, before Aominecchi could bark something. "Aominecchi is too antisocial! So I dragged him out. I though a goukon might do him good."

"A hook-up with someone, you mean?" She asked with a raised eyebrow and a teasing sparkle in her eyes, but somewhere deep inside she didn't like this idea.

Aomine averted his eyes from Aya. Then he shot an angry glare at Kise. _What did you tell her, idiot?_

 _Of course she had to remember that…_ Kise made a mental note to choose his words more carefully next time. Once again, he had the feeling she could see right through him, just like that one time they had met.

"In a very friendly way, Ayacchi. I sure didn't mean it like _that_!" _Even though I **did.**_ "You don't think we would… Ayacchi!" He whined in pretence.

Aya chuckled at his antics. "Of course I don't." She said, still chuckling, so no one took it seriously. "Anyways. Model-kun, before we chat some more, I have a question."

"Yes?" He tilted his head in interest.

"How long do you plan for this goukon to last?"

"For as long as we feel good. Why do you ask?" He asked carefully. There was the party he wanted to take her to, but he didn't want to come out with his plan just yet.

"I have something to do later on." She said with a shrug.

" ? " With a raised eyebrow he was waiting for her to expand the answer.

His waiting soon turned into intense staring. Aya stubbornly stared back.

That caused Aomine feel like he was the third wheel. They didn't pay any attention to him. Like he wasn't even there. _Tch._ Not that he cared. Kise was always like this.

With a sigh, she yielded their staring contest first. "There is a dance party I want to go to. My childhood friend organizes it and he asked me to help him."

After hearing this, she could almost see the cogs in Kise's head spinning. It didn't surprise her, Kise knew, he didn't bat an eye when she spoke about dancing. He must have known.

"Ah!" He said and fished out his phone. He searched for something and then showed her an invitation. "Could it be this one?" He asked expectantly.

"Eh?" Aya blinked at the invitation Kise was showing her. She'd seen it before she'd left her home. "You know Hikaru?" Surprise in her voice was genuine; Hikaru had never mentioned Kise, at least not his name.

"Shiracchi is a clothes designer, who works as a stylist in the –"

" – modelling agency you happen to work at too." Aya finished for him. "I should have guessed it." She sighed. "World is sure small."

"You know Shiracchi?" Now it was his turn to be surprised, and there weren't many things that surprised him.

"Yeah. I've known Hikaru my whole life. All three Shiranui brothers, actually. I consider them family. Why _'Shiracchi'_?" She was sure he had already explained himself before, but maaan, she was confused at how exactly he shortened the name.

"Errrr." Kise scratched his cheek and chuckled sheepishly.

"He respects him." Aomine grumbled in response. It was getting on his nerves that he was left out and barely noticed by Aya. It was his own fault for ignoring her the past week, but still…

Now she turned her eyes at him. He could almost read _'Not-ignoring-me-anymore-?'_ there.

"Interesting way to show respect. So… Are you two going to the party too?"

"Yes!"

"No!"

They said at the same time.

Aya was about to say something, when her phone rang. The ringtone was set for Taiga only, so she knew when he called her. She rummaged through her middle-sized bag and fished out the phone. She didn't even look at it as she picked up.

"What's up Tai?" She asked immediately and turned her back to the boys, while she was listening to Taiga's rant about the party.

"You should come to the party too, Aominecchi. She wants you to go." Kise elbowed him and whispered. Aya might have been preoccupied with the phone call, but he wasn't sure, she wasn't paying any attention to them.

"As if." He snorted.

"She asked both of us! She wants you to go." Kise hissed.

"But I don't want to."

"Do you know who's _'Tai'_?" Kise asked curiously, changing the topic.

"How would I?" Aomine shrugged. He had no idea about all Aya's friends and acquaintances, and definitely no reason to remember their names. He barely remembered some of his teammates' names, not to mention someone he'd never met.

"Taiga!" Aya's suddenly sharp voice dragged their attention from their little banter back to her. "You don't have to be there, okay? No one is forcing you to. Or do you want to go?"

Kise would give anything so he could hear the person on the other side. But he could only hear Aya's answers.

 _"No! I had enough of dancing for the past month! I just… You shouldn't go alone. And I haven't seen Hikaru in long time too, and…"_ Taiga was ranting again. Aya rested her hand on her hip as if Taiga could see her. She wasn't angry, but Taiga was getting overprotective again.

"So do you want to go?" She asked.

 _"NO!"_ Taiga shouted immediately. _"But…"_

"See? You don't. So stop looking for excuses why you have to attend, and look for some why you don't."

 _"Errr… Can Hikaru keep you safe?"_

She sighed and then blurted out: "Kise will go with me, so don't worry."

 _" WHO?! What is Kise doing there? You went for a goukon no?"_ Taiga was confused and spoke English mixed in with Japanese.

"Oh. I'd swear I've told you that Kise is the one who organized the goukon. Or… Haven't I?" She asked pretending innocence.

Aomine and Kise exchanged glances. This was so like Aya.

 _"AYAAA?! You did it again!"_ Taigas desperate voice made Aya chuckle. She got him again.

"Sorry, sorry. My bad, Tai. But don't worry about me, really. I can take care of myself. Hikaru's gonna be there. It's his party after all and I want to see him."

 _"Hand that Kise-bastard over."_ Taiga demanded.

 _Oooh…_ But she shrugged, this could be fun. "Sure." She turned to Kise.

" ? " His expression said.

Aya was handing him the phone. "Taiga feels like he has to tell you something." She shrugged.

"Taiga?" He asked wordlessly.

"My brother, yes." She hissed.

 _Oh._ Kise had forgotten Kagamicchi's given name; huge mistake. He took the phone. "Hello Kagamicchi! Long time no see!" He greeted him cheerfully. "Wanna join us?" He asked out of habit.

 _"If something happens to Aya, you are dead."_ Taiga's dangerous voice growled into Kise's ear.

Shivers ran down his spine and he paled. He didn't think that the brash Kagamicchi he knew could have such a scary voice in his arsenal. It was the scariest threat he'd ever heard in his life. Not even Aominecchi scared him like that, but then again, Aominecchi had never seriously threatened him.

Kise handed the phone back to Aya without another word.

Her eyebrow went up and she asked her brother: _"_ Satisfied?"

 _"Yeah. Be safe."_ And he hung up.

Several seconds passed when the three only stared at each other. "Did he threaten you somehow, Kise-kun?"

"Eh?" Kise blinked at her. He wasn't 'Model-kun'! But he couldn't understand the amusement in her eyes.

"Don't worry 'bout it. Taiga is over-protective when it comes to me." She shrugged. "He wouldn't really harm you, 'kay?"

Kise nodded. He was stunned.

"Kise-kuuuun!" A girly voice was carried towards them.

 _It was about time._ Aya thought, when she checked the time.

"Hana-chan! Welcome!" He greeted her with a bright smile. "Nice dress."

"Oh, thank you, Kise-kun!" She blushed and spun around, showing off the flowery pattern on her dress. "I thought you might like it." She said and giggled.

Aya was staring at the girl with interest and scepticism too. She noticed the sudden difference in Kise's behaviour towards the girl. It was like he complimented her out of politeness and he didn't really like the dress. _He put on his mask…_ Aya thought. And the girl couldn't feel it at all.

"You came sooner than usual!" The girl scolded him and pouted. "If I had known…"

 _Oh?_ Aya quickly glanced at Aomine, who shrugged and turned away from her, which made her sigh. She was surprised that the girls weren't there sooner, waiting for Kise. It lead her into suspicion that Kise was usually late and so his soon arrival that day was an exception, not a convention.

"Sorry. I wasn't sure if Ayacchi would be here sooner, that's why." He apologised smoothly, yet flatly.

 _And you just made me an enemy, Model-kun~_ Aya thought bitterly.

The girl turned her judging eyes towards Aya and Aomine. It was the first time she acknowledged their presence. She made a sour grimace when she noticed the redhead and the nickname Kise used. Then she flashed them a fake smile and scanned Aomine from head to toe.

"Hello. I'm Hattori Hana. Nice to meet you." She said but she was looking only at Aomine, trying to evaluate him. He looked hot, but his eyes had something unapproachable in them. _Not worth trying._

Aomine just nodded, that was about all the attention he was willing to pay to this girl. "Aomine Daiki."

"Kagami Aya, nice to meet you too." Aya was smiling, but she was already aware of the hostility the girl greeted her with.

Hana finally looked at Aya and felt the thorn of envy and jealousy pricking her. Unlike Aya, she was short, flat-chested and her figure wasn't shaped; she looked like a wooden board – no refined waist, no curvy hips. At least she had a pretty face and didn't shy from hook-ups.

The dress Hana picked looked really good on her and even if Aya avoided majority of flowery patterns, she had to admit it suited the shorter girl. One thing that bothered her were the high-heels Hana wore; they were definitely too high for her. The girl wasn't confident in them and she swayed on her feet often.

"So?" She turned back to Kise with expectant expression. "Where are we going?"

"We still have to wait for four more people, Hana-chan. It's a goukon not a double date." Kise reminded her politely, and fought an eye-roll. He knew Hana-chan, but it didn't mean he liked her. Still… when it came to inviting other boys, it was better when Hana did it. If Kise asked them, they'd turn him down, because girls would be interested only in Kise.

"Of course!" She huffed. "I'm just curious what kind of place you've picked, Kise-kun. I want to know whether I'm dressed properly."

"You're dressed well. It's the shoes that worry me." Kise echoed Aya's thoughts in a whiny manner, and he suddenly seemed so caring. "It looks painful to wear them."

"It's not as painful, when you are used to it." Aya muttered under her nose, so the girl wouldn't hear her. And at the girl's next comment she had to hold back a face-palm.

"Not at all!" Hana chuckled. "They are really comfortable; I bought them yesterday, just to match my outfit!" She took few steps to show how 'easy' it was to walk in those shoes.

But her ankle twisted to the side and she wobbled, falling down. Kise's arm shot forward reflexively and he caught her. "Careful, Hana-chan."

The girl blushed and straightened up. She knew why she'd decided to wear those shoes.

"Why wear shoes you can't walk in?" Aomine asked, with a frown. The question escaped his lips before he could think about it. (Not that he _would_ think about it.) He's been annoyed about Aya and Kise chatting so familiarly when they had seen each other only once before, and somehow, he felt like provoking someone. And because Hattori claimed the shoes were comfortable, well… It wouldn't be Aomine if he kept his mouth shut.

Hana glared at him.

"What?"He asked.

Kise almost facepalmed and Aya chuckled quietly. Aomine just buried all the chances he may have had with this girl. Not that she was interested in the grumpy guy.

"So she could do exactly what she did a second ago, and get guys to hover over her." Aya whispered to Aomine, the moment Hana's attention was fully directed to Kise.

He frowned in thought and looked at Aya's shoes. "Why would _you_ do that?"

" _We_?" Her eyebrows went up. "Unlike Hattori-san, **_I_** **_can_** walk in the shoes I choose to wear." She said with her chin up. "No offence though... She has guts to wear that."

Aomine grumbled something incoherent. He once again looked at Hattori's high-heels; they were probably an inch higher than Kagami's.

The other four arrived shortly after.

Both boys looked rather handsome with raven black hair and eyes, and Aya thought it wasn't Kise's pick, because he saw them for the first time in his life as well. The same went for the other two girls. One of them was chubby, with large breasts, but her striped black and yellow dress, unfortunately, made her look like a bumblebee, and another was athletic, with long legs and figure similar to Aya's. Those girls looked friendlier than Hattori, but both were too interested in Kise to notice anyone else.

"Okay. Since everyone is here, let's head out to our destination! Aomi's chocolate shop!" Kise exclaimed happily.

He was leading them and all three girls, except Aya, were hanging all over him. He sighed inwardly; he'd hoped they would pay at least some attention to the other three.

"Right… The model status." One of the boys sighed.

"You think we can disappear in the middle? I don't think anyone would notice."

They seemed to be friends, and they walked next to each other, watching the girls from behind.

"I would." Aya spoke up from behind them. She and Aomine ended up at the tail of the group, neither of them protested but they still didn't talk. If the main point of this was to get some contacts, and talk with the others, she wanted to do that; find new friends, maybe a boyfriend, but that was not really her intention…

"Oh." They turned around and started walking backwards. "I thought all the girls were flying around Kise."

"And look. There is one who isn't." The other, skinnier one, echoed.

"Apparently." She said with a smile and ignored the stare he shot at her boobs. They were there to hunt for girlfriends after all… She wasn't sure about those two, and so, she was glad Hikaru had created her a back-up plan, a.k.a. escape plan. "Are you two friends?"

"Yes. Hmm… What was your name again?" He asked curiously. It was a shame he had forgotten, but his main interest was Hattori Hana. Aya seemed too flamboyant for either of the two boys, so they conveniently didn't pay much attention to her.

Aya raised an eyebrow at this. "My name's Kagami. Thank you for remembering it the first time I told you." She said cheerfully, so the boy didn't realize what exactly she told him. "And what were your names? My memory seems to fail recently."

"Eh? But we've just been introduced!"

She gave them a _You-don't-say_ expression at which both of them blushed realizing their mistake.

"Ah, right." The one who had spoken to Aya first scratched the back of his neck. "Sorry. Talk about lame… I'm Kida Natsu. And my friend here is Tada Ken." He introduced them again, even though he was sure the girl remembered and was enjoying their embarrassment.

"Tada?" Aya asked curiously. "Are you somehow related to Tada Shun from Touou?"

"Nope. Never heard of 'im." He said with a shrug. "Why?

"Nah, I just thought you might've…" She smiled at them, not really expecting their conversation to continue. She was conflicted about this kind of situation.

"Do **_you_** know each other?" Kida stared at Aomine and Aya with mild interest. The boy looked too much like he didn't want to be there, but he didn't seem to mind Kagami walking by his side and she looked too comfortable with his silence for them to be strangers.

"Do we?" She repeated the question with a half smile as if thinking deeply about the answer she was about to give. "I suppose. We are in the same class and club."

"Oh? What club are you at?"

She glanced at Aomine to see if he was going to answer, or not, but when he remained silent, she said: "Basketball." She wouldn't deny she enjoyed the stunned silence that followed.

Both boys were looking at them. Really looking at them this time. The tall dude looked too tall and too muscular for a high-schooler; he was intimidating. If they had to face _this_ on a court, they'd probably run away without a second thought. And Kagami-chan, well, standing next to him, she sort of fitted the impression Aomine had set. She was however, much friendlier, and much more talkative. It was easy to talk to her, yet there was something wild in her eyes. Wild and raw and mischievous: dangerous and a little bit scary.

"Are you two in some club?" She asked to break the momentary silence.

"Yeah. Go home club." Tada said humorously. "And it's the best."

"Sure is. No responsibilities and free afternoons. I might envy that. What are your interests then?"

They weren't sure whether she was making fun of them or not, but she'd already voiced a question and it would be rude not to answer. "We are in a band. I play guitar and Natsu sings."

"That's awesome! Do you have some gigs or something?"

"Nah, it's just a small band. We practise in a garage." Tada shrugged. "We are only first years, but maybe we'll get to play for some school events, who knows? It's just a hobby."

"I'd love to see that then! I love music, though probably in a different way." Her eyes sparkled and it caught the boys by surprise. Maybe they had wrongly assumed her personality.

They arrived at the Aomi's chocolate shop. They were seated by a staff member that seemed to be familiar with Kise. It made Aya think about how many times he had visited or gone for goukons organized in here. The three girls sat around Kise. They fought for the best spot like vultures, although outwardly they acted nice and polite, but if you looked into their eyes you could see venom and daggers. The rest sat around the other corner of a table in a more relaxed manner.

"What kind of music do you play?" She asked with genuine curiosity, after they were finally seated and had their orders taken.

"Rock mostly, and some Indie here and there." Kida answered, and then tilted his head in curiosity, "Do you play any instrument?"

"Oh no, I don't play music, I've tried drums together with my brother at some point, but it just wasn't my thing, I suppose." She chuckled.

"Why not?"

"It was fun, but... I prefer going out for a run than beating into poor drums." She shrugged. "So, what is the best song you have in repertoire?" She was once again, averting attention off of her. Aomine noticed it, since she was always doing that – giving scrapes she was okay with and then changing topic, but boys didn't seem to mind.

A vivid conversation started. The boys were shy and didn't want to brag about their skills, but they loved to talk about music, and Kagami seemed to understand what they were talking about. She was even interested in what they had thought would bore girls to no ends. Even Aomine joined in from time to time. He didn't feel very talkative, but there were some things he needed to set straight.

Every time he spoke up Aya glanced at him, and he wasn't sure if she was curious or surprised, or both. Their small exchanges weren't overlooked by the model though.

They, namely Aya, Tada and Kida, tried to talk to the girls and Kise several times. If Kise wanted to chat with the others, the girls wouldn't let him; they'd always brush them off with some (not at all kind) comment. Aya refused to have her afternoon ruined by hormonally unstable bitches, who might have actually been quite nice girls, if it weren't for the model status they were after.

They ate several chocolate desserts during their talks, and Aya decided to have a melted dark chocolate as the last, which was not sweet at all, but she loved the bitter, full and slightly mysterious taste it offered. Chocolate was her weakness, but she usually avoided overly sweet kinds with lots of added sugar. This was a type of chocolate she'd never tried before, made from 75% pure cocoa with powdered green tea added. It was different, original, and she wanted to taste it.

 _Oh God!_ She thought after eating the first spoon. _Sooo good!_

Her expression while eating it was pure bliss. Aomine smirked at it, but withheld his comment – he feared the chocolate might end up on his shirt, and his mom would kill him for it. Though he doubted Aya would waste the chocolate if she enjoyed it so much.

"Uhm…" Tada tried to get her attention after she'd finished it. He was staring at Aya's lips.

"What?" She asked, and he blushed. His quiet implication was understood. "Oh… Don't tell me I have the chocolate on my face!"

He looked away.

"Where?" She wiped her mouth with a napkin. "Good or not?"

He shook his head 'no', but he didn't want to point out his finger, and he definitely didn't have guts to lean over the table and wipe it off for her as he'd seen in movies… or as Kise had demonstrated minutes earlier.

With annoyed grunt she turned to Aomine who was sitting beside her. "Where?" She repeated her question. Aomine with his attitude and teasing would probably not have a problem telling her – and make fun of her too… Still… much better than walking around with chocolate smudged on her face.

He raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Was it that good, kiddo?"

"Making fun of me…" She grumbled. "So? Where is it smudged?"

"Who knows?" He asked teasingly.

"Aomineee." She whined.

"Not telling."

"Come on! Don't be a jerk."

It was the first time Aomine saw her behaving childishly like that. Was it because of the other boys, or was she in a good mood? He didn't know.

Taking out a small mirror she carried around could save her from this situation, but she enjoyed it in a way. Teasing with Aomine again, and because he hadn't brushed her off, she knew she could also piss him off a little. _Well, why not?_

"Kise!" She turned to the blonde, who jumped in surprise when Ayacchi called out to him and without an honorific or nickname.

For some time now, Kise wasn't listening to those three girls. They were so obviously interested more in his status than him. They were all like _'Look at me. Look at me. Look at me. Choose me. Choose me. I'll do anything to date a model.'_ It was getting so boring, he started hearing wind. At least Ayacchi could manage the rest. So when she called out to him, it frightened him just like when Kurokocchi had appeared out of nowhere.

"They won't tell me where my face is dirty!" She complained. "Would you mind?"

Kise blinked at her. She truly did have a small chocolate smudge above the left corner of her lips. He shot a quick glance at Aominecchi who was staring at Aya in disbelief, and he understood what had happened.

A mischievous smirk appeared on his face, as he got up and took those few steps that separated him from the group. Aominecchi would probably get back at him for this, but it was so worth it.

"You might make it worse, so let me, Ayacchi." Before she could react he quickly licked his thumb and wiped her cheek. Then he licked the chocolate off of his thumb. "It would have been such a waste of the great chocolate, don't you think?"

All three girls were now staring at Aya with openly hostile glares. What did she have that they didn't? That red hair of hers was atrocious in their opinion, and she was overly friendly with three guys at once! And after all this, she had guts to steal Kise from them! Unforgivable.

"OI!" All three boys protested, because Kise was using his charm on Aya; Aomine's voice coming out louder than others.

Aya's eyes widened in surprise, and she blushed at the intimate touch that was. She wasn't into Kise, but his action caught her by surprise. They weren't such a good friends yet. _What the…_ Her fingers traced the spot where he'd touched. She looked lost for a moment; as if someone took the ground from beneath her feet.

 _Kagami: 0, Kise: 1._ Aomine thought when he saw Aya's expression – once again he saw it for the first time. The only thing that bothered him was that she was flustered because of Kise. Kagami flustered… Strangely beautiful.

And then, in a moment she was back to herself. Frowning at Kise.

"We might be friends, Kise Ryouta-kun." Her voice came out icier than she had intended, but it served its purpose – Kise paled and his teasing smile was wiped from his face. "But I suggest you don't test my boundaries."

He gulped, but he couldn't lose his face after this. "I thought you wouldn't mind, Ayacchi. You returned from America not so long ago, right?"

 _Oh?_ She got the game Kise was playing. How easy it was for him to change faces and come out innocent. This was why she could never date him. She could be the same. "And what do you imply by that?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Shouldn't you be used to physical contact?"

 _Oh?_ "Hugs? Definitely. Greeting **_pecks_** on cheeks. Fine by me. Someone wiping my face with their spit? Not so much."

 _Kagami: 1, Kise: 1. Serves you right, Kise._ Aomine thought and smirked under his nose.

Kise couldn't find a suitable remark for this. He crossed the line, and he was aware he couldn't use his status with Ayacchi. She didn't care one bit whether he was a model or an alien or whatever, to her he was Kise. And even though they didn't know each other much, they had this vibe from the start and knew they could be good friends, and in a way trust each other, nothing more and nothing less.

He sighed in defeat. This would hurt his pride, but a proud man also knew when to admit his mistakes. "I've crossed the line. I'm sorry for making you uncomfortable, Ayacchi."

Almost everyone's jaw dropped to the ground. Kise wasn't apologising type. With Ayacchi, however, he didn't have much of a choice if he wanted to really befriend her.

 _Kagami: 2, Kise:1._ Her exchange with Kise reminded Aomine of their exchanges, which could be quite similar, and it stung. _What the hell?_

She smiled contently and nodded – she was enjoying this. "Apology accepted. Don't do it again, Model-kun. Next time, use a napkin, or I'll punch you."

"I've been warned." He said with a smile and headed back to his seat.

It took several awkward moments until the boys got over Kagami's icy side. It had really surprised them.

"So you lived in America?" Kida asked. So far, she hadn't spoken about herself much. And even though it was clear she wasn't looking for a boyfriend, but rather friends, it was strange.

"Yep. For almost 10 years."

When she wasn't telling more, Tada decided to help his friend: "Why coming back?"

"Situation asked for it. I needed to change my pace and environment and everything." She shrugged. "Maybe I just ran away." She said and Aomine felt like she was saying this to him only. "I certainly don't regret my choice."

"Where in America did you live?" "What do you miss the most?" "How was it there?" Both boys flooded her with questions. It usually didn't happen; people just shrugged it off, like an information they got and didn't need much.

"New York City and L.A., California. It's very different there and it's hard to explain. The whole mentality is different. And though I'm born Japanese, I'm also American. We'd moved there when we were just little kids, so we naturally adapted." She had a kind and nostalgic look on her face. "I miss lots of things, friends, food, clothes shops, people – the good ones – because you have jerks everywhere. Yeah…" She nodded thoughtfully. "I miss talking to random strangers. And the beach just 10 minutes from our house. Ah… That doesn't mean I'm not happy here. I have a wonderful team and childhood friends here too – I missed them in America so much. It's great to be an international kid, but it also sucks, when you don't own a teleport."

It was the longest speech Aomine had ever heard her tell about herself. It'd never occurred to him, that she might miss her old life. She always seemed so cheerful and content that when he'd heard it, it was hard to believe. And he'd dared to say she was running away. His meaning was different, but… What sort of an idiot would run away from their home? Because that was America for Kagami – home. Or maybe he was totally wrong. She was a strange woman after all. And this date only proved it. He was glad Kise dragged him out even though it was thanks to an incentive…

She was talking a bit about her favourite American foods and comparing it, or rather explaining to the boys that it was impossible to fully compare it with Japanese foods. She loved both. And even more. They were lost in their chat that naturally turned into exchanging adventures from vacations they'd been to. This time, Aya preferred to ask questions, and she only stuck to stories from America, filtering them a lot. She always picked her words carefully.

Hana ordered another cup of hot chocolate she craved despite her 'dieting'.

No one had really noticed it.

Her feet hurt, the shoes were impossible to walk in, she was aware of blisters she already had, and it was all for Kise. And her Kise went and touched Kagami-bitch so casually. She knew what she wanted to do with the chocolate. And eating it was the last thing on her list.

"I'll go to the bathroom." She abruptly stood up when the waiter was just behind her and Kagami.

Out of the corner of her eye, Aya noticed the position of both, the waiter and Hana. "Don't!" She tried to stop her, but it was too late.

Hana hit the tray the waiter was carrying. And it wasn't only her chocolate he had there. There was a commotion and a huge clatter of falling objects and shattering glass.

Aya tried to catch some of it, but it was so unexpected, she only made it worse.

Most of the contents of the tray the waiter had been carrying ended up on Aya. A little bit of it ended up on Hana – but she didn't mind it was her plan after all, and a little bit on the floor. Some lemonade splashed over to Aomine too.

There was a moment of complete silence.

"Fuck…" Aya muttered.

Aomine was furious. "What the –" He started with a dangerous voice sounding almost like a snarl, but Kagami squeezed his forearm to shut him up – ignoring the electricity that shot through her when she touched his skin.

Then she got up and looked at the poor waiter, who looked like he was about to start crying. "Are you okay? You haven't hurt yourself, have you?" Aya knew that this was a huge problem for the waiter and it might end up with him losing his job.

"Ah!" He immediately bowed down deeply. "I'm so, so, so sorry ma'am. I'm really sorry for ruining your dress, and mood. I'll clean up the mess right away!"

"Hurt himself?!" Hana asked incredulously. Her acting sure was good. "He ruined your dress! And mine too! He should quit his job, for this incompetence!" Her voice was loud, and it got a lot of attention.

"Don't make a scene, Hattori. It's just a dress." Aya said firmly and her stare was piercing the girl, not at all friendly. _High quality, tailor-made dress worth few hundred dollars…_ She thought sadly, but it didn't display on her face. "If I remember correctly; it was you who ordered a chocolate and then bumped into him when he was about to serve you."

"Are you blaming **_me_**?!" The girl turned her anger at Aya now.

Aya smirked. "Maybe." _I-see-through-you-and-I'm-not-afraid-Chibi-chan_ her eyes were saying and a shiver ran down Hana's spine. No. She wouldn't go against this.

"What's going on here?" A manager of the store showed up almost immediately.

"I'm sorry, manager! It's my fault!" The waiter bowed to the manager as well. "I've dropped the tray."

Aya sighed. "It's not entirely his fault. My _friend_ here," she pointed at Hana with the back of her hand, "bumped into him while getting up from her chair, which resulted in this." She threw her arms around. "We are sorry, for causing a commotion."

"Oh, no. Don't apologise. It's definitely not your fault, costumer-san. We will pay for the cleaning bill, and everything." The manager bowed to Aya. It felt so strange that he had to bow to a teenager, but the girl didn't seem to have any ill intentions, and she was trying to be fair.

"You don't have to do that. Well, some discount for when I come here next time would be nice." She smiled at him. "And I want this particular waiter to serve me too."

Manager narrowed his eyes at the girl. What a businesswoman. It was so out of place and out of everything he knew, that he only nodded. "A-a-as you wish."

Aya fished for something in her wallet. "Where did I put it…" She mumbled. "Ah… Here it is…" she handed manager a business card she had. "Keep it. I'll definitely come here again. Your chocolates are amazing!"

Both manager and waiter were blinking at her in disbelief. Everyone was.

"Now if you'll excuse me. I'm going to the restroom to clean myself."

She disappeared behind the door and looked at herself in a mirror. Parts of her hair and denim jacket were damp with some lemonade; the chocolate had landed on her laps, so her thighs and the front of the dress were completely dirty.

 _What a fucking bitch!_ She though furiously when she kicked off her shoes before the chocolate would trickle down to them. She knew the reason behind Hana's behaviour, but it was plainly atrocious. _So if you don't have anything interesting about yourself, you'd spill something on others… Great wooing strategy!_ _Real great._

 _Argh! Fuck!_

Aya coped with the situation, because of the poor waiter and all the attention they'd gotten. Otherwise, if it had been private, she would probably splash something into Hana's face. Yeah, she wanted to do that.

She opened her bag, where she packed black shorts and red sleeveless turtleneck top. She thought she might wear it for the party, or she might change into it during the party. Well, she had to change sooner than she had expected. She put it on the toilet seat and quickly washed the lemonade soaked ends of her hair. If she let it dry like that, it would end up glued together. Then she cleaned her legs and got dressed again. She cleaned what she could from her jacket and dress.

When she looked presentable again she went out to join the others. It was only five, but she already felt like leaving. The atmosphere they'd had was broken.

Hattori was already gone, and Kise was talking with Aomine – it looked like some serious scolding.

"Oh. Ayacchi! You look stunning once again!" Kise exclaimed when he saw her outfit, and mostly the messy bun she made from her mane. "I'd never expect you to have a change of clothes..."

"Let's say I had a similar experience couple of times before." She said with a crooked smile. "And I wasn't sure I wanted to spend all night in that dress anyways."

Aomine was once again staring at her boobs. They were perfectly covered, no cleavage at all, but still…

"Evaluating my cup size again?" She asked him with a teasing smile. She needed distraction.

His eyes widened for a split second, and then he smirked. "Can't I?"

"I don't know, can you?"

"Sure."

The boys were staring at this exchange, they noticed the two had some vibe, but they'd never expect them to tease each other like this. Or Kagami in a red, sleeveless top. After the incident, they managed to exchange a few words with the other girls – when Kise was scolding Aomine for yelling at Hattori, who ran away crying. But Aya didn't need to know any of that.

Aomine quietly vanished from the group. He didn't want to be there any longer. To think it was actually fun and then it ended with such a fiasco... He needed fresh air to get Aya in red out of his head. It was too disturbing. Seeing her in red. As if her hair was not enough. She shouldn't be allowed to wear something so stunning and daring and dangerous.

"I think I should head to my next destination."

"Didn't you say you are expected at six?" Kise asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I know Hikaru. Any help will be great."

She exchanged e-mails and phone numbers with the boys in case she wanted to hear their music, or chat with them some more. It was nice meeting them. Kise was held up by the girls as usual, so she left. He'd catch up later.

When Aya found Aomine leaning against the wall, he had his eyes closed and wasn't paying attention to anything. She could finally have a good look. His crossed arms made his forearm muscles stand out. Two opened buttons showed part of his collarbones. She appreciated the sight.

When his eye cracked open to look at her she asked: "Are you coming?"

"You shouldn't go alone wearing this." He pointed at her top.

"Too revealing?" She asked, but she knew it didn't show much.

"No." He said. "And yes." He added. "Dangerous."

"Do you like it?" She asked and took a step closer to him.

Dangerous and daring, that's what red made her. And he couldn't lie. "Very much." _Shit…_ _She is so…_

"I thought you might."

 _Eh?_ He blinked. Did he hear her right?

She chuckled. It was so easy to tease him. And she only did so, because she knew he wouldn't hurt her, at least not physically. Not really.

"Well then." She straightened up and took several steps away from him – she hadn't realized how close she got. "Let's go. Model-kun will catch up with us."

She threw the still wet jacket over her shoulders and started walking in the direction of the party sure he would follow her.

* * *

 **A/N:** This is about it. I should post the 15th chapter soon enough (tomorrow-ish, or so) and it'll be much much longer than this one...

Let me know what you think and remember, reviews are appreciated but never necessary.

-S.


	15. Chapter 15: Dance with me

**A/N** : Thanks to everyone who followed, favourited and reviewed! As I promised, here's the 15th chapter. Enjoy!

Answer to the **Guest** review: Thank you! I'm happy you like the story, and yes, Aomine shouting at Hana was partly for the show, but hey, that's Aomine. Getting splashed by juice is certainly not something he'd be thrilled about! -S.

* * *

 _Depth of friendship does not depend on length of acquaintance. **– Rabindranath Tagore**_

 _I don't remember not dancing. When I realized I was alive and these were my parents, and I could walk and talk, I could dance. **– Gregory Hines**_

 _Friends and good manners will carry you where money won't go. **– Margaret Walker**_

 _The reason that you dance and sing is to make the audience feel like they're dancing and singing. As long as you're having fun with it and giving it 100 percent, they're gonna feel that. **– Heath Ledger**_

 _Dance is for everybody. I believe that the dance came from the people and that it should always be delivered back to the people. **– Alvin Ailey**_

 _Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance. **– Dave Barry**_

 _Never go in search of love, go in search of life, and life will find you the love you seek. ―_ ** _Atticus Poetry_**

 _A sister is a dearest friend, a closest enemy, and an angel at the time of need. **― Debasish Mridha**_

* * *

"Ayacchiii! Aominecchi!" Kise voice echoed through the entire street. "Wait for meeeee!"

Aya sighed. "Should we wait, or do we let him run some more?" She asked Aomine. It'd only been around five minutes since they had left Aomi's chocolate shop and it was exactly like she'd said. Kise would catch up.

Aomine blinked at her and smirked. "Nah. It won't hurt him to run some more."

"Isn't he your friend?" She asked curiously, because the relationship between the boys was a mystery for her. Satsuki said that Aomine didn't talk much with the others, but it seemed different when it came to Kise.

"No. Kise's more of a rival than a friend."

"You still tolerate him a lot."

He sighed. All of his 'friends' were rather annoying. "You tolerate a whole bunch of people, don't you?"

"Hmmm…" She put one finger to her lips and hopped several steps to get in front of him. Then she turned around and her reddish eyes look straight into his. She smirked. "Like you, for example?"

That caught him unprepared. "Wha–"

"So glad I caught up!" Kise stopped by their side interrupting Aomine. He had no problem with catching breath, but he was feeling hot. "Why didn't you wait for me?!" He whined. "Not fair!"

"I knew you'd catch up, Model-kun." Aya smiled and broke off the eye contact with a now slightly flustered and irritated Aomine. "And I don't think it would do any good if they saw you leaving with me."

 _Oh?..._ "Because of Hana-chan? I'm sorry for her behaviour. And the dress, can you clean it? If I'd known I wouldn't have called her."

"I'll ask Hikaru to have it cleaned. So… Did you end up with a girlfriend?" She asked, and Kise wasn't sure if she was making fun of him, or not.

"No. Of course not, after all that happened... " He sounded close to offended.

"Not even a hook-up?" Aya asked teasingly.

"Ayacchi!" He complained. "You are being mean."

"Not at all. Just curious." She shrugged with a smile as they slowly walked towards their destination. "This is only our second meeting. I don't really know you, Model-kun."

He blinked at her. She was right. Except that one meeting during the practise match and their one phone call, they hadn't met or spoken. Yet he felt like he knew her for a long time. He was staring into nowhere. "Really?! I thought we met more than once." A small smile replaced his previous wide grin. "At least it feels like it."

True. "Strange as it is, I feel similar." She felt like she had known Kise much, much longer. She was good in observing others and judging their character; she could see through Kise's masks from the day one; it almost felt like they were friends in some other life and reunited again – calm and nostalgic.

He had an incredulous look on his face for a moment. Then he smiled widely. With his yellow hair he looked like a little sun.

Aomine's eyes were gliding for Kise to Kagami and back again. He didn't understand how quick they were at befriending the other. Well, Kise'd always been social and friendly, and Kagami'd befriended majority of their club within the first week of school. Still, he didn't like it.

"… though I wouldn't mind some self-introduction speech from you." Aya added with a smirk.

Kise laughed. "Of course! Everyone will self-introduce! It should be fun!" He said and winked at Aominecchi over Ayacchi's head. _'Same goes for you.'_ It meant. Ayacchi probably knew a lot about Aominecchi thanks to Momocchi, but this was an opportunity to get them closer, right?

He cleared his throat and waltzed in front of Aomine and her. He turned around and started walking backwards. "I'm Kise Ryouta. I'm first year at Kaijo high. I'm 189 cm tall and weight 77 kg. I'm 15 years old and my birthday is on June 18, so my zodiac is Gemini! My blood type is A. I have two older sisters who got me into modelling, no pets. I love basketball and my top favourite free-time activity is karaoke!" He finished his speech with a bow, as if finishing the performance of his lifetime.

Aya laughed. "How informative! I bet you just want to receive a gift on your birthday!"

"Wha –?! That's not true! **_You_** asked for self-introduction speech!" He pouted, but his eyes were laughing too.

"Right, right. What are your other best free-time activities?"

"Uhmm… Going for ice-cream, goukons, watching TV series…"

"And?" She asked, tilting her head to a side, because she felt there was something at the tip of his tongue and he was hesitating.

With forefinger on his lips, he looked at the sky, thinking. "… It's a secret." He said finally. "Every model needs to have one, no?"

Her eyes narrowed. "... If you say so… What's your favourite ice-cream then?"

"Vanilla and strawberry, but I always try out new flavours." He answered. "But it's your turn now, Ayacchi! You can ask later!"

"Hmph… After Aomine." She said.

"What? No. I'm not gonna do that!" Aomine protested. "You both know me."

"Come on." Aya rolled her eyes and pushed him forward to exchange places with Kise. Today, she wasn't keeping the usual distance.

"Yes, Aominecchi! Come on!" Kise gladly joined Ayacchi, and now they both stared at Aominecchi, who felt so uncomfortable in his position.

Aomine was frowning at those two, who forced him to walk backwards and talk about himself. What good would it do? They knew him, for fucks sake. Kagami had even taken his measurements before; she knew exactly how tall he was. And what was the point of giving this sort of information to someone?!

"It would be best if we finished this before we reach out destination~" Aya teased him with a humorous spark in her eyes. "Introduce yourself as if you saw us for the first time. We won't laugh. Promise."

"I wouldn't tell this sort of useless personal info on the first meeting. What nonsense." He grumbled.

"Aominecchi! Come on!" Kise whined. "We won't laugh. Promise." He repeated Kagami's words.

He was sure that was definitely not _'promise'_. "Tch… Psychology club…" He muttered under his nose. "I'm Aomine Daiki. I'm 15 and I attend Touou. I'm 192 cm tall, and 85 kg heavy. My birthday is on August 31, blood type B. I have no siblings and three dogs. I play basketball and read idol magazines. My favourite idol is Horikita Mai-chan." He said in rather a bored and monotonous manner, repeating what Kise had said, though not everything. He wasn't flashy, and he didn't bow at the end. Gosh, he so didn't want to stand there.

Aya clapped with smile on her face. "I didn't know you had dogs! That's awesome. What breed?"

"Er…" _Not commenting on Mai-chan?_ He scratched his cheek. This was not expected. "Samoyed, Labrador retriever and Belgian malinois."

"Samoyed?" She blinked. "Is it that the big white fluffy super-cute fur ball?"

Aomine raised an eyebrow. "Heh… What a definition."

"The only one I know." She chuckled. "What did you name it?"

"Ayacchi! You are avoiding your speech!" Kise pushed her forward, to take Aominecchi's place. "Questions later!"

"Ah… You understood it quite well, Model-kun."

"Hmph. Who do you have me for?" He huffed and then stared at her for a moment. "Why do you avoid talking about yourself that much?"

"That's what you'd like to know, eh?" She smirked. She shook her head and changed places with Aomine, who seemed glad he didn't have to be there any longer.

"Oh! You don't have to walk backwards in those shoes." Kise said as if it was the first time he had noticed her high-heels.

"Model-kun, I'm not Hattori." She sounded almost offended. Her eyebrow went up, and she gave him a _you-can't-be-serious_ look. "Or… Are you underestimating my ability?"

"Not at all." He denied immediately.

Aomine wasn't as smooth as Kise and he wanted to tease both. "He means: We don't need to see you crash on your ass."

"I believe we'd have a good laugh at that, and then you'd pull me up. Nothing strange." She winked at them, not at all angered by Aomine's comment. She was already use to those.

"Okay. So… Self-introduction huh…" She smiled at the two. "I'm Kagami Aya. I'm 15 and attend Touou. I'm 168 cm tall and weight 60 kg. My birthday is on August 2, I'm Leo and my blood type is A. I have a twin brother and no pets. I'm a dancer and I specialise in Latin dances in which I used to compete; I also do Standard dances and some other types too. I love basketball, and my other favourite free-time activities are volleyball, watching movies..."

She was older than Aomine. By only a few weeks, but it didn't matter. She was older. Period.

There was a heart-beat of silence. Aya didn't care.

"Ask." She yielded. "I give you one question, I'll answer. We have some time until we reach our destination."

"You are unusually compliant today." Aomine narrowed his eyes at her. Was there some catch?

"Wanna argue?" In fact, she was taking them to the party because she wanted them to know her. Maybe it was a stupid decision that could destroy her fragile relationships with both, but in her opinion, it was better to be hurt sooner than later.

Aomine was about to retort, or so Kise thought…

"Now, now." He jumped in, before Aominecchi could have another remark "Could you explain competitions? The types of dances? I don't get it." It was probably safe topic and it was all new to him. Momocchi hadn't mentioned Ayacchi competing.

… but he just stole Aomine's question, he was about to shoot. _Tch… Idiot._

"Sure." Her eyes sparkled, when she started explaining. "Ballroom dancing is a set of partner dances. Competitions can be referred to as 'dancesport', or in other words dancesport is competitive ballroom dancing. Including _'sport'_ into the name should've helped ballroom dancing to gain Olympic recognition, so far unsuccessfully… You can categorise ballroom dancing into international Standard and international Latin dances. Each category includes five dances. In America you have two more categories, and that is American Smooth and American Rhythm – in those two categories you can only compete in the US and Canada. International Latin has five styles you compete in, Samba, Cha-cha, Rumba, Paso-doble and Jive…" Her voice trailed off, when she saw the confusion on their faces. She was probably boring them. Yet, when she was explaining it, her eyes were shining with delight. "Aaand of course you have no idea what those look like!" She chuckled. "That's why I don't explain it often…"

"It's a bit complicated, true, but continue. I'm interested." Kise encouraged her.

"No… It'll be best if you can see it. But for me…" She smiled tenderly, the kind of smile Aomine had seen just once – on the rooftop when she had taken his measurements. "For me, dancing is life. It's energy, happiness, love, sorrow, passion, so much passion … It's everything. You can feel so much, show so much… I can't even describe it well."

"Wow…" Kise breathed out in astonishment. Ayacchi was burning. Burning with so much care; he could hardly take it all in. And he knew that Aominecchi was just as stunned, for he knew Ayacchi kept it to herself, most of the time. _Why is she so open now?_ "How long have you been dancing?"

"Since I remember." She shrugged. With one smooth move, she turned around and started walking along the two. "How long have you played basketball?"

"Momocchi told you, I believe…"

"Yeah, but I want to hear it from you."

"Three years, this is the third year, to be precise. I've been modelling longer than playing basketball."

"She said you did other sports, but it bored you."

"Yeah. I've tried football, tennis, baseball, swimming… It got boring after couple of months."

"Ever tried dancing?"

"Nah… Assumed it would be the same. I won the top score in Dance Dance Revolution, in no time, because I copied it."

"Those skills could be a great help in partner dances, but you know… everyone is different. What you copy from one, might not work for another. Well, you can test it during the party. I bet there will be lots of girls willing to dance with you."

So the dancing along with the martial arts might be another sport that would keep him interested. Something he couldn't master in a week. "Will _you_ dance with me?"

"Maybe." She said mysteriously.

 _What a girl… I see, why Aominecchi is so intrigued._

"So, Aomine…" She called his name, to drag his attention back. He looked like he didn't listen to them much. Whether he pretended, or really didn't listen, she didn't know. "What are your dogs' names?"

"Hm?" He scratched his ear, and almost yawned. He listened to them, but didn't feel like talking. There was still tension from their small argument, and he had his habit of ignoring people he'd argued with. "Is it important?"

She caught up the underlying meaning. "No, but I want to know. Actually… no. Let me guess!"

"Oh?" He raised an eyebrow. "Now that sounds fun. Bring it."

"Set some rules!" They were walking slowly. Unconsciously, they all wanted more time to talk.

"Are you sure, Sweetheart?" He had unusually mischievous smirk on his face, and he couldn't resist the nickname. _To hell with Kise._

Aya, as competitive as she was, smirked too. "Don't underestimate me, Honey-bun."

Kise stared at them. Stunned. _How come they are **not** dating yet?_

"Tch. I hate that nickname."

"I know." She chuckled. "So?"

"Five tries per name. You have to guess two names right. If not, you'll tell me your cup size."

"And if yes?" She raised an eyebrow.

There was a very inappropriate measurement she could've asked for, but she bit her tongue. She could almost feel Kise was thinking the same and was about to spit it out, so she elbowed him before he could. He shot her an accusatory glance; he so wanted to make Aominecchi blush in embarrassment. And it seemed Aomine thought of it too, because he looked away and took a deep breath.

"… You decide." He said, praying she wouldn't ask what he had thought of.

She stayed quiet for a moment and then she burst out laughing. "I believe all three of us thought of the same inappropriate thing I could ask, as reciprocation to your 'cup-size' demand… But don't worry. Whatever you have in your pants, I don't need to know."

That caused Aomine to blush slightly, and grumble something like 'you witch', and Kise to laugh his lungs out.

When they calmed down, she continued. "So… If I guess correctly, you will dance with me." _You will dance with me either way…_ She'd already decided, but if she could make it so it wouldn't hurt his pride too much, why not?

That was worse than the inappropriate demand… So embarrassing. But, the game was on; he might as well go with it. Not that he believed she could guess it right. "Fine."

"Great! So… Are those three dogs, or bitches?"

"Bitches."

She nodded, thinking of names he could have given them. "Samoyed… Smiley?"

"No."

 _Japanese names then…_ "Shirayuki?"

"God no."

"Yuki?" She couldn't help but think of the colour. The dog was white. She would probably call it 'whitey', or 'snow'.

"No." _Heck, she is getting close._

 _Ice?..._ "Koori?"

"Nope."

"Hmmm…"

"Last chance."

"I know… It's white, right? So…" _That probably won't be it._ "Shiro?"

Kise clapped and laughed, before Aomine could answer. "Good job!"

"Was I right? Really?" She was genuinely surprised, as Satsuki hadn't told her.

Aomine nodded, frowning to himself. She had no idea that Kurome was black, so she probably wouldn't get that one… but for Akari…

"I suggest we finish this before going in." She said pointing at the door they arrived at. "We are here early, and I need to mentally prepare to face Hiroto and Hikaru in 'organizing mood'."

"Is he that strange? And who is Hiroto?" Kise tilted his head. He knew Shiracchi, but he'd never seen him organize anything.

"You'll see in no time. Back to the names… Labrador retriever… Marley?"

"Wha'?" Aomine gave her strange look. "Why would I call her that?"

"Oh, you've never seen the movie? Marley and me?"

"No."

"Beautiful one… It's boyish name, but whatever… Nah… Hmmm… Aki?"

"No."

"How are you guessing?" Kise asked suddenly. He wanted to know her thought process.

"Randomly? I'm trying to think what he might name a dog… Something simple, Shirayuki was _'god no'_ , so something not fancy... Golden?" She tried again, turning her eyes to Aomine.

"No."

"Tsume?" _Claw?_ She tried different approach. She didn't know how to name the golden colour other than, well, Golden. Labrador retrievers could be destructive, so maybe…

He shook his head no, feeling victory with this one. Just as he thought. She wouldn't guess, Kurome's name.

"Maybe she is different colour?" Kise butted in, giving Ayacchi a hint.

"Oi, Kise!" Aomine protested immediately. "Don't help her."

"I'm not helping, Aominecchi, just broadening her options." He smiled innocently.

"Eh?" _Different colour?..._ She facepalmed. _Right! Of course! His dog might not be gold coloured!_ But what? If she remembered well, there were black and brown and even silver Labrador retrievers too… Which one? She had seen black ones more often. "Kuro?"

"No."

"Ou well. I failed with this one. So, what's the name?"

"Kurome."

"Really?" She looked at Kise, who gave her a nod. "Shiro and Kurome… Shiro and Kuro would be nice too."

"Kuro would fit a male more."

"Right, it's a she."

A florist's van passed by them, and turned left. There was supposed to be nothing. Just an empty street, creepy at night. Aya stared at it. _Really?_

"What is it Ayacchi?"

"I think Hikaru is overdoing it…" It was about time they went in, but she wanted to finish their little game. "The last is Belgian malinois right? They are brown, ginger coloured, some reddish brown, right?"

Aomine nodded. "You actually know."

"I've seen some." She shrugged and teasing smile appeared in her eyes. "So… Akamaru?"

He rolled his eyes. "I wouldn't name my dog after an anime one. And she is a bitch too." _Technically, it's my father who'd named Akari._

"I know, I know… I couldn't resist!"

"You missed one try."

"Nah… Brownie?"

"No. It's a dog, not food."

"I would probably name it that. Then… Shouga?" _Ginger?_

"No."

"Aka?"

"No."

"Akane?"

"No. I win." He said proudly and eyed her boobs again.

"This time. So, what's the name?"

"Akari." He said, and waited, staring at her the whole time.

She knew she wouldn't talk her way out of it. "Let's go in." She said and opened up the door. "And as for my cup size… You've already guessed it right before."

He nodded in satisfaction. _So D-cup._

Kise elbowed Aominecchi and whispered: "You've guessed before, Aominecchi?" He wouldn't have thought that Aominecchi would dare to ask her out loud about her cup size. As rude and bold as Aomine could be he was also a little bit shy…

"Couple of times." He said in an ' _It's-obvious-I-would'_ manner.

Aya was walking in front of them, leading the way. She knew the place like the back of her hand. It had been renovated a couple of times, and instead of a spacious foyer they were welcomed by a narrow, dark corridor. It felt claustrophobic, and boys hoped it wouldn't be long. There was something soft under their feet, Aya's shoes didn't click-clack, but in the shadowy hallway they couldn't make out if it was a carpet, or something else.

When they reached something that looked like a reception desk, they could hear muffled voices. Angry muffled voices. The 'reception desk' was in fact a front bar, where you could order a drink and down it before entering the main dancing room. There was a guard, and Aya stopped.

The guard was in his thirties with narrow chin, and a strict expression. He wasn't that tall, but he was wide and stirred respect.

"Party starts in over two hours, you are not supposed to be here." The guard said seriously and frowned at them, in attempt to intimidate the teens.

The middle-aged bartender with a goatee was wiping glasses and preparing the front bar for the evening. He didn't pay attention to the trio. The music playing in his headphones was loud enough to hear what the bartender was listening to. It was a wonder he wasn't deaf.

"Good day to you too, Mister." She greeted him with a raised eyebrow at his rude behaviour. "I don't remember you being here the last time. Are you a new employee?"

She sounded confident. The tone she used made him doubt. He'd only been working there only for three months. Should he let them in? Was she a regular? Someone important? Nah. His job was as a security guard. No matter how intimidating the person might be, he couldn't back down.

"That's none of your business, little lady. You shouldn't be here."

Aya sighed. At least he was doing his job properly. "So a new employee… Sorry, Mister, but I can be here, whenever I want to." Aya said authoritatively and pulled out her ID, to prove herself. "I'm Kagami Aya, and these two are my friends. We were asked to help Shiranui Hikaru with organizing this party, so…" She sure wasn't in a mood for arguments, but heck, Hikaru could at least inform this person they were expected.

He blinked at it. _Kagami Aya?_ So far he only heard rumours about the little redheaded tomboyish girl with bottomless energy. This one sure had red hair, but seemed far from tomboyish. "Oh… I-I-I'm sorry, Miss. I didn't recognise you. Shiranui-san didn't tell me about you." His behaviour turned 180° and he bowed in apology.

"Figures. You are new here, right?"

"Yes, Miss. Three months."

Kise and Aomine exchanged glances. They didn't understand what was going on around them at all. This place was like a world on its own, and it looked like Aya was very familiar with it.

She sighed and smiled. "You've never seen me before, there was nothing to recognise. What is your name?"

"Saga Shinjirou." Suddenly, he feared for his job. This building belonged to the Kagamis. It was rebuilt and turned into a bar and dancing club. Even if they didn't personally supervise over the club, or this business, it was owned by them. They probably didn't care about it much; from what he knew they rarely showed their faces around. And now, the young Kagami girl stood in front of him. And to his surprise those reddish eyes were far from spoiled and bratty like he had expected from a rich kid. "I'm still very sorry for not recognising you, and insulting you." He said and bowed again.

She sighed. "Apology accepted, as I've said… I haven't shown myself here for over two years, so you have no reason to know me, Saga-san. Don't worry 'bout it much. But from now on, please do remember me. And these two as well." She smiled, offered him a handshake and introduced both boys.

"And now…" She sighed again as her eyes travelled to bartender. "HIROTO!" She shouted at him, so he'd hear her over the music.

"Hm?" He looked up and took out his headphones. "Some problem there?" He asked, still not looking at the youngsters.

Before Saga could answer, Aya jumped in. "Long time no see, mister bartender. If **_you_** say you don't remember my face, you'll break my heart."

He blinked, squinted his eyes, to see well, because he had forgotten his glasses. But there was only one person with that hair and attitude. "HOLY COW! Someone pinch me! ROBIN!"

"I can pinch you if you want!" She offered and smiled. "It's nice seeing you again, ol'-man."

"Welcome back, little one!" He ran around the bar and squeezed her into a bear hug. "You've changed a lot." His eyes ran over her womanly figure when he released her. "At some places more… Where is the little tiger? And OI! I ain't old!"

Aya chuckled and rolled her eyes at his comment. "Little? When did you see him last time? My brother's far from _'little'_." She snorted. "And he is out with his team. You know he isn't much of a party type. Anyways… These two are my friends. Aomine Daiki and Kise Ryouta." She introduced them again and they politely bowed, not sure why would she know this person, or this place so much.

"Two men accompanying you. Why am I not surprised…" He mused. "I'm Amane Hiroto." Now, when he wasn't hidden behind the bar, he looked taller and stronger. Despite his age and working behind a bar, he had lean and strong muscles of someone who worked out often.

The boys bowed awkwardly. This was surprising for them. Aya knew a bartender, at a place they'd never visited; never even thought of visiting… But she seemed so familiar with him and so content in his presence that they just stood quietly and watched.

"What do I say… My charm." She joked. "Finally I can say it! Congratulations on your wedding! Honestly… I was thinking you would never find a wife."

"How mean! Of course I would. I was just young and stupid, and I needed time to make the right choice, young lady. Not that you would understand at your age." He snorted. "I'll introduce you next time!"

Hiroto was lively and free spirited. Bunch of greying hair never stopped him from feeling like he was still in his twenties. He loved running this bar, and working as a bartender at the same time. Meeting young people, talking with them; it was a dream job for him.

"That'd be awesome! We have a lot to catch up. I haven't seen you in two years, or more…"

"Yes, of course. I'm inviting you for a dinner on Wednesday. Bring the little tiger with you." He announced and Aya nodded in agreement.

She'd love to talk with him, but there was something more important. "How is Hikaru doing?"

Hiroto rolled his eyes. "He's been here since the morning, ordering those poor caterers around for hours and he is still not satisfied. Be it me, the place looks good enough on its own. He hasn't eaten anything… I don't have the nerve to argue with him, so I came here. He can do whatever he wants, as long as he won't ruin my club and bar."

"It's Hikaru." She shrugged as if it explained everything. "I'm surprised no one's strangled him yet."

"I wanted to, trust me. But I can't kill your friend, can I?"

Her eyebrow went up. "If my nerves break…"

"… I'll help you to hide the body." He winked at her conspiratorially.

"Very good!" She nodded with a smirk. "Let's go and see what's going on there."

She grabbed both boys by their wrists, and dragged them through another short corridor. This one was wide with dark heavy curtains at both ends.

"No. No. No! No! NO!" They heard someone yell and some glass to break.

They made it past the dark curtain and they had to blink. The place was huge and illuminated with strong bright lights. It didn't seem this big when they'd seen the building from the outside.

The boys stared at it in awe. It looked like a theatre where the chairs for the audience had been taken away creating a huge dance-floor. There were three floors, with balconies from where you could look down at all people dancing on this huge dance-floor. There were small bars and smaller dance-floors at each floor and six spiral staircases leading up and down.

"Was this a theatre before?" Kise asked curiously.

"Yeah. I still remember some performances." Aya shrugged, not sure why she was explaining this. "We ran around this place since we learned to walk. Then it went bankrupt, the actors left… My father wanted to save this place so he bought it, but he had no idea what to do with it and we were about to move to America. And so his twin brother, uncle Kyou, had this idea." She pointed at the huge space in front of them. "Kyou already had several bars around the world; every one of them is unique and different, so my father let him do whatever he wanted. This is the result. I can't say one bad word."

"I didn't know you were a rich kid." Aomine grumbled. This was shocking.

"It's advantageous, but money won't get you everywhere. Sometimes it hurts more than it helps. But I can't complain… crying in your own car feels better than crying in a bus after all." She shrugged and didn't comment on it more.

Another wise and mature comment, finished with a joke left Aomine speechless. He thought she was like others, except the world championships… But she was so out of reach. This was a Kagami he didn't know. A Kagami who was friends with people much much older, who was managing things teenagers shouldn't manage. Even Kise stared at her with amazement. He had just met her the other day, but he didn't have a feeling she was arrogant or that she thought she was better than others. Yet she was suddenly like a different person. Except she wasn't.

Her attention turned from the boys – she was now doubting her decision to take those two here to see the sides of her, she didn't want her schoolmates or anyone else to see – to Hikaru, who was towering over a small woman and yelling at her for her incompetence. She had tripped and broken a vase. Water was spilled on the wooden floor and white and red oriental lilies were laying on the floor.

"Would you stop yelling at her Hikaru?" Aya asked with her hands on her hips.

Hikaru stopped mid sentence and spun around, not caring who it was interrupting him. "She broke the vase!" He shouted and pointed at the mess. "How useless are these people?!" His cheeks were red from anger.

It was the first time Kise saw Shiracchi furious like this, and Ayacchi didn't bat an eyelash. She was standing there calm and unmoved by his anger. Like a rock resisting a raging sea.

Aya's eyebrow went up. "And you think yelling at her will repair the vase and tidy up the mess? By the way… Long time no see Hikaru."

He blinked at her. Then blinked again. Seeing Aya now, her words, it was like a cold shower. The blood was drained from his face. "A-a-aya!" He stuttered but maybe this was what he'd needed and why he had asked her help.

"Seeing a ghost?" She asked mockingly. "A ghost you asked for help?"

"You are here too soon. It looks so bad! Everything went wrong!" He was hungry, angry, and things didn't go the way he wanted to. Organizing other people was never his forte.

"What went wrong?" She asked calmly. The woman was still sitting on the ground with tears in her eyes. _She must feel so bad…_ Aya thought. "You can get up and tidy up the mess." She said to the woman.

She blinked in surprise, nodded and ran away to get a rag and a broom.

"I wasn't done with her." Hikaru said grumpily.

"Because yelling at her will fasten her work? Tell me. What went wrong?"

"There are not enough flowers. It arrived late and we don't have enough vases! It should be fancier! In white, red and black colours! I doubt there will be enough food, and our DJ is still not done with technical stuff. They are all clumsy and it looks so different from my imagination!" He complained, and he wasn't sure what exactly was wrong anymore. Everything was wrong. "Hiroto has refused to help and…" He huffed and rubbed his face.

"Okay now. Firstly, it is a dance party, not a flower viewing event." She said in humorous tone. "Secondly, no one can read your mind. And thirdly, there are always some problems when organizing an event. Show me your idea, then go and eat something. Smoke, and when you're ready to talk with them **_calmly_** , come back. I believe everything will be done until then." She was so calm, unlike Hikaru, that it helped him breathe normally again.

His eyes darted around the room where people were moving around like ants, arranging the tables, and rearranging them the whole day. They'd barely had any break, and now they were giving skeptic glances to Aya.

"It's **_my party!_** I want to do it my way!"

"I know. I'm not stealing anything. I have a vague idea how you want it, but I also know _you_. Perfectionist to the very end. And it's not bad! It's a good trait, you just can't expect others to be like you. Okay?"

"Fuck." He rubbed his face furiously. His stomach was rumbling from the lack of food – he hadn't eaten properly for a couple of days. This should have been perfect, like he had imagined it… He failed. He felt so stupid now, because his ten years younger little 'sister' had to come and calm him down. He hadn't seen her in months, and all he did was showing her his angry side.

Aya gently touched his shoulder and smiled at him. "It'll be fine." She reassured him. "We'll manage. Go and eat. You must be starving."

"I…"

"Go. Or I'll strangle you." She threatened.

He smiled weakly. Without another word he turned around and with slumped shoulders he went to ask Hiroto for something to eat.

Aya cleared her throat and clapped to get everyone's attention. Not everyone liked that this brat would boss them around, but she seemed friendlier than the yelling idiot.

"We will rearrange the tables one last time. We don't have enough time to get additional decorations, so we will put fancier tables closer to the dance-floor, and on upper floors and those with less décor further. Flowers have to be distributed throughout the place equally. I believe that upper floors could be decorated with more flowers than the main dance floor because people on the main dance floor won't look at them much. Who is the florist?" She asked and one woman raised her arm.

"Can you get more flowers, since it seems important to Hikaru?"

"Not from my shop."

"But you can ask other shops, right?"

"I suppose."

"Oh and could we get black oriental lilies?"

"There are only two shops where you can get them, and I don't think they have big amount of them." The woman said doubtfully.

"Only a few would suffice."

"What do you have in mind, Miss -?" She asked and wanted Aya's name.

"Kagami Aya. Call me Aya if you want."

The crowd buzzed. It seemed that some of them knew the Kagami family, or at least heard of them. Aya didn't care much. Whatever. There were people that knew her family name. And in certain situations they could connect the dot to one of the Kagami twin brothers. Simple fact.

"If I manage to get more white flowers, and some black and red you could decorate the stage where the DJ is. I think it would be nice. And as for the table décor I leave the decision to your judgement. I'm no expert when it comes to flowers, their arrangements or meanings."

"As you wish, Kagami-san."

"Great! Now, if you give me the phone numbers I'll try to get additional flowers." The woman walked towards Aya, but before she took the business cards she was given, she pointed at the tables: "These and these will be in the first line from the dance floor, those higher ones will be further on the edges."

Men that were having a short break, while she was talking with the florist, started to move. She could hear their grumbling, but it couldn't be helped. Hikaru had pissed them off.

"Please," she looked at Kise and Aomine, "help them out. I'm going to check up with the DJ, and then make several phone calls. We have two hours to finish this. Let's try to make it in one and half." She smiled and walked towards the stage, where the man was fighting with a knot of cables.

"Is that really Ayacchi?" Kise asked and stared after her figure.

"You askin' me?" Aomine was just as surprised as Kise.

He'd seen her organize training camp and the practise match when they'd missed their uniforms and she had threatened that dude, but this was somehow different. She was dealing with adults this time, and they respected her.

"She's amazing." Kise said, and then turned around. "Let's help them with whatever we can."

Aya was emanating positive energy and smiling at everyone, reassuring them that everything would be alright. Soon they started to smile and joke while doing their job. They didn't slack off when she went out to make several phone calls to get additional flowers. The heavy atmosphere was lifted thanks to the young redhead and when the DJ finally won against the cables, he put on some quiet but lively music, just as she had asked for.

Flowers arrived within 45 minutes and the florist started to redecorate it. She was glad Kagami left it on her judgement, unlike Shiranui, who knew nothing about symbolism but refused to admit it. She was allowed to leave her logo on the ribbons used, so she would make sure everything was perfect.

The main caterer came to her. "Thank you for your help. We appreciate it."

She smiled at him and sighed. "Hikaru is great person, but you need to really know him to get what he wants. He is perfectionist when it comes to details. Is there any seating order for guests?"

The man's eyes almost jumped out. "I have no information about this." He panicked.

"Oh… Maybe there is none. It's not a private party and it is opened to wide public. Thought there are some guests, who don't have to pay entrance fee…" She bit her thumb nail in thinking about it. "You don't happen to have the guest list?"

"No."

"It looks great!" Hikaru's voice resonated through the place. "It's just how I wanted it!"

 _Talk about the devil…_ Aya thought and turned around. "What about guest list?"

"Eh? Guest list?" He tilted his head to the side.

"Well, if you decide to do something of this scale you probably should have the seating arrangements done too. I know it's not a fancy dinner but still…"

"Shit…" His fingers brushed through his shoulder length black hair. "I haven't thought of it. I don't even remember all the people to whom I sent invitations to…"

Aya facepalmed. She didn't try to hide it. "Hikaruuuu! And you yelled at them so much!"

"Sorry?" He shrugged and tried to act innocent. "They'll be dancing… not sitting at the tables…"

"Fine then." She turned to the caterer. "Don't worry about the seating arrangements then. Early bird catches the worm or a good table in this case."

He nodded and went over to the back storage to go over the alcohol and drinks they had one last time.

Hikaru was smiling at her. "Thank you!" He hugged his little 'sister'. "We have half an hour, music is on, and everything seems ready. There's one more little thing I'd like to ask of you."

Hiroto came to check what was done to his club. He whistled. "You did great job, Robin!"

"It's not the first time." She smiled.

"Oi, you two!" He shouted at Aomine and Kise who were helping with small electric lights that were put around the staircase railings, to illuminate ways up and down.

"Hm?" Kise reacted first and looked up.

"You are guests! You shouldn't work! Come here."

They came to the trio and Kise asked. "Is there something you want to discuss?"

"You're here, Kise?" Hikaru asked surprised. "I haven't noticed you!"

"Shiracchi! How could you overlook me? Your co-worker?" He whined.

"Now, now." Hiroto chuckled. "Let's go to the back room. I believe they can finish their jobs, and you all deserve fresh juice."

They all followed the owner to the back room, which seemed to be a former backstage. It was large room with couches and a small kitchen. Kise bet there was also bathroom with shower and maybe a bath too. It looked similar to a miniature apartment.

Aya took off her shoes. She didn't mind high-heels at all, but she needed to rest her feet for couple of minutes at least. She sat on a high chair and kicked her legs, while the others seated themselves. Hikaru awkwardly introduced himself to Aomine.

"So. What kind of _little thing_ you want from me?" Aya asked Hikaru, her sharp eyes burning him.

He had to look away. "Actually… I want you to show dance with me."

There was beat moment of silence. Hiroto almost let go of the glass he was holding.

"What?" Aya asked as if she didn't hear right. "You want me to do what?"

"Eerrr… I was thinking of a small performance at the beginning. You know, to show some Latin dances, and to spread the energy and create awesome atmosphere. When it comes to drawing people in you're the best person I know. Come on, Ayaaa!" He made his puppy eyes.

She shook her head in exasperation. "You realise we haven't danced together in a year?"

"We were pretty compatible before. I don't see a problem." He said with his chin stuck out.

"Fine…" She agreed.

Hikaru didn't notice, and continued with his persuasion. "I knooow. But we've danced together as children, and whenever we met. You can adjust to my pace!"

Aya chuckled. She was teasing him now. " ** _I_** can. Can you?"

He blinked at her. "Suuure…" But it didn't sound as confident as before.

She sighed. "Three times rule." A challenging smirk appeared on her face. "And I need a dress and dancing shoes. You don't expect me to show dance in these?" She pointed at her shoes and clothes.

"You can't be serious! That rule is unfair!"

"What is the three times rule?" Kise asked curiously.

"If he steps on my feet three times I'll leave the dance-floor. I won't give a damn if it's a middle of a dance or not. I'll leave. No apologies, no warnings." She shrugged. "It's kind of my thing I use at parties."

"That's kind of mean."

"It's simple, really." She smirked. "I don't tolerate it when I know the other party is a dancer. If you claim to be a dancer then don't step on my feet."

"I haven't danced in weeks!" Hikaru tried to defend himself.

"I've reduced my training to thrice a week, dear." She smiled at him. "Anyways I agreed." She reminded him.

"Eh?"

"I said 'fine'. Or have you heard me saying 'no'?"

"Nooo."

"Then I agree." She was trying to ignore Aomine's burning gaze. Was he still angry at her, or what was his problem now? Maybe taking him here was too much… "What dances do you have in mind?" She asked to distract herself from the pair of stormy eyes.

"All?"

"Hikaru. You need to make it short. 8-10 minute performance at most, not longer or the audience will get restless. It's a party, not a show dancing or competition. I would get bored if someone forced me to watch, when I arrived with the intention to dance. Next, it's physically difficult. You wouldn't make it, all five competitive dances in a row, without a break –"

" – but you – " He tried to interrupt her.

" ** _I_** am a human too. Going all out in five dances in a row, without a break, while doing everything properly, drains my energy too. I would manage, but there is no need to overexert. Not to mention **_you_** have no energy reserves, or experience to endure. You can do maximum three dances now. And even that… I'd be happier if we did only two." She paused.

"Robin is right, Hikaru. Your condition is not what it was five years ago, and you smoke." Hiroto joined their conversation in serious voice. "I would recommend two dances at most."

"I want to do three!"

Aya knew they'd have to compromise. "Which ones? In what order?"

"Uuuhm… Samba, cha-cha and jive."

Aya and Hiroto exchanged glances. "You realize those three are all high-paced dances where you need excellent control and lead, right?" Hiroto tried. He wasn't expert, but he had danced before, he knew enough.

"Well, I am reckless enough to do it." Aya said, "but it's not worth breaking my neck."

"You are underestimating me, Aya! I never thought you'd be arrogant."

"No, I'm not arrogant, Hikaru. I can do what you ask, but you can't keep up. I am realistic. You are overestimating yourself right now." She said firmly, but tried not to raise her voice.

He huffed and walked around the room. "Aya please!"

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Rumba, Samba, Jive. In this order, if you insist on three dances. Slowly picking up the pace would work well on audience too."

"Yes! I knew you'd agree."

"Lead me well, stupid. Now… Show me the dress and we need to try it out. At least once. I already have the music in mind."

"I will! Promise." He had a wide happy grin. "I'll go get the dress and check out the decorations."

When the door closed after Hikaru, Hiroto sighed. "You sure you know what you're doing? He isn't your regular partner."

Aya nodded. "I trust him enough. He was always better than Senri and if we can get ten minutes to warm up and dance before the show… I should adjust to his pace. It's not like I've never danced with Hikaru."

"Do you have regular partner Ayacchi?" It was once again, Kise who was asking.

Aomine hadn't spoken a word to her, ever since they had entered the building. And she had no idea what was going on in his head. She feared that after this, their relationship – whatever it was – would be done for good.

"I competed before, so yes. I _had_ one, but not anymore. He ran away." She said emotionlessly.

"Eh? Why would he do that?"

"Does it even matter?"

"No if you don't want to tell me." He said suddenly serious. "But it would be nice to know, Ayacchi." The level of her skill could be felt at the moment. How Hiroto and Hikaru talked with her; Kise could guess she was much better than 'good'. And Aominecchi's silence just proved it. Usually he would tease and mock her, but he was quietly observing and listening to everything. He'd never seen Aominecchi in such a state before.

"You think I shouldn't do it?" She turned her eyes to Hiroto.

"I don't know… I suppose you two will manage. He is both a perfectionist and a showman, what he lacks in technique he will cover up with his charisma…" He scratched his goatee. "Only if he could use that charisma when organizing people…"

Aya chuckled. "And I'm a crazy idiot, who loves to dance."

"An incredibly skilled crazy idiot." He added.

"Who's a crazy idiot?" Hikaru asked when he opened the door.

"I am." Aya informed him. "For doing this with you."

He wrongly assumed she talked about Rumba, their first dance to perform. "Dance of love… I couldn't ask for more." He winked at her. "And to think it was your idea."

"Touch me anywhere inappropriate and I'll kill you." She growled. "Now. Show me the dress."

Hikaru pulled out the dress. "I might need to adjust it..." He mused staring at Aya.

"Why?"

"You know… Last measurements I have are from this autumn. And now when I look at you… Your boobs have grown since then, right?"

"Wha-" She protectively covered her chest.

Hikaru rolled his eyes. "Oh stop it. I have this kind of thing in my eye already." He handed the dress to Aya. "I thought about it, and made the dress a bit wider around the chest, probably too much…"

She looked it up and down. Material was comfortable. The dress was short, pitch black, with lots of straps and silver stitching. "Halter neck, no cleavage, strengthened around chest. I like it. Good job."

"Honestly I have several more dress designs in mind for you," he started enthusiastically, but his eyes noticed the time. "Go and try it on. We don't have that much time anymore." Hikaru shooed her towards a bamboo screen, where she could change.

She was out in no time, facing Hikaru.

"So? How is it?" She asked and spun around, straps enhancing her movement.

Aomine's jaw dropped. It was very good he was sitting to her side, and she wasn't paying attention to him. The dress was short, too short for his tastes and when she spun he could see her butt. Her back and sides were bare, only one, barely visible string connected the dress around her upper back. He'd never seen so much of Aya's skin. She was tanned, not like Aomine, but definitely more than Kise. Her shoulders were covered in small freckles – it didn't stand out, but it was cute – Aomine only noticed this now. He was unbelievably pleased and jealous at the same time, and he didn't even understand it himself. Did she always wear this sort of dress for competitions? Would she wear this throughout the entire party? Will any others be allowed to run their hands over her skin?

"Perfect." Hikaru mused. "Except your chest you haven't changed."

"Well yes. I think I'll need one or two more strings to hold it in place." She said and bent forward to show that the dress didn't hold up well.

In doing so, the dress slipped slightly forward, uncovering the left side of her boob. Aomine gulped as his eyes tracked the curve of her soft skin. He'd give anything to be able to touch it right then and there. If he could just –

Noticing Aominecchi's expression Kise bumped into his knee. "Don't get hard, Aominecchi." He muttered.

"That would be inconvenient." Hiroto's voices whispered from behind them.

They'd forgotten about the man.

"Eeeek!" Kise squealed and almost fell off the couch.

Aomine managed to bite into his tongue. What was wrong with those people, scaring him? But when he realized what the man said… A deep, rosy hue attacked his cheeks and he looked away; away from him and mostly away from Kagami. Was he that obvious?

"What happened?" Aya asked curiously and turned to the trio. Aomine didn't talk with her much, so she wasn't surprised he wasn't looking at her. The blush he had, went unnoticed, but Kise's squeal sounded hilarious.

"They'd forgotten I was here." Hiroto said teasingly. "I had to frighten them."

There was a certain protective undertone in his voice that Aya overheard, but Aomine and Kise had been warned. _'Don't mess with Aya._ ' it meant. And they didn't understand one bit, why the random bartender would be protective of her.

She chuckled. Suddenly her body curved away from Hikaru, who was sewing the string she had asked for. "Don't prick me."

"Then don't move, genius." He mumbled with needle and small scissors in-between his lips. "I'm working here."

"I'm not moving!"

The sound he made perfectly fitted his eye-roll.

"I'll go to check up with other bartenders, Aya. I'll introduce you later on, but it is safe to take drinks from them, okay? No alcohol for the three of you, of course."

"As you say, mister." She saluted to him.

"Good." Hiroto turned towards Aomine and Kise. "You two come with me. I'll show you from where you can see the performance best. Aya and Hikaru need some time alone to go over the choreographies and music."

They felt strange that the man asked them to follow him. Aomine didn't like the idea of leaving Kagami alone with Hikaru in such a revealing dress, despite the fact she knew him her entire life. But he also needed to calm down. So walking around might not be bad idea.

"You know," Hiroto started when they left the back room and headed towards the main dance floor. "If you are here, she wants you to be here. And I don't think she didn't expect Hikaru to ask her for a performance."

"I was invited by Shiracchi either way." Kise said to his defence. He didn't know why, he just felt he needed to defend himself. Amane-san wasn't a bad guy, but he was somewhat protective of Ayacchi, which Kise couldn't understand. They weren't family and he had no idea what Amane was to her. Sure, his comment about Aominecchi getting hard was probably inappropriate, yet no reason for Amane to think of them badly.

"And would you attend it if it weren't for Aya?"

Kise was about to answer, when he looked around him.

The place looked incredible. They thought they walked into a fairytale. Lights were dimmed, and scent of flowers was covering them like a blanket. The staircases looked like stairways to heaven, rimmed with thousands of little glimmering lights. People were slowly filling the dance bar. Music was still just quietly humming at the background as a sign it wasn't time to dance just yet.

"Whoa." Kise didn't try to hide his amazement. "I would… If I knew it would look this amazing." And to think they had helped with preparations. _We are awesome._ He thought smugly.

Hiroto snorted in amusement. "She chose to let you this close and I'll trust her decision, but remember boys, if you make her cry I'll come to bite you." He said calmly as he led them to their table.

"She would bite us first, ol' man." Aomine grumbled and it was the first time he actually spoke up to Hiroto. "That's how she is."

Hiroto stared at Aomine for a moment. The storm in the boy's eyes was staring back at him, challenging him, if he so wanted. But he saw respect and protectiveness towards Aya in that storm. _Protective storm, to devour everything that stands in its way… What d' ya know? Maybe you've found yourself a future man, Robin._ He chuckled. "Then don't let her bite you."

Aomine nodded. "I'm not planning to."

Hiroto smiled at him approvingly. _Does he realise that he basically said he didn't want to make her cry?_ _Probably not…_ "This is the best spot, if you want to see the whole dance floor."

"Are you sure?" Kise asked skeptically.

The table he showed them had no chairs and it was tall; you could only stand around it. It was placed in one corner of the dance-floor, partially hidden by one of the staircases. _'You won't see from here'_ – was the feeling it gave off. That feeling was exactly what Hiroto had wanted, and the table was permanently vacant. No one would use it willingly, so whenever he wanted to rest and have a look at the people dancing in his bar, this table always waited for him like a loyal servant.

"Yes." He winked at the model. "It's my favourite table. Use it well." He waved them and left to take his respectful place behind the bar.

"I bet you love Ayacchi's dress." Kise teased

"Not in particular…"

"You don't have to lie to me. You almost got a hard-on."

"As if watching was enough…" Aomine grumbled.

"Well, it seemed like enough stimulus for you." He reminded him innocently, which only earned him well aimed elbow punch between his ribs. "Ouch, that hurt! You want me to have bruises?"

"You don't show your ribs in the magazine, or do you?" His eyebrow went up mockingly.

"No. But what if it was my eye? What then?"

"Maybe you'd get more jobs if you got a blue eye. All the fangirls pitting you and all the boys laughing at you…"

"If you keep being mean I won't give you the Mai-chan's photo book I've promised."

"Just try and then you'll get a blue eye. Or two." He barked, but it sounded more like out of obligation to keep his face than a real threat. At this point, Aomine couldn't care less about his Mai-chan. It was such a weird feeling for him, that he wasn't sure if he wasn't sick.

Kise picked up on this hesitation, or mood twist. He wasn't Aominecchi's best friend for nothing. "You don't really care about Mai-chan anymore, do you?" He asked in more serious tone, which made Aomine look at him.

"Does it matter?"

"Not really, but maybe your little crush is a bit more than a crush?"

The horrified expression Aomine had, spoke for itself. It'd never crossed his mind. Or rather, he didn't want it to cross his mind. "Don't even joke about it. She is impossible."

"Hmmmm…" _You are just scared…_ "We'll see about that."

"How is Satsuki involved in all this?" Aomine asked suddenly changing the subject, because it'd been bothering him since the morning.

"Momocchi didn't do anything. I only consulted her about Ayacchi's preferences and picked the place according to it. And she called me about your little dispute, whatever it was about. She told me about Ayacchi's ex-boyfriend." He mentioned it to see Aominecchi's reaction.

Aomine frowned at that. "She told you 'bout him?" He asked.

"You don't like the idea?"

"What did she tell you?"

Aomine's voice wasn't friendly, and Kise knew it wasn't wise to poke a bear more than that. "Nothing really. She just slipped that some ex exists. I believe Momocchi felt guilty for that."

"I bet she did." That Kise knew exactly the same as what he knew, calmed Aomine down slightly. Still, Satsuki knowing was considered a ticking bomb. At least Aomine didn't trust her abilities to keep a secret. Maybe he was underestimating his childhood friend, or maybe he knew her too well.

They watched the crowd of people flooding in and taking their places at the tables. Some were obviously couples, some were friends or acquaintances, some came in groups or alone. The mixture of all different people was amusing. Older, younger, tall, short… the variety was amazing and so were clothes they wore. They had glowing bracelets on their wrists, blue or yellow.

Hiroto returned to them once, to hand them blue glowing bracelets – for guests he said.

When the room was full, and no one danced yet it buzzed with voices.

The lights went completely out. Everyone quieted. Only staircases and DJ's spot remained illuminated.

"Welcome!" Hikaru's voice filled the room. It travelled to all corners. Even without microphone, the acoustics of a theatre carried his voice everywhere.

Spotlight shot through the air revealing Hikaru's figure. "I'm Shiranui Hikaru, and I organized this party for you to enjoy!" He stood in the middle of the big dance floor and stared into the crowd. His clothes were different from before. A costume to match Aya's dress.

People clapped.

"Thank you! Seeing you dance in Latino rhythms would be the greatest delight of mine." He smiled at them. "But before we'll all start dancing, let me invite someone special. Someone I'm honoured to have here with me. Together with her I'll show off," he chuckled, "and to those who are not dancers, we will introduce three competitive dances. Rumba, Samba and Jive. In this order." He paused, and took in the atmosphere of the crowd. They were patiently waiting, curious, expecting… _Awesome._ "Let me introduce… Kagami Aya!"

From another corner, where another light bubble burst out, Kagami Aya walked in.

And the crowd exploded. Those who knew her dragged the rest into a wild applause and whistling.

She felt great. With Hikaru they had warmed up, went over the music and choreography. She was content. They could improvise. The spotlights didn't bother her; she was already familiar with them. It'd been months since she'd last sowed applause. It made her heart warm, and tears threatened to spill from her eyes. She was home. She missed this. Even though competitions were different, she loved this. Dancing for people. She knew some of them didn't like her or that they might have even hated her, but as long as there were those enchanted by her, those inspired by her, those pleased by her and those cheered up by her, she would dance for them.

Aomine momentarily forgot how to breathe. She was stunningly beautiful. Her wild red hair was braided into a loose French braid with lilies braided into it. He wondered if she did it on her own. From this distance, and in this lights her dress looked like from a fairytale. Her strong legs carried her towards were Hikaru was standing. Kagami had always had this confident walk and strange spring in her legs. Now, she carried herself like a queen. It looked as if she wasn't touching the ground at all, as if she wasn't nervous at all. Maybe she wasn't; like he wasn't nervous when playing basketball.

She managed to capture everyone's attention.

"Look at this…" Kise breathed out, similarly stunned. "Is she famous?"

Aomine had to blink to be able to look away from her. "Nah." He smirked. "She just won the world championships couple of times." He announced proudly.

"WHAT?!" Kise almost flipped over. "You've never told me!"

"And she's never told _me._ " He said and frowned.

Kise knew he wouldn't get a better answer. Aominecchi was back to staring at the girl on the dance floor. He was completely enthralled again.

Hiroto appeared at their table. "I can't _not_ see this." He explained when Kise gave him a questioning glance. "Listen to them." He pointed at the crowd that started buzzing again. Whispers were carried around. And for the first time they bothered enough to listen to them.

 _'It's Kagami Aya.'_

 _'The world champion?'_

 _'Is it really her?'_

 _'I thought she quit. They say it was drugs.' 'She did, but it weren't for drugs! I'm sure of it.' 'You know, artists.' 'But I know **her!** Personally. Don't badmouth if you know nothing.'_

 _'I want to be dance like her.' 'Yeah! She is awesome!'_

 _'It's just her money that got her there.'_

 _'She isn't that good. I think there are better.'_

"Good and bad. It's always like that with people…" Hiroto sighed. "There are always those who'll hate you and envy you when you get better than them. That's the world at the top and you need a very thick skin to survive up there."

Both nodded. Hiroto was right. Kise wanted to ask him what he was to her, but the movement on the dance-floor was more interesting.

When Aya reached Hikaru, her eyes were scanning the crowd. She knew some people from training camps, some from competitions, some from her previous club. No one was her close friend, but she knew them.

There was one person she spotted almost immediately, even though he was partially hidden in the corner. She could see the swirling ocean in his eyes even from this distance. Aomine was staring back at her. It was natural. Finding him in a crowd felt so natural. She was aware what it meant. _Well shit…_ She thought. _It's positive. You have a crush, Aya… Awesome~_

A shiver ran down Aomine's spine. Hikaru's words were ignored; he didn't even hear what he was saying. Those reddish eyes were all he focused on; the mischievous and challenging spark she had in them. He could read what was written in her crackling orbs. He understood what she was saying to him. To him and no one else. **_'Watch me.'_**

The lights went out again and crowd was crackling with expectations and amusement. Everybody was waiting to see Kagami Aya show-dance.

The music started, and the lights focused on Aya. It was slow, almost lazy. And Aya's movement seemed like that too. It was precise, showing off her figure, she slowly moved towards Hikaru, trying to get his attention.

Aomine had always thought that Latino was very quick, and this dance was complete opposite of his initial idea. It was precise, smooth but slow. Yet, he finally understood what Hikaru had meant calling it 'the dance of love', because they made their dance into a story. Story of love, from initial teasing, through waiting, exploring, rejection and passion to love. She made it seem like there was no other man in the entire world, just Hikaru. The one she was fighting for, the one she craved. And he responded in the same way, like he worshipped her.

Watching Aya's body move in rumba rhythms bewitched him. He even forgot to breathe. Her slow teasing could drive anyone crazy. In some figures she looked like she was actually kissing Hikaru and it made Aomine tighten his jaw. Turmoil of his feelings was contradictory, he could watch her for eternity, yet he didn't like when Hikaru touched her like he loved her.

The entire crowd was caught up in their small performance; Aya and Hikaru made the crowd feel like they were a part of it. Like they could actually feel it. She could truly connect with people who were watching her.

When the music stopped they roared and cheered. Aya and Hikaru bowed.

Dance wasn't a sport in Aomine's view, but he had to admit; it was _'so much more'_ as Aya had once said.

"Dancing slowly can be more difficult than it looks." Hiroto mused. Originally he wanted to explain what was going on to the boys, but judging by their awed expressions, he didn't have to. And the dance left him speechless too. Last time he had seen her perform she'd been around twelve and already considered a monster, and she truly did evolve further. She was frighteningly talented.

"Why so?" Kise asked.

"Because all mistakes stand out. In quick rhythms, you can cleverly cover for a misstep, but in rumba… Not so much. I'm surprised Hikaru managed it without her covering for him."

Hikaru and Aya waited for a moment, so they muscles could relax, before they would dance Samba, which would be the longest of all three songs. It was also one of Aya's favourite. She wanted to make it interesting, and energetic.

"If you can't keep up, let me cover." She whispered to Hikaru.

He gulped. He had to focus. "The signals…"

"Don't worry 'bout it, I'll be where I'm supposed to be, just focus on being there too."

He nodded curtly.

Hikaru knew he wasn't as good as her partner had been, but he would do anything to let her shine. They knew each other and it helped a lot; well, Aya knowing him helped a lot. She wasn't going all out, but it was more than enough for him to keep up with.

The slow and sensual music was replaced by a Samba rhythm.

It started as a beat, and escalated. At first Aya danced alone, but Hikaru joined her soon enough. It was completely different from the previous love story. It was energetic and lively, full of joy and happiness. The air sparkled with cheerfulness and almost a childish glee.

Aya was smiling and laughing almost the entire time. She was enjoying herself and that alone made people enjoy the performance too. Aya was free-spirited, and even if there were some mistakes, she wasn't disturbed by it. Dancing was like breathing for her, she could adjust to almost anything.

When her legs started to move in the basic samba step – very quick step – Aomine and Kise couldn't believe it was possible. They barely saw what her legs were doing and the dress only enhanced her movements.

Her energy was transferred to people. Everyone could feel the anticipation and excitement vibrating in the air.

"She makes it look easy, but don't be fooled, he is barely keeping up." Hiroto chuckled. And his gleeful eyes followed the couple as it travelled around the entire dance-floor.

"I couldn't copy that." Kise's voice came out as a whisper. "No, I could copy him, but I wouldn't keep up with her."

Aomine blinked at his friend. It was unusual for Kise to admit he wasn't good enough. So far he couldn't copy the others from generation of miracles, and he had some problems in martial arts. But to think he would say he wouldn't be able to keep up with Aya…

"There aren't many people who can keep up with her." Hiroto agreed. "That's why she quit competing, I presume. But one never knows for sure when it comes to Robin."

When the music stopped, they were breathing heavily. Even Aya seemed like she was catching her breath. She was moving on high-heels, and even then her heels barely touched the ground. Aomine could relate to how much energy it must have been draining.

"Sorry, but… Who are you to her?" Kise asked, because he had few seconds to do so.

"Ask her, to explain it." He smiled at the curious boy. There was no need for him to explain rather complicated relationships and history, which led to his family-like relationship with Kagamis.

Kise shrugged and looked at the couple. Shiracchi seemed tired.

"You okay?" She asked Hikaru, who didn't train regularly, and this amount of dancing, in connection with nerves from being watched, must have been taxing.

"I'll handle. One more, right?"

"One more. You sure Jive is okay?"

"I'll be fine."

"If you say so." She smiled at him and nodded to the DJ.

If Aomine thought her legs were quick, this dance only proved it. Her legs were everywhere. And raw energy was flowing out of them.

This time, Hikaru, even though he was important as her partner, tried not to be seen much. All attention was on Aya, and on what she was doing. She could feel that Hikaru's stamina was drained, and he wouldn't do anything crazy like lifting her up. Not this time. So she matched her movements and speed with the music, and pulled out everything she could think of, to drag attention on her.

Aomine could imagine how much strain it put on her joints, yet she danced with so much happiness in her expression. Harasawa had been right, she was him in the dancing world, but unlike him, she didn't seem to struggle with her overwhelming talent. She truly belonged there. She enjoyed it. And it almost made him want to try it out.

When she bowed deeply, lilies fell from her hair. She was surprised it'd stayed in for so long.

The crowd rewarded them with long applause and whistling. They were amazed, ready to dance too. Performance set the atmosphere and when Aya and Hikaru went away, dancing-floor filled with people.

"The best table, right?" She popped out from the dim light. Sweat droplets glistered on her skin, and her cheeks were flushed from dancing.

"Ayacchi! It was amazing! I never thought you danced like _that_!" Kise praised her with sparkling eyes. "Where is Shiracchi?"

"He went to sit and rest." She shrugged. "I'm glad you liked it."

"You joking?! It was the best dancing performance I've seen in my life!"

Hearing that made her smile wider and her eyes sparkled in delight. If that was what people were thinking, she was content. Yet, she couldn't _not_ tease him a bit. "I bet it was the only one you've seen, Model-kun."

Kise huffed. "Not true! I've seen some before. In my company, but it was nowhere near this! I didn't think Shiracchi is athletic."

"He isn't." Hiroto chuckled.

"He was, when he was younger. Now he only practises when he feels like it. Job and all." Aya defended him. "Well, I've enjoyed dancing with him. It was fun. And that's what's important." Her smile was contagious.

"Good you have your priorities straight. It was a thrilling performance. Would you consider having another?"

"I don't think so, Hiroto. I don't want to drag attention. It's better when they think I'm here only for a short time period."

"I had to ask." He shrugged. "I'd love to ask you for a dance, Robin, but I need to go back to my bar."

"If you could make me non-alcoholic Mojito, I'd be delighted."

"As you wish." He saluted and left.

She looked at both of them expectantly. "Now, who wants to dance with me?"

Aomine looked away. He didn't want to. He didn't dance.

Kise blinked in surprise and then a smile appeared on his face. "Please be nice to me."

"No three times rule." She nodded. "Come on."

Aomine sighed; he'd have to watch her dance with others. With Kise… How lame. But he wouldn't embarrass himself. And how could he even think of handling her? It was impossible.

She talked with Kise about something and then she showed him what he was supposed to do. It was different from the performance, and yet he remembered some steps; she'd used it when they played basketball. Kise was nodding vividly to her explanation and then he took her into his arms without hesitation. _Smooth bastard._ Aomine thought and looked away, trying to watch another couple.

Hiroto brought her drink and asked Aomine to watch over it, just in case. He agreed, at least he had something to do. Some girls approached him, but he turned them down, in his usual arrogant manner. His eyes kept returning to Kagami.

He wanted to get answers from her, but now he had no idea how to do it. This wasn't basketball; something that came to him naturally. This was him trying to talk with Kagami. And he had no idea how to do it, without mortifying himself.

After four or five dances, Kise started dancing with someone else, and with each dance he was getting better. Girls changed around him like usual.

At some point, Hikaru stopped at Aomine's side for a moment. "You must be bored."

"Not really." He replied curtly. Kagami stopped by several times to drink and to ask him the same thing. He barely had any chance to reply, because someone always stopped by and dragged her for a dance. She never said no.

"Hmmm… Do you enjoy watching her?"

"None of your business."

"You don't like me. I get it." Hikaru didn't feel intimidated by this boy, despite the height difference. Because Aomine was just that – a boy. "Maybe you should try to get used to us. If you want to be by her side, you need to learn to tolerate all kinds of people."

"I ain't in love with her. I don't even like her." He said, but his eyes tried to find her again; unsuccessfully. _Where did she disappear to?_

"I didn't say you are. But you do have a thing for her."

"Where are you going with this?" Aomine was suspicious of this guy. Hikaru was someone who knew Kagami in a way he could only dream of. And now this man was what? Threatening him? Provoking him?

Hikaru laughed. He liked the wariness in Aomine's expression. It was good when the boy felt insecure in the environment so out of his usual hang-outs. "Who knows? ... Think carefully about what you want, boy." He saluted to him and mass of dancing bodies swallowed him.

 _Tch._ The guy creeped him out.

Aya saw those two from across the room, when she was talking with the DJ about something.

"Did he say something weird?" She asked curiously, when she made it to the table. She took his coke and drank from it without asking. One of her Mojitos had ended up missing, later she learned Kise had downed it, so she didn't bother with ordering anything more.

"Oi, that's mine!" He huffed, forgetting that she startled him once again.

Aya just laughed it off. "Come on. You are not gonna stand here the entire night." She grabbed his wrist and pulled him towards the dance-floor. After she had danced with all those she knew and some new ones, she finally had time to be with Aomine. They needed to talk, and she had to get him somewhere he wouldn't run away from.

"What?! I ain't dancing with you!" He panicked at the idea, and used his weight to stop her. She had no chance against him.

She turned around to look at him. "Oh, don't make a scene." She rolled her eyes. "I played basketball with you, it's only fair."

"You know how to play it." He protested.

"I would've played it either way."

"You didn't win the guessing game."

"I've never said I wouldn't try to dance with you despite the loss."

"..." He didn't want to go. "I'll step on your feet."

"I don't care. You won't be the first."

"…"

"Anything else you want to discuss?" She raised an eyebrow. "You are here; you might as well try it out, right? Who knows when you'll get the next chance to dance with me ... or touch me, Honey-bun~" She teased him.

He grunted in annoyance but didn't fight her anymore when she dragged him to the dance floor. He couldn't resist her.

"Don't worry, I know you don't dance, so I don't expect anything." She smiled at him and rose her arm up to sign something to the DJ, who gave her thumbs up.

"What was that?" He asked suspiciously.

"I suppose trying to teach you something right now would be problematic in this environment, so… I asked him to put on some slow, swaying music. It doesn't have much of a Latino rhythm, but oh whatever. It's pretty late already and everyone wants to relax a bit." She grinned at him.

"?" He had still no idea what was he supposed to do. How should he hold her? Could he touch her? Was it okay? He'd definitely mortify himself. _Crap…_ He could feel his heart beating frantically, and he prayed it wasn't displayed on his face. Was he really going to dance? This situation was definitely not good for his heart.

Aya shook her head and chuckled. She could almost read his mind in this situation, yet she had no intention of making fun of him. She took his hands leading them towards her waist. He hesitated for a moment, but he could only comply.

His palms were big and hot, and she could feel his calluses. Not many dancers had rough, callused palms, so it was an unusual sensation for Aya. More than just that, it was different when it was Aomine touching the bare skin of her waist and back. It felt like electricity was humming under her skin and she didn't mind his touch at all. _Maybe I should have gotten changed…_ She though as her heartbeat increased the moment he touched her.

"Touch too high or too low and I'll punch you." She warned him nonetheless.

"Are you trying to dare me, Sweetheart?" He asked with his typical smirk, trying not to think much about how soft her skin felt under his palms.

"I don't know. Am I?" She asked with a smirk of her own. Her hands circled his neck and suddenly she was much closer than ever before. Still, she kept some space between them.

 _Shit._ He thought and took a slow, deep breath, trying to calm his heart and hide the fact that he was feeling both, uncomfortable and yet strangely pleased by this proximity. She was the first girl he'd ever allowed to be that physically close to him for more than few seconds. Heck, she was the only girl who'd ever managed to get him to dance…

"You are taller from this close." Even in her high-heels, a bit lower than those from before, she was reaching only his chin.

"Were you always this short?" He asked teasingly, as she started to sway them into the rhythm.

"Very funny." To her surprise Aomine followed her lead and swayed from one foot to another. "I suppose this dancing isn't that mortifying, is it?"

"I'm not complaining." He caressed her side teasingly, because… what the hell should he do?

She didn't pull away; instead she leaned against his palm. As if naturally responding to his teasing. Aya was used to dancing with others, so she wasn't thinking too much about it, and yet she couldn't seem to calm her heart when it was Aomine holding her.

"Oh? And what ruckus you made when I dragged you here."

"So what?"

"Nothin'."

She tried to make them move around a bit. Aomine was clumsy, and so out of place on the dance-floor. He stood out like an elephant in a porcelain shop. When he was about to step on her foot, she avoided it most of the time. For her it was fun. He wasn't good, he couldn't lead her, but she liked this clumsy swaying. It was so different. Aomine's presence was soothing, calming, and safe and at the same time it made her feel nervous. He didn't expect anything, and he was there, despite his original protests…

"Sorry." He mumbled when he stepped on her foot again. _Now she will so put you down…_ He looked at her almost sheepishly, expecting some teasing comment – he would do that. Instead he came face to face with her soft and gentle smile. The rare one, he liked so much. Wait… he what?

"What?" He huffed and he could feel blood rushing to his face. He hoped the dim light and his darker skin tone would camouflage it well.

"We are on speaking terms again, right?" She asked, staring at him.

He gave her an incredulous look: _You-ask-that- **now?**_ "… I s'pose." It wasn't like he could ignore her, when he was basically holding her in his arms. And he'd been talking with her the entire day… More or less.

She nodded. "Sorry for overreacting on Monday. You just asked a question."

 _Eh?_ He had no idea she worried about such a thing. He thought he was the only one who was concerned, and feeling guilty about it. "Apology accepted…" He frowned. "…And sorry for calling you a coward." Aomine wasn't apologising type, but he had the need to do it.

"Apology accepted. So…"

"… friends?" He filled in, though it didn't sound right at all. Not in this situation. But it was the only thing that came to his mind. He immediately slapped himself mentally. _After all this crap, you ask her to be your **friend?** _

_Friends?_ Aya laughed, because she was about to say the same thing, too afraid to wish for more. "Fine by me."

"World champion huh?" He asked, hoping she would answer now.

"M-hm." She nodded. "Former world champion, though."

"Why didn't you tell… us?" 'Me?' – he wanted to ask, but changed his mind. The last time he had asked it ended up with them not speaking for a week.

"'cause it really wasn't important." She shrugged. "It wouldn't change anything and I didn't want there to be strange rumours. So I won championships and? Would you behave differently if you knew?"

"No." He said. Maybe he would've respected her a bit more, but no, he wouldn't have behaved differently.

To his luck she didn't ask when he had figured it out, or how. Otherwise he'd be dead.

His thumb was unconsciously drawing circles on her skin. When he felt a thicker skin on her left side, he stopped. It made him remember the scar on her left shoulder. He glanced to look at it, but it wasn't there. Had he dreamt it, or had she covered it somehow? And why the hell was there a scar on her side?

"I fell off a tree and scratched myself pretty bad." She explained when she noticed his confusion. "I had no idea I would wear a dress like this, so I didn't cover it up. I'm sorry if it creeps you out."

Something dark flashed in her eyes and he wondered what bastard dared to be creeped out by the small scar on her skin, or insult her, or whatever; for her to have that kind of expression.

"I didn't say anything." He tracked it with his thumb again, to show he didn't care one bit, and he wasn't creeped out in the slightest. "But falling off a tree? You?"

She laughed. "I was seven and a tomboy! Of course I climbed trees!" _I still do..._

Aomine chuckled. It was a low husky chuckle, cleared from the usual arrogance. She liked the sound, and how his lips curled upwards into a genuine smile. It was a rare sight, and Aya was aware of it. She decided to keep it in her memory, hoping that this wasn't the only time she'd see it.

They didn't notice a certain blonde taking a video of them, or the two men standing at the best table with content smiles, which turned into evil grins and a silent deal, to tease the two thickheads in denial… or to tease Aomine, because Aya already knew them all too well…

After one more 'swaying' song they headed towards the table.

Well, Aya was walking backwards, dragging Aomine again. She didn't want to let go yet, but she didn't want to hold his hand either, so she was dragging him by his wrist. It seemed acceptable between friends, right?

By heart, she knew the way towards the table, and she didn't need to look at her way. Too bad she didn't realize she was walking right into a plan of the two, grinning idiots.

Hikaru and Hiroto decided to 'go for a dance'.

As they were passing Aya and Aomine, Hikaru discreetly stuck out his foot, making Aya trip. He knew just how to do it, because with Aya it wasn't easy at all.

When she felt she was falling, she instinctively grabbed onto Aomine with both hands. With his instincts he shouldn't have had a problem steadying them both… Unless someone tripped his foot _and_ pushed him forward. In his effort to steady them both, they ended up tangled even more.

"Ayacchi! Aominecchi!" Kise sprang forward, but he was too far away to catch either of them.

Aya harshly fell on her butt. "GAH… What the-!"

Aomine fell forward, pinning Aya down and forcing the air out of her lungs. He wasn't the lightest person out there… He should have hit his face, but he didn't feel any harsh impact. His face landed someplace soft and bouncy.

"Enjoy little boy. This might be the closest to her heart you'll ever get." Hikaru laughed.

In that instant Aomine realized just where his face had landed.

Right in-between Aya's boobs.

It made him spring backwards immediately, pushing Aya away. His mind went blank and he could feel he was red even behind his ears. _Oh god… But it felt nice…_

"You two!" Aya growled at them, blushing as well. Having Aomine's face between her boobs wasn't exactly what she had imagined for the evening. "You did it on purpose!" She was already on her feet and glaring at the two.

"Oh, did we?" Hikaru made an innocent face and glanced at Hiroto. Yeah, Hiroto and he were protective of this little Robin, but teasing her like this was definitely worth it.

"I'm sure you've just imagined it, Robin." Hiroto joined his friend.

"What the hell?!" _If this got photographed…_ "Have you lost your minds?!" Aya was thanking all gods above that they were near the best table and partially shielded from prying eyes. She prayed no weird rumours would start.

"Don't say you didn't enjoy it."

Aya rolled her eyes. "But yes of course! Because I enjoy hitting my butt against the wooden floor, thank you very much."

"You're welcome Robin." Hiroto said and took several steps away from her.

Her reddish eyes narrowed at them. _I'll-get-back-at-you-morons:_ it meant, and it sent a shiver down their spines and they rather vanished in the crowd, leaving young ones to sort it out.

Then she looked at Aomine, whose face was still red with mortified expression, it was almost cute. Usually it was him making fun of others, not the other way around. He was trying to get back his composure of nonchalance and arrogance, but the feeling of Aya's boobs against his face was burnt into his memory. _Don't get a hard-on._ Kept replaying in his head.

Aya took a deep breath, her blush disappeared and she managed to regain her composure again; mainly because she got angry at the two, and thanks to that, she didn't think much about the fall.

"Don't get a hard-on just from a pair of boobs, Honey bun. You like that kind of stuff, no?" She teased with a smirk, but honestly it wasn't easy staying calm after this.

"Aominecchi." Kise shook his head in disappointment, but he was only teasing. "Really, to think _you_ would misuse such a situation."

"Go to hell Kise." He growled in a low voice, being angry was better than being flustered. Kise probably provoked him on purpose. He finally got up from the ground. "I'm killing both of them."

"I know where to hide the bodies." Aya's voice sounded awfully close and he jumped away from her.

She laughed at his reaction. "It was just an accident, Aomine. Plotted, but still an accident. It surprised me, yes. But I'm not angry at you or anything."

"So you didn't mind it, Sweetheart?" His usual attitude was back. They were friends, but that didn't mean he couldn't tease, right?

 _I didn't… mind?_ "Repeat the same scenario again and I swear I'll punch you." She growled but a slight blush didn't slip anyone's attention.

 _Hmph…_ Aomine blushed again too, but this time his skin tone hid it well. "I'd like to see that."

Kise shook his head. "Are you-" _seriously flirting that openly?_ He wanted to ask and tease them both, but his phone rang. And both of his friends looked at him. "Yeah?" He picked up.

 _"Where the hell is that little ass of yours?!"_ His sisters' voice hissed at him from the other side.

Kise's eyes widened and he ran his fingers through his hair. "Aiko-nee-cchi! Ehehehe… I got held up."

 _"How long do you think can I cover for you?! Dad's been asking where you went! I told them you went to a goukon and then you headed to a work party with Emi-nee-san. But it's midnight! You said you'd be at home by ten!"_ She was scolding him in hushed voice, so their parents wouldn't hear her. Thank god Emi lived on her own, because she was already home. If she'd returned to their house without Ryouta…

"I'm sorry, Aiko-nee-cchi!" He whined apologetically. "I'll get going. Pleaaase don't rat me out, or I'm dead."

 _"… You are doing laundry for the next month."_

"Whyyy?!" He hated that! And she knew it! _How unfaaair!_

Aya glanced at Aomine. "Is that a sister?"

He nodded gravely. "Aiko-san, the middle one. She can be scary as hell."

 _Oh…_ Aya wondered what kind of story was behind this, because Aomine didn't use honoricifs with anyone. And there he was, politely addressing Kise's older sister…

"I suppose we need to go?" She asked when Kise hung up.

"You don't have to… but I do. Parents are gonna kill me if I'm too late. And my sisters will not cover for me for free…" He pouted. "And call that 'love', geh…"

"Be glad they covered for you this long."

"At the cost of doing laundry, Ayacchi! Laundry! I hate that!"

"You can still colour their shirts blue or pink or make it shrink and act as if you have nooo idea what happened. Trust me. It works, but only twice or thrice…"

"You're evil." Aomine said as they headed towards the exit, giving short good-bye nods to Hiroto and Hikaru. He couldn't look them in the eyes.

"Nah… I have a brother. We've had laundry wars a couple of times."

"That's actually a good idea, Ayacchi! You are a true friend." Kise teared up. "I wish you were my sister."

"Careful what you wish for, Model-kun." She smirked at him. "Anyways I'm calling a taxi. Anyone up for a ride home? It's on me."

"Eeeh… but I'll pay too. I have a job after all." Kise protested.

"It's my idea; you don't have to worry about it."

"I insist, Ayacchi!"

"As you wish, but you don't have to." She said, already dialing up the number she stored in her phone.

Aomine yawned. He was so tired after the day's drama. By this time he was usually in his bed, and he was sure his father was waiting up for him as well… He just didn't call. Kise was lucky to have siblings to cover for him. He could always ask Satsuki, but it wasn't that simple.

"It should be here in ten minutes." Aya announced.

"Are your parents okay with you being here, Ayacchi? Or is Kagamicchi covering for you as well?"

"He isn't. And about my parents… I don't know." She shrugged. "My father is in L.A. and we don't have mom anymore. I suppose there is no one to worry 'bout me except Taiga. And he knows I'm with you, so it's fine." There was no emotion as she said it. It was normal for her. Just a simple fact of life.

"That's…" Kise started. But he wasn't sure what to say, or how to react. He had no idea. As everyone else, he assumed Ayacchi was living with her father and mother… but they were in Japan on their own…

Aya noticed his sudden lack of words. "Don't overthink it Model-kun. I don't need your sympathy, it's normal for us." That's why she didn't like talking about family or personal stuff. It wasn't all smiles and sunshine, and so people usually found it difficult to process. Or they started pitying her. She hated pity the most.

"I just… It was surprising, that's all." He said with a smile. _So that's why Amane-san was so protective…_

"It has its pros and cons." She smiled back at him and then she yawned. She was tired too.

Their ride home was quiet, but comfortable.

######

 _"Ki-chan! Is that real?!"_ Satsuki called him immediately after she obtained the video of Dai-chan, dancing with Aya-chan. She couldn't believe her eyes. Dai-chan was clumsy, but he seemed to have fun. _"How did it happen? They weren't talking for the entire week!_ "

"Well, well… Ayacchi's charm, I believe. I did nothing." Kise sounded innocent, but he was really glad for his friend.

 _"Can I send it to Michiko-san?"_

"No. I didn't send it to you for sharing, Momocchi." He scolded her slightly. "And please, don't show it to anyone, or Aominecchi will figure it out, and kill me. You don't want me to get killed, do you?"

 _"Of course not! You are my friend Ki-chan! I'll keep it a secret! But at least send it to Aya-chan. She should know, or you'll face worse death from her than from Dai-chan."_

 _I don't think I dare to send it to her…._ He thought.

######

The taxi ride through the city was something new for him, but he didn't mind the experience. Aya's family was, however, still on his mind. How did it even feel to be out there alone? Or only with a sibling?

He slipped out of his shoes, and headed towards his room, deep in thoughts.

"Daiki, where have you been so long?" His father asked when he returned home past midnight.

"Out."

"What's that?" He asked and pointed at the blue glowing bracelet he still had on his wrist.

"A guest pass, I suppose." He shrugged and greeted with Shiro and Kurome.

Daisuke's eyes narrowed. He wasn't a strict father, but he didn't like his son returning home this late, without announcing it beforehand. Mostly, because he knew that Daiki went for a goukon. "A guest pass to where?"

"A theatre turned into a dance-bar. Kise's idea. I've done nothing wrong, dad, so stop interrogating me. I'm tired." He said, turned around and left to take a quick shower and then go to sleep.

"Oi!" His father tried to stop him, but it was useless.

Minutes after, his phone chimed. Michiko had sent him a video from her night shift in a hospital.

'Look what Ryouta-kun sent me! I can't believe our baby boy is dancing! (●＾o＾●) The girl is Kagami Aya-chan. She is a former world champion!

We'll talk later. Love. (^^)/'

He watched it.

Then he watched it again.

And again.

Was that really his son? Smiling? So this was Kagami Aya…

Pride swelled in him. The girl didn't seem to be an easy catch.

Then he replied to his wife.

'(°_°) Is that really our son? I can't believe it. Of course we'll talk about it! Love you.'

######

"Okaerinasai." Taiga greeted her, when she returned. "How did it go? Any boyfriend?"

"Tadaima." She greeted him back with a yawn. "We'll talk 'bout it tomorrow. 'kay? I'm tired. And I need to write a message to Hikaru. I forgot to announce some details to him…"

"Stingy… and here I was, waiting up for you." He grumbled and dragged himself to his room.

"What a kid…"

She took a quick shower, and after she was snuggled into her covers she typed a message to Hikaru.

'Yo, I got home safely. I took the dress and shoes as a payment for the performance. The stained dress is in your bag, so please do something about it, you know I love that piece.

P.S.: I won't forgive the 'trip plot', say that to Hiroto as well.'

* * *

 **A/N:** As I've mentioned earlier, I don't dance, and everything I know about dancing I google up, or I ask my friend who does Latin dances. So she helped me a bit with the dancing part. I found writing this (and rewriting it a lot) very challenging, so I hope there are not any plot holes, and that Kise and Aomine aren't OOC... I admit, it might've been shorter, but I didn't feel like cutting out some parts.

Aaand they are still not dating! Please don't hate me now! (/ω\\)

If you are interested in the music, you can find it on youtube: Rumba: "Doris day - perhaps, perhaps, perhaps"; Samba: "Samba music: Baila Latino - Que el ritmo no pare"; Jive: "Jive music: Nina Zilli - L'amore e femmina". Music for Samba and Jive were posted by "Best Ballroom Music" (as they are adjusted).

So, let me know what you think and remember, reviews are appreciated, but never necessary.

 _-S._


	16. Chapter 16: Sunday

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone who followed and favourited and reviewed, it makes me very happy! I was quite anxious about the last two chapters, so it was nice to hear from you!

 **Guest review:** Thanks! I have similar opinion about their complicated personalities and all the drama. We'll see what I've prepared for them next. :)

This chapter is calm and relaxed one I suppose. I had fun writing it.

* * *

 _Obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it. **– Michael Jordan**_

 _Everyone knows that if you've got a brother, you're going to fight. – **Liam Gallagher**_

 _To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring - it was peace. – **Milan Kundera**_

 _A quarrel between friends, when made up, adds a new tie to friendship. **– Saint Francis de Sales**_

 _Learn to bet on yourself and have confidence in your own decisions. No one knows your business better than you. – **Leah Busque**_

 _He would make a lovely corpse. – **Charles Dickens**_

* * *

 _"Mornin'."_ Taiga yawned and rubbed his stomach when he finally crawled out of bed.

 _"Mornin' sunshine."_ She smiled at him and sipped from her steaming coffee.

Taiga poured himself a glass of orange juice and slumped onto the chair next to her. _"Urgh… Where do you get the energy? You came home past midnight."_

 _"Coffee?"_ She pointed at her mug and chuckled. _"I've been up since six. I have to finish this report and then we can do whatever."_

" _Of course it's coffee…_ How were the goukon and the party?" Taiga asked curiously, switching back to Japanese. Yesterday they had been both tired, and she had sent him to go to sleep. She had looked fine, happy even, so he had decided to talk with her in the morning.

"Very good, actually." She smiled and looked at him. "I've met two boys who have a band, so when you feel like playing with someone you can. You wouldn't believe that Kise dragged Aomine there. I was like _'What the hell?!_ ' when I spotted him, but surprisingly, it turned out well. Both of them went to the party with me, so it was fun. I mean… I knew a lot of people there, but it felt nice to have friends, who aren't a part of that circus, there. And that said, Kise's copying skills are no fun, really. He learned to dance decently in one evening. Oh, and I show-danced with Hikaru at the beginning and we've been invited over to Hiroto on Wednesday. He wants us to meet his wife." She shortened the entire story because the report was staring at her from the screen. She wanted to get it done.

Taiga blinked at the speed of her speech, but he was already used to that. "So he still supervises the bar? I thought he had something of his own." Taiga decided not to poke into the Aomine topic when his sister had barely brushed it.

"It basically **is** his bar. Uncle Kyou stops by very sporadically." She shrugged. "So can you come home sooner on Wednesday then?"

"I suppose." He shrugged. "But we have very intensive practises now, since our first opponent in preliminaries is some two meters tall guy from Senegal. We actually practised yesterday too."

"Oh? Why haven't you told me?"

"Last week was kinda crazy, don't you think?"

The dreams, the argument, and the entire ruckus… Yeah, she was glad Taiga spared her another worry. "True. Thanks. So… it'll be you against the tall guy, right?"

"More or less. I don't remember ever playing against anyone that tall. Did we?"

"Hmmm… I don't think so. Or at least you didn't have to take them head on. But you have 11 more days to practise, right?"

"Yep, and coach is trying to kill us." He complained and yawned again. Every cell in his body hurt, because the coach made him work harder since he had skipped one morning practise.

"So you don't feel like playing basket today?"

"You want to?" He asked surprised. Secretly he hoped for a day off, spent watching movies and eating.

"I was thinking about it. Last week I kinda neglected my boys, so I've thought about calling them out today. You know… Ishii, Kano and Naito, who live nearby, I'm sure I've mentioned them. If you join us and if we could get another player…"

"…we could play some three on three." He finished Aya's sentence. Playing with Touou's guys wouldn't be that bad… They weren't Aomine, and they weren't regulars, but why not give it a try? Even if he wanted to play against Aomine, he should primarily focus on his current opponent-to-be, than some guy he'd never met.

"You up for it?" She asked.

"I need to stretch my muscles anyways, so why not?"

"Awesome. I'll send them a message." She was already holding her phone and typing a message. "And who will be the sixth player? Want me to call Kise?"

"Urgh no." He groaned. "Not the blonde. Haven't you had enough of him yesterday?"

She laughed. "Then who? Does someone from your club live nearby?"

"Hmmm…" He squinted at her thinking deeply. "Ah! Kuroko does!"

"Then call him. I want to meet him again."

"Yeah, yeah. Just give me time to wake up."

"What are you talking about it is 10:30 already!"

He rolled his eyes and headed to the bathroom. Dealing with Kuroko would have to wait.

######

After eating, finishing the report – with joined forces and some bickering, Taiga and Aya reached the nearby park. They could hear a ball hitting concrete before they could see who was playing there.

"Haven't you said there are three boys coming?" Taiga asked when they could see the court. And there were seven people.

"Oh? Those kiddos are cute… I wonder if they are Kano's siblings." She said and looked the kids up and down. "Hey guys!" Aya waved at them.

"Hello!" Ishii and Naito greeted her in unison, while Kano was talking with the kids about something.

"Ah! Aya-chan! Hello!" He waved her back. "These are my siblings…" He scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "They insisted to come and watch."

"He was forced to babysit…" Naito commented dryly.

"It's fine. If you feel like it, you can play too." She said to the four younger kids: three boys and one girl. "I'm Kagami Aya, and this is my brother Taiga." She introduced them both. "Would you introduce yourselves?"

The youngest of them all, who couldn't be older than four fidgeted and looked up at Aya and Taiga with his wide green eyes.

"Ah! Uhm…. Kenta! An'… uuuhhh…." The little boy who barely reached Aya's thigh was staring at his opened palm, counting his fingers. He frowned in concentration. And then counted again… "Thish ol'!" He said after couple of seconds showing Aya his little fingers sticking out.

"Three?" She asked.

Kenta was nodding furiously. "Yesh! Kenta ish thee' yeash ol'."

His childish speech was so cute. It was a bit hard to understand, but it reminded Aya of her little cousins, who had their speech fumbles too. "You are a big boy already." Aya patted his head and the little boy smiled in bliss. Nee-chan was nice.

"Uuuuhm… I'm Aki. And I'm seven." The girl with pigtails continued and grinned at Aya, showing off her missing front tooth. "Nice to meet you! Oni-chan talks about you a lot; he probably likes you, Aya-nee-chan." She said with a mischief in her eyes and winked at Aya.

"Akiiii!" Kano groaned with red cheeks and wanted to disappear. Why the hell did he have to take them all out?!

"I'm Shima and I'm nine." The boy said unimpressed by the banter between his oldest brother and younger sister. He was short, wore glasses and looked overly serious. He reminded Aya of Naito more than of Kano. "I don't like sports, but I'm here to see if he can really play, or if he is just making it all up."

"Oi you little!" Hideki threatened him with a glare. Shima's personality was hard to handle.

Aya chuckled. "Okay little smarty-pants. I believe your older brother will show you what he's made of."

Shima's nose wrinkled in the cutest way. "I don't know, Kagami-san. He is usually all talks." He said gravely.

"Well he sure won't beat me." Taiga said and his fierce reddish eyes stared at the shorter and leaner boy. It was their first meeting, but thanks to Aya, he felt like he had met the boy some time ago.

"Oho?" Kano's eyebrow went up. "Someone talks big?"

Aya chuckled, she knew Taiga would fit into this small group well. _Talking about little kids…_ She mused.

"And you are?" Aya turned at the last boy she didn't know. He was standing at the side, not impressed by the others much. He was probably only a year or two younger, because he was almost as tall as Naito.

"I'm Daiki. Hide-nii started to play basket because of me." He said in almost unemotional voice. "Do you want me to state my age too, miss?"

 _Hmmmm…Daiki, you say?_ Aya was observing this boy, who seemed sad for some reason. "If you don't mind."

"I'll be fourteen in two weeks."

Aya took a mental note. Throwing a party for this quite sad and distant boy wouldn't be a bad idea. "So you are in the second year of a junior-high, right? Are you a part of basketball club?"

"Sort of… I'm no good." He fumbled with his sleeve, and looked down.

"You can still join us today, if you feel like it!" She said enthusiastically and patted his shoulder. "I'm sure we will need to switch players once in a while. And you can learn a lot by watching as well."

He blinked at the redhead and smiled for himself. Maybe he would.

"Now, where is Kuroko-kun?" She asked and turned to Taiga, who was meanwhile shaking hands with the three Touou players. It was his task to contact Kuroko-kun.

"I'm here, Kagami-san." Kuroko's voice came from behind her. "Hello."

"Eeek!" Aya jumped and spun around. "Don't scare me like that!" She scolded him and then she smiled. "Hello. Long time no see."

"Long time no see. Thank you for inviting me today." He spoke politely as ever, and Aya liked his calm demeanour – this was someone who could handle her brother in a different way than her.

"Thank you for coming!"

Kuroko was looking at her with this unreadable expression, which gave her goosebumps. He was certainly thinking about something, but she couldn't even guess what it might have been. Usually she was pretty accurate when it came to reading people, but Kuroko-kun…

 _Anyways…_ "Guys, this is our sixth player for today. Kuroko Tetsuya-kun, from Seirin's team."

"Eh? There was someone standing there?" Ishii asked and blinked at Kuroko. "Sorry! I haven't noticed you. I'm Ishii Ryuu. And these are Naito Shouhei and Kano Hideki." Another round of introductions.

Naito was staring at Kuroko with perplexed expression. The blue haired, ghostly boy with no presence was making him feel uncomfortable.

"Let's play already!" Taiga complained and threw his jacket away. It was already warm enough and he wouldn't need it at all. All this chitchatting was just a waste of time.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll play with Taiga and Kuroko-kun. The three of you will play together, then we can switch. We play half-court. The first team scoring seven baskets wins, no matter how you shoot, one basket equals to one point. We are all friends, so please don't foul, but _if_ it happens, you have to call it out on your own."

"Yosh!"

"Little ones." She turned towards kids. Daiki frowned at being called a 'little one', but with his three younger siblings he was at disadvantage. "It would be awesome if you could count baskets for us."

"I will do it, Kagami-san." Shima agreed and adjusted his glasses. He didn't bring his notebook for nothing.

"Thank you, Shima. And please call me Aya, because it's confusing when my brother is around."

"Uuh..." He blushed slightly, because being called by his name and then being asked by such a pretty and older girl to do the same, was so unusual. "O-okay."

"Shima-nii is bluuushing!" Aki sang and waltzed around him. "Shima-nii is bluuushing!"

"Oh, shut up!" He lashed at her, but Aki dodged it with a childish laugh.

"Shima-nii is slow!~"

"Aki-nee-tan?" Little Kenta tilted his head to the side in questioningly, because he didn't understand what was going on.

"Now, now the two of you." Daiki intervened and pulled them apart before they could start a real fight. He dragged them to the side court and sat them to his sides. He was strategically sitting between them and Kenta was sitting on his lap.

"Whash ish thish?" The little one asked and turned his big green eyes to his big brother and pointed at the ball. Daiki sighed, but started explaining the rules in a language the kid would understand.

"The first ball is yours." She threw it to Ishii, who was a leader of the team Touou.

From the sideline, he passed it over to Naito and the game started.

Aya was guarding Naito, Taiga went for Ishii who was the biggest of the trio and Kano ended up facing Kuroko. At first it seemed like it was only Taiga and Aya playing. The boys knew what Aya-chan could do, so Naito was aware of her little streetball tricks, and Ishii was getting used to Taiga.

Taiga was playing aggressively and he wasn't relying on the other two much. He was the main scoring force of their team. Aya didn't seem to mind, and would pass him anytime she had a chance. But when she couldn't do it was Kuroko's turn. And Kano, who was facing him, couldn't keep an eye on him. Facing Kuroko was more like loosing the sight of him whenever there was a chance. For the three Touou guys it was the first time they were facing an opponent like that. Someone they couldn't see or predict. And there was no Momoi-chan's data to study.

In no time the game was 5-3 for Aya's team.

The ball was passed to Taiga, and he was trying to reach the basket. Ishii was blocking his way and making it difficult for him to jump. Ishii's defence was good, and Taiga couldn't seem to find the way around it, but he didn't want to pass either.

"Oi, Taiga!" Aya reminded him that he wasn't playing alone, and she could handle both, Kano and Naito if the situation asked for it.

Instead of passing, Taiga faked left and then jumped right. But to his surprise Ishii read the movement and tried to stop him.

"Ouch." Ishii grunted when he fell on the concrete as they collided.

"Sorry." Taiga apologised immediately and offered him help. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fi –"

"Kagami-kun you –"

"You should have passed there, stupid! Kuroko and I were both waiting for it." Aya scolded him, interrupting Kuroko and Ishii in the process. Taiga's stubbornness pissed her off.

"I apologised, okay?! I wanted to find a way around him on my own." He argued back.

The pressure from preliminaries was getting to him. They expected him to take on the Senegal guy; he knew they were talking about the teamwork, but he could feel the underlining that it was his job. True, he wanted to take that guy on too. It was supposed to be his first official match ever. He was looking forward to that match, and at the same time he felt that the pause he had had in basketball didn't benefit him at all. And the past week of craziness…

"Do that when you play one-on-one!" She was frowning at him. "It's three of us now, Tai."

"Ishii-kun is very good at guarding you, Kagami-kun. You should pay attention to your surroundings." Kuroko said calmly.

"Why are you –?! Nothin' happened. He's fine and I apologised! Stop making a ruckus, both of you!"

Aya sighed; he was getting hot headed and provoking him anymore wouldn't be good. "We are not makinga ruckus." She said, trying to suppress her urge to smack him. "But we want you to… oh fuck it. You just lost us a ball, because you are a big friggin' idiot! **_Of course_** I'm pissed off!"

Kano coughed. "Aya-chan… The kids." He reminded her and pointed at the Daiki who was covering the ears of the youngest one. Shima was staring at the girl with his mouth wide and Aki, well Aki was admiring the redhead.

"Sorry."

"Sorry."

The twins apologised in unison, staring at the ground.

"Why ish A-ya-tan shayin' shorry?" Kenta asked and turned to Daiki, who began to explain the reasons to him.

"No harm done." Ishii chuckled. "But you don't lose your temper often."

"I do, I just hide it well." She chuckled.

"So it was you being bitchy about losing a point, not about lack of teamplay." Taiga complained.

"Yes! The teamplay too, but… Urgh, whatever. Let's continue."

Ishii threw the ball in. This time they had Aya – Naito matchup. Usually she would play the rules, or with minor streetball moves when she was with her team, but she wanted to get that point, and after all, she was happy to be with her friends. She danced her way around Naito and scored.

"What was that?" Naito asked with a perplexed expression. He couldn't read her steps at all. It was like she suddenly changed her entire set of movements.

"Dancing." She smirked at him.

"Dancing? That's… interesting." He mused and threw in to Kano.

They hadn't really seen Kuroko in action and so they wanted to try this. To their disappointment, it wasn't much of a showdown. In the moment of Kano's carelessness, Kuroko tapped the ball and it was already in Taiga's hands, who dunked without second thought. When it came to jumping height, he was in huge advantage against everyone there.

Match won by team Aya.

"When did it –?" Kano stared at it in disbelief. "I want to change marks! I can't see him!" He complained.

"See? All talks, no action." Shima commented. "It's not like Kuroko-san is invisible."

"Ha? Then come out and try it, smarty-ass!" Kano huffed.

Daiki was carefully observing Kuroko entire time. He purposefully wasn't tracking the ball – to not lose sight of the blue-haired boy. This style intrigued him. The variety of passes Kuroko had, the way he kept his cool no matter what. _Maybe if I tried it…_ He knew he was a failure when it came to basketball and his brother started with it only to make him feel better, but Hideki was improving every day, while Daiki was stuck at the same place. But if he could learn this style…

"Actually…" He spoke up. "I would like to try it, Hide-nii."

"Eh? You wanna swap with me?"

Daiki nodded. "If I can."

"Sure. Guys, be nice to him." Hideki said and took little Kenta.

"Ooooo." Kenta's little eyes were shining. Dai-nii was his favourite sibling, and he was going out there to play. "Dai-nii, ish aweshome!"

"I'm not that good." He said humbly as he jumped several times to quickly warm up.

"Don't worry 'bout it Daiki..." Aya hesitated for a moment, before she called his name. Aomine's face flashed in her mind. But she couldn't imagine addressing Aomine as 'Daiki'. Just the idea felt strange, intimate even. She buried the thoughts and smiled at the boy. "We are all learning and improving here, but most importantly, we are here to have fun. So relax."

At first, Kuroko managed to escape from Daiki, because he wasn't a good replacement for Kano. Team Aya was winning quicker than before. But then… Daiki tap-passed to Ishii, who dunked before Taiga could react.

"That was…" Kuroko tilted his head and observed the younger boy.

Daiki scratched his cheek. "It's misdirection you use right? I've never thought I could use it in basketball, until I saw you play." He shrugged and then added: "I used to be hooked up on magic tricks…"

"…" Kuroko just nodded. It was the first time he faced someone, who was trying to copy him, or who played in a similar style as him.

They played several more games, until Kuroko's effectiveness wore off. Then he was discussing the tricks with Daiki. Having someone who was interested in his plays was new to Kuroko. And he was actually very happy to help a younger player who struggled just like him. Naito joined the two boys. As a point guard, he could learn a lot from passing specialist after all. They were on opposing teams, but Naito didn't think he would get to play in an official match any time soon.

Aya made a great impression on Aki, who immediately declared her as her older sister, and Taiga played some more with Ishii, who was a decent opponent. Then he formed some sort of friendships with Kano and Ishii, with promise to be able to hang out and play with them if he got tired of Aya.

When they were parting ways, Kuroko was staring at Aya.

"What is it?" She asked when chill ran down her spine. Kuroko was observing her the whole day.

"I've received a video from Kise-kun, is it real, Kagami-san?" He asked, because it was stuck in his mind the entire day. He knew Kagami-san was good at handling dorks like Kagami-kun and Aomine-kun, but that she would make Aomine-kun dance…

"What video?" She asked suspiciously, narrowing her eyes. Random photos and videos of her about which she didn't know, freaked the hell out of her, since the mayhem one picture had caused back in America. She was well aware that the party was a huge risk, and if someone wanted, they could discredit her by one picture taken out of the context…

"Oh. He didn't send it to you." Kuroko said, but his eyes were still as unreadable as ever.

"What video?!" She asked again resisting the panic slowly rising in her and the urge to shake the ghostly boy. Even though… If it was Kise, she had an idea of what it might have been.

"No. It's nothing. Don't worry about it." He said after some thought. No, he didn't cover Kise-kun's back; he just decided it was better this way.

"What video, Kuroko?" Taiga asked, knowing how freaked out his sister probably was. "Just say it."

Kuroko looked at both and sighed. "Kise-kun took a video of Kagami-san dancing with Aomine-kun. And I'm not sure if it's real or if he made it up somehow…"

"He is dead." Aya growled. "He is so dead."

"So it is real." Kuroko said in disbelief. _Aomine-kun dancing._ He chuckled, it was so surreal.

"Yes!" She exclaimed desperately, already plotting Kise's demise.

"Show me! Kuroko, show me!" Taiga shook his friend. This was hilarious, and he could get to finally see Aomine instead of only hearing his sister's complains.

"Don't, Kuroko-kun. Don't you dare show him." Aya looked at him threateningly. "Not now, not in school. Not ever."

Kuroko observed her for a moment, and then he nodded. "As you wish."

"Kurokoooo! You are my friend, right? She won't harm you. I promise. Show me!"

"Watch it, and I will share a video of you dancing with 7 year old Nana with your entire club.

"What?! When did you take it?"

"The competition practise!" She said proudly. "And I have it stored on several sources, so even if you delete it from my phone…" She had a devilish smirk on her lips.

"I'd like to see that." Kuroko said, hiding a chuckle.

Aya fished out her phone to look for the video.

"AYAAAAA?!" Taiga roared and jumped after the phone. Unsuccessfully.

Aya managed to throw it to Kuroko. "That one! I'll fend him off, so hurry!"

Kuroko caught it and stared at it with amusement. So that was the Kagami-kun no one knew...

"That's not fair! I wanna see that video!"

"Which one?" She laughed as she was holding Taiga's wrists and wrestling him off of Kuroko. She was aware that he could overpower her without even trying, and he was being cautious not to hurt her. It was still funny.

"The Aomine one! No, both!"

"Kagami-san doesn't want that, so I won't show you and you won't get past my password." Kuroko said calmly. "Though I believe she will show you this one. It's cute."

"YOU TWOOO!"

######

Michiko was watching the dancing video again, this time with her husband, sitting on a couch and drinking tea. The dogs were curled up on the floor. Finally, they both had Sunday free and could enjoy it together. "So what do you think Anata? Are they dating?"

"I don't think so…" He shook his head. "But he can't deny he has a crush on her."

"You think she has a crush too?"

"You are a woman, you tell me." Daisuke frowned. "I can't guess it from her expression."

"My opinion is biased, because it's our son." Michiko whined. "I think there is no reason for her to dislike him."

"I would state several… like grumpiness, rudeness, dirty magazines, and you know all the teenage drama."

"Anata. Don't make it sound easy. He is going through some harsh period of life."

"How can being talented be harsh?" He rolled his eyes. "He should be glad for it."

Michiko sighed. This was one thing her husband wouldn't understand. At least he didn't pester Daiki with it, and let him be as she had told him. "Never mind… Do you think Satsuki-chan saw it?"

"Saw what?" Daiki's voice rumbled from behind their backs.

"Daiki!" Michiko dropped the phone and then awkwardly hid it behind her back, like a child who broke something and got caught red handed. She felt guilty about it.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty!" Daisuke greeted him casually, behaving much better than his wife, but even he couldn't hide his sheepish smile.

"Saw what?" He repeated his question. Maaan, it sucked to wake up, roll down the stairs and catch his parents gossiping about something. Most likely him…

"Nothing, Honey!" Michiko laughed. "Did you sleep well?"

Daiki's eyes narrowed viciously at them. But he knew them, and so… _Whatever_. "Fine. What's for breakfast?"

"Breakfast? It's lunch already."

"Hai, hai, whatever."

######

After their banter, Taiga, Aya and Kuroko went to Maji burger to eat dinner. Neither of the twins felt like cooking, and a little walk would cool them off. They talked about upcoming preliminaries and Kano Daiki's possibilities. Kuroko had some expectations of the boy, and concluded that if he managed to learn his style, they would be in trouble once he enters high school.

When they were full, or after Taiga inhaled 20 burgers, they took a slow walk around several shops in the area.

"KIKU! SATSUKI!" Aya shouted, when she spotted two familiar figures coming out from a chocolate shop on their way.

They both stopped and turned around. The moment Satsuki spotted Kuroko, she ran up to them. "TEEEETSU-KUUUN!" She jumped at him in a suffocating hug. "It's been so long!"

"Eeeeh?!" Taiga stared at the pinkette. "Whaat is the matter of this?!"

"But what. Tetsu-kun is my boyfriend!" She claimed immediately, even though it wasn't true.

"SAY WHAT?!" Taiga's eyes almost bulged out, when zooming in on Satsuki's breasts and then her cute face. That was not possible. Such a cute girl and she was dating Kuroko out of all people?

"Now, now." Aya jabbed is ribs. "Don't stare, it's rude."

"H-hello." Kiku spoke up quietly and looked up at the loud redheaded boy. He looked similar to Aya, so he must have been her twin, but he was almost as intimidating as Aomine-san. At least when his red eyes focused on her.

"And you are?" He asked curtly, which only earned him another rib-punch from Aya.

"This is Ohno Kiku, my friend and classmate. And this," she pointed at Satsuki, "is Momoi Satsuki, the first manager of Touou's basketball team."

"Hmmm…" Taiga was still staring at Satsuki. He scratched his chin in deep thoughts. "Sorry, but don't we know each other? You seem eerily familiar."

"Eerily?" Satsuki raised an eyebrow at this. "And you must be Kagami Taiga, right?"

"Ussu." He nodded. "I can't deny being her brother."

"You truly can't." She mused at the way these two resembled each other. Too much and yet not too much. Aya was a pretty girl, and he was actually a handsome guy, with features as they should have had, but they still had that something, which made it clear they were siblings.

"Oh, and this is Kuroko Tetsuya." Aya pointed at Kuroko, so Kiku would know.

"Hiii. I-I-I'm sorry! I d-din't notice you." She bowed deeply in apology. A long bag she was carrying and was taller than two meters, almost hit Taiga in the head. He barely avoided it.

"Be careful with that thing." He grumbled.

"S-sorry!" She bowed again, almost hitting him again, but this time he caught it with his hand.

"What is it anyways? Stick? Why would you carry something so big?" He asked curiously.

"That's… Eeeehm…"

"Yeah, what is it Kiku-chan?!" Satsuki asked too. She's been trying to figure it out the whole time they were together, but she wasn't successful.

"Isn't it daikyuu for Kyudo?" Kuroko asked. From his quick observation, he noticed Kiku's tips of fingers were hardened, but not all of them, so it couldn't be a guitar. Plus the 'stick', was familiar to him; when he was learning about different kinds of people, he had visited Kyudo club as well, and he remembered that they used this type of yumibukuros – the cloth bag to carry the bow – the shape and length fitted, so…

"H-h-how do you know?" She breathed out. _Did Aya-san tell him something?_

"You do archery?!" Satsuki asked at the same time. "Why haven't you told us anything!"

Kiku blushed and looked away… "I-I-I'm not good at s-sports so…"

Aya was smiling at it. She knew. For quite some time, she'd been aware of Kiku's free-time activity; though she'd never seen her do it, nor had she ever visited her place. Kiku didn't feel like showing her yet, and so she was patiently waiting for the little girl to hatch out of her shell.

Taiga was staring at this interaction. His sister sure got protective when it came to this little girl, and now he understood why. He would protect Kiku as well. She looked way too fragile and kind. She deserved to be protected. But he also realized that the girl was scared of him, for some reason, and so, he rather kept his mouth shut.

"I-I'm sorry." She said quietly. "I just…" Yes, she knew she could talk to them anytime. Be it the bullying she faced in middle school, which left her scarred – mentally and physically, be it her interests or fears… She had told Aya about the archery, but Satsuki-san… Kiku wasn't so sure or confident around the pinkette. She wanted to talk more with Aya. About everything. But lately, Aya seemed to be facing her own demons. Demons about which Kiku probably had no idea, and for the first time she noticed that Aya might have been still struggling sometimes too. It made her look so much more human…

"You didn't think it was important, right?" Aya ruffled her short hair and smiled. She was pretending she had no idea either, because if Satsuki found out she was left out she'd pout. They didn't need that right now. "Well, would you show me sometimes? Or teach me?"

Kiku blinked at her. "I'm not that good."

"Oh come on. How long have you been doing it?"

"Since I remember." Kiku shrugged. When she learned to walk she learned to take care of bows. It was the privilege of those born into a family owning a dojo.

"Then you must be excellent. At least for me, who's never shot from a bow, only a crossbow, but that was a long time ago."

"I'd like to try it too." Kuroko joined their conversation, making Aya jump in fright again.

"Shit." Her hand went over her heart. "I'm so sorry, Kuroko-kun, when I'm not looking at you, I just keep forgetting you."

Kuroko shrugged. "It's normal; don't worry about it, Kagami-san. I'm not offended or anything."

"Aya." She corrected him. "Call him Kagami-kun all you want, but **_please_** call me Aya. Or Aya-san, or whatever. The only one to still call me 'Kagami' is Aomine and it's freakin' annoying."

Kuroko stared at her. _Does she like Aomine-kun?_ But it would be rude to ask... "You do use family names with others too."

"To some extent I do. It's polite, right?"

"So I shouldn't be polite?"

She sighed in exasperation. "I don't mean it like that. Just call me Aya, please."

He nodded, but his eyes were as unreadable as ever. "As you wish, Aya-san."

"Thank you!"

"So what now?" Satsuki asked. "Are we going home, or do we hang out?" Honestly, she was glad to see her Tetsu-kun, but she wanted to go home and interrogate Dai-chan about the goukon.

Aya yawned. The last night was getting to her. "I s'pose I want to go home and relax a bit. Is that okay?"

"I need to go home too." Kiku said and pointed at the daikyuu she carried. "Father is waiting for it. I just picked it up in a shop."

"Well then." Aya smiled. "I'm glad I've met you all, get home safely!"

######

In the afternoon, Aomine went out with all three dogs. He ran with them for a good half an hour, then he played with them, and when he felt like it was enough he just sat on the grass and watched how clouds drifted through the sky.

Shiro had her head resting on his thigh, Kurome was laying over Shiro, and Akari was curled at his side. The malinois enjoyed days when she could be out with Daiki, because it meant she was out off duty, and could play around all she wanted.

His mind was blank and he didn't want to think of anything; definitely not about how Kagami's boobs felt against his face. Running and the dogs were helping him turn his head off, and it was one awesome feeling.

"How nice it would be, to just float around without a single care in this world…" He mumbled and stretched himself on the ground, scratching Shiro's head.

"Aomine-kuuuuun!"

"Urgh, why?" He groaned when he heard Satsuki's voice. And it had been such a peaceful afternoon.

"Aomine-kun! Hello!" The pinkette said loudly when she reached him.

The dogs didn't pay much attention to her; they just sniffed her, recognised her and then returned to their previous positions. The girl wouldn't break the peacefulness they felt when with their younger master.

"What do you need?" _…to ruin my tranquil afternoon?_

"Oh don't be like that, Aomine-kun." She said. "I was on my way home when I saw you. What's wrong with saying hello?"

"Where've you been?" He asked, but he wasn't really curious.

"I went out with Kiku-chan! She is such a sweet girl. We called Aya-chan too, but she said she already had plans with her brother, so she couldn't join us. But we met them on their way home anyways. They were playing basketball, and then went to eat at Maji burger." It was better not to mention Tetsu-kun…

"Hmmm…."

"You are not listening, are you?"

"I wonder what mom will make for dinner."

"Aomine-kun!" Satsuki whined and weakly punched his shoulder. "Why are you so mean to me?!"

"Am not."

"Are too!"

"Whatever. So? What do you want?" As much as she could see through him, he could see through her. He knew that this park wasn't anywhere near any route to Satsuki's home, and if she came here, it was because she knew he'd be here, or she had asked his mother.

"How was the goukon?" She asked curiously.

"Fine." He shrugged. "Not attending any in the future."

"That's all you say?" While she knew that Dai-chan didn't talk much about things he considered personal, she still expected some summary of what had happened.

She couldn't possibly interrogate Aya-chan, because Aya-chan didn't know Satsuki knew. And as long as the redhead wouldn't speak about it herself, Satsuki was left out. Ki-chan didn't tell her much either… He sent the video and told her to ask Aominecchi. _Pche… Easier said than done, Ki-chan!_

"Kise sure enlightened you already, so why'd you ask me?" He turned his eyes on her.

"Because! You are my friend. I want you to talk to me too."

"Tch. Then how about learning how to keep your mouth shut, when you should, and how to **not** stick your nose into matters that don't involve you?"

It served like a slap. But she knew she deserved it, because it was none of her business when Aomine and Aya-chan argued. Heck she still didn't know what they had argued about, but she hadn't forgotten to tell it to Kise and discuss it with Michiko…

She didn't know whether to start crying or get angry at him. At the end, she ended up doing both.

"Because you wouldn't talk with me! What am I supposed to do, when I learn everything from the others and nothing from you! Of course I worry!" She yelled at him with tears in her eyes. "You are my friend for god's sake! I care! And I want to be involved!"

"Wha-?! Oi, Satsuki." Upon seeing her tears, he freaked out. He was harsh, but it was never his intention to make her cry. He was just not happy about her ways. "I didn't mean to –"

"To what?!" She barked. "To say that? But you did!"

"Then what do you expect me to do?! I ain't some gossipy girl." He threw his arm into the air, which earned him a nasty glare from Shiro.

"Oh sorry?!" She blinked the tears away in sudden anger. "Neither is Ki-chan! But he talks to me! And he didn't tell me much!" …though Kise was much more gossipy than an average boy would be, but he also knew when to keep a secret.

"Very nice of him!"

"Hmph…" She pouted and turned away from Dai-chan. Yet, she didn't get up to leave.

"Tch." He turned the other way too.

They stayed like that for a couple of minutes. Both letting out their steam, but worried about the other too much to just get up and leave. They were friends after all.

"So?" Satsuki peeked at him with expectant eyes. "How did it go?"

"So you knew Kagami would be there?"

She shrugged and nodded. "But only from Ki-chan. Aya-chan never said a word about it."

"So that's bothering you." He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. Of course Satsuki was bothered about Aya's not-enough-of-girly-friendliness, and as a result, she would pester him. Though she managed to endure it quite long.

"We are friends, so why wouldn't she talk with me?"

"She told you about her ex." He shrugged. "You're probably the only one who knows."

"Not true. Kiku-chan knows as well, but she didn't know about the goukon either…"

"And you called her out just to ask her that…"

"Don't say it." Satsuki stopped him before he could finish his sentence. "My intentions might not have been pure, but as I got to know Kiku more… She is amazingly kind, oh and she does kyudo! Would you imagine that?"

 _Never… Scaredy-cat doing kyudo…_ "…" Suddenly, the small girl rose several categories up in his merits.

"What? I'm reflecting on my mistakes." She said apologetically.

"…It went okay. After the chocolate shop we went to the party, where Kagami show-danced, and then we resolved the argument." He said finally, to feed Satsuki's curiosity.

 _Resolved you say… She got you to dance!_ But she couldn't possibly tell him about the video or she and Ki-chan would be dead in an instant."So? Should I congratulate you to your first girlfriend?" She teased him.

Aomine's eyes widened at the thought. _Friends…_ rang in his mind. _But I said it… What an idiot I am…_ Plus there were Hikaru's words: _'Think carefully about what you want, boy.'_ So what did he want?

"No way. We're not dating." He said and then remembered the fall. He could feel his cheeks heated up, and so he turned away from Satsuki.

"Are you blushing?" She asked and leaned forward to see better. "So what happened? Tell me! Did you kiss? Did she turn you down?"

"WHAT?! NO!" He abruptly turned to glare at her. "Of course not! Nothing like that. Kagami wouldn't…"

"You never know, right? You could have tried." Satsuki sighed, it was cute to see Dai-chan so indecisive and confused. "But you did nothing… Meh…That's laaame…." She said disappointed.

"Lame?!" He almost choked with the word. Was he lame?

Satsuki laughed at him. "You suit each other!"

He raised an eyebrow at her. "That's not for you to decide, right?"

Satsuki looked down… "Right… Wait…" She grinned at him, already over their argument. "Since when are you not an idiot?"

"WHAT?!"

######

Aya watched the video of her and Aomine that Kuroko-kun sent her in the evening.

"You sure it's fine to be _friends_?" Taiga asked her from the other side of the couch. He was already over the fact that she wouldn't show it to him. At least he saw the videos Hiroto had made of her and Hikaru. And it was freakin' amazing; like usual, when it was Aya.

"Hm?" She looked up from the screen. "Mhm. It's fine."

Taiga raised an eyebrow at that. "Reeeally?"

"Yep." She nodded. "I'm too much to handle after all, and now there are prelims, and all that. I don't have time to date anybody. I liked dancing with him, it was surprisingly enjoyable to dance with someone so clumsy, but it might have been just the atmosphere of the evening."

He sighed. He knew when she was lying to herself, and right now, she was lying to herself. It was no way in hell the atmosphere of the evening when she was watching the video with those dreamy eyes. After Tatsuya, he wouldn't be surprised if she was reluctant to jump into relationship, more so if the other party wasn't hundred percent convinced about it. And Taiga would swear that Aomine was definitely not sure what he was getting himself into, or whether he wanted it. Whatever kind of a guy he was.

 _Maybe being friends first wouldn't kill them…_

"If you say so." He said, avoiding another possible argument. "Will you come to my matches?"

"I'm not sure. I should be there for my team. If I can I will, and I'll definitely see you in the final league."

"If we make it past preliminaries…"

"What are you talking about? Of course you'll pass the preliminaries." She said. "What's gotten into you that you doubt yourself?" It was indeed unusual to see Taiga distressed about basketball. He was aggressive and confident all the time. He loved playing against strong opponents, so what was wrong this time?

"I might have a bad day too, all right?" He barked.

"Sheeesh, you on your period, or what?" She teased him. "Don't worry about the foul. I was only angry because I could've scored."

"I don't know…" Taiga started and stared at his palm.

"Hm?"

"I believed I could do it on my own. And I wanted to try it. Am I becoming selfish?"

"No, you are learning and growing. It's normal. Believe in yourself, dear brother. You are amazing."

Aya was a team player, but now she wondered if it wasn't better for Taiga to grow individually, and _then_ bend it according to his team's play. He was improving rapidly. But then again, supporting him in drifting apart from his team would be plainly vicious. _When the time comes, he will go his way, leave, improve and then come back stronger than ever. No need to force it. Right now, he should make a lot of friends._

######

Kise's day was awesome. He lazed around, did laundry and some homework, and watched his favourite series… Nothing could disrupt his great day. Nothing except one thing.

A text from Ayacchi was delivered in the evening:

'Video, eh? Share it with one more person and you're dead. Other than that… I wish you a good night and sweet dreams, Model-kun.'

He gulped as a chill ran down his spine. _Oh shit. It got out sooner than I've expected._

* * *

 **A/N:** That's about it. Basketball's back! And we met Kano's siblings... And Kuroko has a fan!

Let me know what you think and remember, reviews are appreciated but never necessary.

-S.


	17. Chapter 17: Post office and reunions

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone who followed and favourited and reviewed! It makes me very happy!

Another longer, and a bit more serious, chapter here. I'm posting it a bit sooner, because I'll have 0 free time on Thursday. Enjoy!

* * *

 _People complain that joking about serious subjects is 'making light' of them. Isn't that a good idea? Comedy lets the air out of the bully's tires. **– Peter Baynham**_

 _Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved. **– Helen Keller**_

 _Only I can change my life. No one can do it for me. **– Carol Burnett**_

 _My dear young cousin, if there's one thing I've learned over the eons, it's that you can't give up on your family, no matter how tempting they make it. **― Rick Riordan**_

 _No performer should attempt to bite off red-hot iron unless he has a good set of teeth **. – Harry Houdini**_

 _Family isn't blood. It's the people who love you. The people who have your back. **― Cassandra Clare, City of Heavenly Fire**_

 _I can be really annoying, but I also feel like I'm a nice person. **– Mike White**_

* * *

"What is that?" Aya asked when she saw Kiku reading something in front of the shoe lockers.

The girl startled and crumpled whatever it'd been. "I-it's nothing."

"Can I see it, then?" She asked with narrowed eyes. She felt bad for neglecting Kiku the previous week because of all the drama, and after Kiku's reaction, she had an idea of what those notes might've been. She'd received some on her own, and she didn't like the idea of Kiku receiving them as well in the slightest.

Kiku shook her head 'No.', she didn't want Aya-san to worry. It was only notes, nothing worse, so she could handle it on her own.

"Hmmm…" Aya sighed and opened her own locker. Several notes fell out of it too. _More than one? That's new…_ "Oh? Shall we open a post office?" She said in a cold voice and leaned down to change her shoes. _What idiots are doing this?_

Icy hand grabbed Kiku's heart. "I-I-I didn't…" Kiku was freaked out. Aya-san probably concluded it had been her. She was holding a letter in her hands, when Aya had come. It was equal to being caught red handed. Aya-san must have thought…

To her surprise Aya just patted her shoulder and chuckled. "I know you wouldn't do something like this. Come on, let's compare what our admirers tell us!" She said with mischievous smile and collected all the notes.

Kiku blinked at her. "But that's…"

"That's fun." She turned on her heel and walked towards their classroom.

######

"Hey! What are you doing?" Ishii asked when he and Kano walked into the classroom earlier than usual – they decided to escort Kenta to the kindergarten together, and they stopped by at convenience store to buy some snacks.

It wasn't unusual to see the girls there, because Aya always came to school in time for morning practise, regardless of whether they had it or not. And Kiku was an early bird, who did her homework at school, in the morning.

"Hey! You are early!" Aya exclaimed and smiled at them. "We've received these letters today. Some of them are really funny." She pointed at the notes that were meant to hurt them.

"What are these?" Kano asked suspiciously. "Love letters?"

"Oh no," Aya chuckled. "According to this one I'm a _'self-centred, egoistic and ignorant bitch'_ , and this one says that I should _'leave the clumsy little mouse alone, or I'll face consequences'_ , and this one claims that Kiku is an _'ugly-duckling who should go and die'_."

"That's horrible! Who would do that?!" Kano and Ishii got angry. Who dared to threaten their precious manager? And the girl who baked cookies for them and was probably the girl Wakamatsu-senpai liked?

Aomine walked in with a yawn (his mom insisted on driving him to school, so he was super early), when he overheard the conversation. It angered him in a second. What idiot would do that? Kagami, sure as hell, didn't do anything to receive this and neither did Ohno. He might have not been fond of Ohno, but she didn't deserve such a treatment.

"Tch." He growled. "Who did it?"

Aya turned her reddish eyes at him. It was impossible to forget Aomine's hands on her skin or his face buried in her chest in just one day. And she didn't want to. "Oh? Protective much?" She teased, but in reality, seeing him protective over her and even Kiku made her heart skip a beat.

"You wish." But he averted his eyes, indicating he too didn't forget one bit of the party, and slumped onto his chair. "Just curious what idiot would risk his neck by doing this." No, he was pissed off by whoever did it but he didn't want to show it in front of them. And it was still embarrassing to face Kagami after the 'tripping accident'.

Aya smirked. She could see right through him at the moment. "I don't know." She said and read through it again. "Did you receive them before, Kiku?"

The little girl didn't answer. She stared at her folded arms and letters. It hurt her so much to read those words day after day.

"You've received it before, Kiku-chan? You should have told us!" Kano exclaimed loudly, occupying Sakurai's seat and reading through the vicious messages.

Aya quickly glared at Kano ' _don't-scold-her.'_

"So you did." Aya concluded calmly. "You could've told me, or Ishii, or Kano, you know." She felt bad she hadn't noticed it before. Kiku was so kind and quiet, she wouldn't speak about it. Aya gently brushed Kiku's hand. "I've been receiving some too, but it's always been just one note with the same text, so I didn't care much. Sorry I didn't notice. It's not worth it to feel bad or discouraged about what others think. They all scream _'look at me', 'pay attention to me', 'I envy you'_. Too bad no one signs so we know who to pay attention to."

Tears stung in Kiku's eyes. She wasn't sure if it were tears of relief, or anger, or hurt, or happiness. These were her friends. They were encouraging her, protecting her, accepting her, scolding her when she messed up.

Aya took out one letter, sighed and read it out loud: _"Get a grip, Ohno. You are just an ugly, graceless piece of garbage, not a damsel in distress to always have others saving you."_ There was a moment of complete silence, as Aya let it sink in. She read it loud enough for others in the class to hear.

Kiku wanted to burry herself in a hole.

Aya scanned the class, and no one fidgeted or behaved guiltily, so whoever it was wasn't from their class. She was glad about that.

"What an outstanding vocabulary. I mean… Damsel in distress? And graceless?" Aya said in such a voice that even Kiku chuckled.

True, with every ignored letter, the author was getting more original. Kiku only noticed this after Aya pointed it out.

"They even bothered themselves to remember your name. I bet they envy that you have friends to help you out, and want similar attention from someone." Aya took another letter. "I like this one in particular: _'You are a self-centred and ignorant bitch, who cares only for herself, Kagami. You don't need to be a hero of the day, just break your neck already, you basketball-team's whore…'_ " She chuckled. "I always learn something new about myself! I swear I've never expected someone thought of me as a _'hero-of-the-day'_. It flatters me." She said, though being called 'a whore' again, sure felt like a hornet's sting.

 _"Basketball team's whore?"_ Kano spat out furiously. "What dickhead would write **_that_**?!"

Aomine's blood boiled too. His fists tightened and he hid them under his desk. If he could get his hands on whoever wrote it, he would strangle them. No one calls Kagami, the manager of the team, a ' _whore'._ No one.

"You've dealt with it before as well…" Ishii said, observing Aya. It wasn't a question.

"Aren't you liked by everyone, Aya-chan?" Aki, one of the girls who originally badmouthed Kiku before joined into their conversation. It felt unreal that Kagami Aya, who was so cheerful and who was on good terms with almost everyone would receive a hateful letter.

Aya laughed at her comment. "Oh please, I'm definitely **_not_** liked by everyone. If I remember correctly, you don't like me much either, right?"

Aki puffed her cheeks. "Well no, but I don't have a reason to rub it in your face like this!"

"… because we decided to have a truce, right?" Aya reminded her.

"No, because it's not bad to have an ally like you…" So what if it sounded egoistical. Life wasn't fair, and having someone resourceful like Kagami Aya in the class, and being on good terms with her, wasn't something to throw away.

"But are you okay with that?" Rei, Aki's best friend joined in. "I mean, I wouldn't want to be called a whore."

"No one wants to be called that, Rei, but I don't think there is a rumour about me I haven't heard. According to some I already have three kids, smoke weed and dance in a strip bar. So being called _a whore_ or _a bitch_ is outdated." She laughed at how ridiculous it sounded.

There'd been times when Aya had been hurt by it, when she had cried because of it, but at the end of the day, she'd figured out it wasn't worth it. It felt much better if she could make fun of it, and laugh at the creativity of all those who wanted to hurt her. It still hurt, to some extent but she's learnt that the moment you start burlesquing it, you get off the hook. Or at least it becomes easier to deal with it. But she wouldn't be able to get through without Taiga and those closest to her. Now, she wanted to help Kiku, to get her off the hook too.

 _'You need a very thick skin to survive at the top.'_ Hiroto's words sounded in Aomine's head. Thanks to Kagami he'd met some intriguing people. And he was just starting to comprehend what she had to go through to become who she was now. But was she really fine? She acted fine, but he doubted she was.

"But I have this idea…." She said, and explained it to others.

######

"Aomine?" She asked him as they were walking towards the shoe lockers after they finished cleaning up and creating her little payback idea. Kiku went for her club and the other boys went to the library to study for an upcoming chemistry test on Friday. She didn't feel like studying for that yet and Aomine didn't care – he'd go through it the night before like usual.

"Hm?"

"Let's stop by the courts."

"You wanna play?" He raised an eyebrow at that. She had played with the others the previous day, as he'd learnt. And she had her practise later that day. Was there ever a day when she just lazed around and relaxed?

"Yeah. I feel like playing a bit." And she wanted to spend a little bit more time with him, to occupy her mind with something different, positive. "Do you mind?"

"I'll pass."

"Afraid of losing?"

"I don't lose." He yawned. "I'm tired. I want to take a nap. Care to join?"

 _Hmmmm… So tired huh?_ She grinned. "Still thinking about your face in my chest?" Judging by his reaction that time, he'd need some time to get over it.

It was good he was walking in front of her, and she couldn't see his rather shocked expression. No, he still wasn't over it, but he refused to let it show. He smirked. "You sure are confident in your looks, Sweetheart."

"Oh? So D-cups are not enough for you?" She teased.

Once Aya switched into a teasing mode, she didn't feel nervous, no matter whom she was talking to. Yeah, maybe she became fond of Aomine Daiki, maybe she had a crush on him, and maybe she was slowly falling in love. But in the first place, they were classmates and partners and friends.

"I've never said that! I like 'em bigger, but D is a good start." He blurted out without thinking. Kagami got him with her teasing once again.

" _Good start?_ " She laughed at it. "My personal opinion? Bs and Cs are awesome. Ds are bearable, but not very comfortable and everything bigger is like a punishment."

They reached the shoe lockers; still undecided about the little match Aya wanted. But maybe she could lure him out while talking about boobs and once on the court, he wouldn't refuse a small match.

He turned around to stare at her. Her opinion was like an insult to him. Bigger than Ds being a punishment?! Big boobs were great! And why was he having this conversation with Kagami?

"What?" She asked and looked up at him, when he remained quiet.

"It's a blessing, not a punishment."

"For a guy sure. But for us? Can you imagine the weight? Or how difficult it is to find fitting clothes? And don't let me start on underwear! Looking for that is a nightmare." She said with an intensity that could almost persuade him that small boobs were better.

 _Someone got talkative?_ Still… it didn't matter to him. Big boobs were awesome. Period. "Can I try it then? The weight?" He asked with a smirk and approached her, his palms cupping the air…

She laughed and slapped his hands away. "Dream on, Honey-bun."

"Keh… Now I'm disappointed." He sighed, not sure where his courage to ask **_her_** that came from, or where it left the moment she turned around and started heading outside.

"Too bad." Aya snickered. It was so fun to tease him. She clasped her hands behind her back and walked towards the outside courts.

He followed her, without thinking about it much.

"You sure you're fine?" He asked suddenly, referring to the letters he saw.

"Hm?" She turned to look at him with a confused expression. "Oh… You mean the pleasant notes?"

He nodded.

She blinked at him in surprise. Was he really worried for her? She was already aware that Aomine was not an ignorant person, no matter how he acted, but that he would genuinely care for how she felt…

"Hmmmm…" She turned her face towards the sun, bathing in its rays and warmth. "I can handle it." She shrugged. "Of course I'm not happy about it, who would, right? But I've learnt that when you don't let it get to you and when you can smile despite that, it eventually goes away. And as I said before; I've heard all kinds of different stories about myself and honestly, compared to that, this is not a big deal."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

He wasn't sure what he wanted to ask, but he wanted to get to know her. And without talking with her it was impossible. "Why would they call you names?" Kagami was confident, sometimes annoying, but she'd never done anything to earn such a note.

"Aren't _you_ called names too?" She asked with a raised eyebrow and she could see he started to think about it. "Why would someone do that, I don't know. Envy? Anger? Hatred? Loss?" She guessed randomly. "I dance. You've seen how it can look. Some dances are very passionate, in a sexual way too… so I kind of get where it started. And then it escalated. People love when they can talk about someone or something."

His face had an 'oh' expression. He wouldn't come up with such an explanation, he wouldn't even think about it. Sure, he saw her dance, and he didn't like how Hikaru had touched her, but he would never think there was something more between Hikaru and her. Maybe it was because he already knew her, but…

"So? Will you play?" She interrupted his thoughts, when they reached the courts. "I don't want to think about the notes anymore." For Aya, moving around, running, dancing… It was just an alternative to cope with unpleasant thoughts.

 _That's why she asked me to play…_ "We don't have a ball."

Aya smirked mischievously. "Of course we do." She shook off her blazer and approached a tree growing in one corner of the court.

"You are kidding me…" He muttered for himself.

She jumped up to reach the lowest branch and pulled herself up. Aomine was staring at her from the ground. He hoped to see her panties, but…

"Why are you wearing shorts underneath the skirt, ha?!" He asked, once again disappointed. He couldn't even see up her skirt as she was climbing to higher branches.

"Exactly because of Peeping Toms like you!" She laughed. Climbing trees was easy for her, and with Kano and Ishii, they'd decided to leave one ball up there, just so they didn't have to go to the gym to get it every time they felt like playing. She smiled when she reached a basket with their ball securely stored there.

She took it out and looked to where Aomine was standing. "Catch!"

The ball was already on its way to his face when he heard her. He caught it in the last second. Her aim was freakishly accurate and he could hear her giggle up there.

"You gonna come down, or what?"

"But of course!" She didn't bother with safe descend; when she thought she could make it, she jumped down. She landed on her feet with a wide grin on her face.

Aomine raised an eyebrow at her. "Are you a monkey?"

"Who knows? Maybe?"

He rolled his eyes. "Five baskets, not more."

"As you wish, Mr. Ace. I respect your need for a beauty sleep." She teased.

"Provoking me again?"

"If it means you won't hold back as much… Gladly."

He shook his head and started dribbling. His intention was to beat that challenging and never resting ass of hers in no time.

They played only for around fifteen minutes. Aya was using everything she could against him. But now, after the party, he was getting a hang of her dancing-inspired moves that had been so confusing before. Despite her agility being on par with his, she wasn't as confident in changing pace while handling the ball. The more he played with her the more he was used to her pace. It went the other way too, so now she managed to steal from him a couple of times. He had to admit that she was getting better with each practise. Not enough to ever win against him; he still had the height advantage, but good enough to have his respect.

"I've won, satisfied?" He asked as he sat on the grass and spread his legs in front of him.

"I'd play more, but… Yeah, I'm satisfied with this loss." She said with a smile and sat next to him. It wasn't that terrible. Their mini match ended with a win 1-5 for Aomine, but she managed to score once! "Thanks for playing with me."

"I've won, what's there to thank me for?"

"Your time?" _…and care?_ She tilted her head and looked at him.

Their eyes met and they stared at each other for a moment. _Friends…_ They both reminded themselves, and broke off the staring.

"Do you ever relax?" He blurted out.

"Not much. But I don't complain." She shrugged. "I'm used to this after all."

"How much did you train then?"

"When I competed? Hmmm… 6 – 8 hours a day, then I had one or two days free. There were some days; before competitions, or when we were learning a new choreography when we trained for 10 hours a day… or more."

"And school?" He asked surprised. When he was at Teiko they had morning and afternoon practises, but it was never more than 3 to 4 four hours altogether; if he didn't count over practises.

"I had an individual study plan. I self-studied mostly and went to school sporadically, mainly for exams… So. How did you become such good friends with Model-kun?"

With that he knew she was done with answering his questions. He was actually surprised, she answered at least some, and he decided not to probe further. "We aren't good friends." He retorted.

She laughed at his reaction. "Oh come on. You wouldn't have shown up for that goukon otherwise."

"Ooh? Underestimating me much?"

"Oh no, Honey-bun. Gods forbid. But you are not the type to do that, or have I misjudged you so far?"

"…" How could she read him that much? Did that blonde bastard sell him off? Or was he really that intimidating for girls?

"So I was right." She chuckled. "What did he use to get you there?"

His eyes widened. "How –?"

"Some lecherous magazine?" She guessed, thinking about his stash on the rooftop, which she'd discovered, but decided not to tell him. It was advantageous knowledge she could use against him, when necessary.

When his eyes widened in surprise, she laughed.

"What did that Kise-bastard tell you?!" He growled.

"Lucky guess! I know _you_ and I can pretty much guess how he thinks. I know his type, and he is pretty similar to me. But that wasn't my original question. How did you become friends?"

That stung. So she knew how Kise thought, heck, sometimes **_he_** didn't understand the blonde. And how much time she had spent with Kise? Two days? Kagami was so confusing. He wasn't sure if she just wanted info on Kise, or if she wanted to get to know him. "We were on one team, played together a lot and hung out a lot. He always challenged me in one-on-one." He shrugged and looked somewhere past the court. Had he missed it? Not really.

"Has he ever won?" She asked curiously.

Aomine gave her incredulous look. "Of course not. The only one who can beat me –"

"– is you. Yeah, yeah." She rolled her eyes. "I've heard that a couple of times. Have you ever wondered if he could copy you?"

"Not in a thousand years. He can't copy neither of us."

"You sure 'bout that? It would be funny if Kise pulled it off." She smiled mischievously. Just the sheer idea of Kise managing to copy Aomine's play was intriguing. Maybe it was impossible, but she knew talent when she saw one, and Kise's potential was not smaller than Aomine's. He just lacked the experience and years of practise and gaining skills Aomine had had.

"You like him?" He'd wondered about it before too. When he'd watched them interact and dance, he could only think of how good they looked together. He hated the idea.

She laughed. "Am I imagining it, or are you jealous?"

"No way!" He answered way too abruptly. "Just askin'."

She shook her head and sighed. They were finally having a civil conversation. "As a person, yes. As a boyfriend material, no thank you."

 _Why not?_ He wanted to ask, but pry some more and she'd definitely get the idea he was into her. The last thing he should do after basically friendzoning her. _I'm an idiot._ He thought.

"Now." She got up and dusted off her skirt. "I should get going to be at the practise sooner. Senri is finally back, so I need to go over the past practises with him." She didn't have to tell him all that, but she did. "So thanks again for playing with me, let's do it again sometime. Oh, and please put the ball back into its hiding place." She pointed towards the tree. "You'll know it once you see it."

"What if I'm afraid of heights?"

"Then you wouldn't dunk." She laughed. "And Satsuki told me you were hiding **_in_** the tree in the garden!" She smiled at him one last time and then she ran off.

 _And off she goes… Now..._

He got up and approached the tree. The branches looked sturdy enough to hold him. Once he climbed high enough he noticed a small basket, which looked almost like a bird's nest, tied to the tree. There was also waterproof army-coloured cloth to cover and protect the ball from bad weather. He laughed.

 _Those idiots took this much trouble to hide one ball?_

* * *

 **The next day…**

"Aya-chan!" Satsuki found them all during lunch break all eating outside. "Is that for real?"

"Hey." Aya greeted her. "Come and join us."

Satsuki sat down with her bento and stared at both, Aya and Kiku, who were calmly eating. "Did you really make it?"

"Mhm. They all helped." She smiled at her boys.

"Even Aomine-kun?! What did she use as an incentive?" Satsuki asked him in surprise.

"Nothin'. I liked the idea so I helped. Any problem?!" He brushed her off with a glare.

"You sure you won't get into trouble?"

"We? Why? We haven't done anything." Aya smiled innocently.

Her idea with a 'post-office' materialised itself. They had created a white box for bully letters and placed it near shoe lockers, so everyone would pass by it. It was taped, with only small slit on the top. The bully letters Aya and Kiku had received served as a tapestry – so it was obvious they all had different hand writing and bullies could identify themselves, or be identified by their friends and teachers. Then Aya wrote a massage on top:

'If you feel like telling us something nice like all the people whose letters you can read below, feel free to do so. We will gladly accept all begging-for-attention letters, but don't forget to sign your name, so we know who to socialize with!

\- Sincerely, Kagami Aya and Ohno Kiku.'

"But you signed there! Both of you!"

"On the box, yeah. But I don't feel like secretly sneaking around, trying to find who is so kind to Kiku and I." She shrugged. "I don't mind hitting heads with people, but this anonymous cowardice..."

"Just don't get yourself into bigger trouble. What if they pick a fight?!"

Kiku had thought about it too, but she wouldn't run away now, because now, she had someone to back her up. Aya-san had asked her opinion, she was given a choice to not do it, and Kiku chose to do it. After that, not signing would only make her more like a coward, than anything else.

Aya shook her head and chuckled. "I don't think so. Not here. And I bet there won't be a single letter by the end of the week."

######

"I'm surprised you showed up for practise. Preliminaries pressure, Honey-bun?" She teased him.

The fed-up look he shot her was priceless. "What nonsense are you spouting? I'll win."

"Aya-san! Is Ohno-san fine?!" Wakamatsu asked, almost shaking Aya, when he learned about the box and bullying letters.

"Oh? Kiku? Not curious about me, senpai?" She tilted her head at Wakamatsu's question.

Wakamatsu's face lit up instantly. "I-I… Uhhh… S-she is your f-friend right?"

"Then why not ask her directly?"

"Eeeerrrmm…." He was scratching the back of his neck sheepishly.

"She turned him down." Tada, who was just passing by added teasingly.

"Turned you down? What am I missing?" Aya asked confused, ignoring Aomine's laughter.

Wakamatsu didn't manage to ignore the ace. "What the fuck are you laughing at, Ahomine?!" Then he turned to Aya. "I, Uuuuh… errr…"

Because Kousuke was unable to explain himself, Shun took initiative. "He wanted to accompany Kiku-chan home after practise, when she came to watch, you know about that, right?"

"Yeah, I've noticed that she stopped by couple of times. And?"

"Aaand, she said she was okay, and would go home alone." Shun shrugged. "And this dork didn't insist and let her go. Stupid, don't you think?"

"How lame, _senpai._ " Aomine snickered.

"Oh shut up, Mr. Ace. Not like _you_ have a girlfriend." Tada jabbed back. Unlike Wakamatsu, he wouldn't fight with Aomine, no. He would tease him instead.

From Satsuki they all knew he didn't have any girlfriend, and after training camp they started to suspect that Aomine had a thing for Aya, though no one dared to tease them because of it.

Aya chuckled. _Yeah, pretty stupid…_ "But when it comes to Kiku, I'd say he did a good thing when he didn't insist. I'm her friend and I have no idea where exactly she lives. It's better if you don't push her too much." She shrugged. "If you want to spend time with her, try asking her to bake cookies or do something for the club. You are the vice-captain after all, use it. It shouldn't scare her off that much… and… Don't be too loud, 'kay?" At some point she turned towards Wakamatsu and advised him.

The blonde's cheeks were red, but he seemed to be thinking about it. He nodded.

Then something else occurred to him. Something he should probably warn her about. "Oh… about the 'post-office'… the disciplinary committee would want to talk with you tomorrow, so don't get freaked out when someone comes to fetch you and Ohno-san."

"Have we done something worth punishing?" Aya asked, observing Wakamatsu with her reddish eyes.

"Not really. Personally I'm all for what you did! Those letters were just awful!" He shouted angrily; he was just as protective of his team's manager as the majority of the others. "It's just… Irihata-sensei said she wants to _'discuss what you've done.'_." With his imitation, he made it clear he didn't like the teacher. Most of the time, she didn't care what the disciplinary committee did and only poked her nose in when some bigger trouble occurred. This shouldn't have been worth her time, and yet…

Aya's eyebrow went up. That woman hated her. "Should I be wary of something?"

"I don't know. She didn't specify anything." He shrugged. "But you should be careful of what you say."

She sighed. "Don't worry. I should handle. Kiku though… Will you be there?"

"The committee is going to be there, of course." He said seriously, showing that he, despite his reputation, could be serious.

"Good. Can you back us up?"

"Of course. Almost the entire committee is on your side, so don't worry 'bout that, Aya-san." But the teacher still worried him. They never stood up against her, and he doubted anyone would do it this time, if something happened.

"Okay everyone!" Katsunori clapped, to get their attention. "We have our first preliminaries match next Wednesday morning. Today included, we only have six more days to practise, so we will have morning and afternoon practise on Monday and only morning practise on Tuesday. I don't want to hear any complaints."

"OSU!"

"Wakamatsu, lead the warm up. And Aya, you come here!"

"Tch… I wanted to practise." She mumbled.

"At least you won't slow us down." Aomine snickered as he ran past her.

"Pardon me, you slowpoke?!" She shouted after him, and walked towards Katsunori. "Am I in trouble?"

"No. Why should you be? That box is actually a very good idea. You are not bullying anyone back, and at the same time you are informing everyone about the problem. If Irihata-sensei scolds you, I'll pay her a visit." He said darkly. "But I wanted to talk about the Wednesday."

From his reaction Aya read he didn't like Irihata-sensei and that there was something bothering him, but he wasn't sure enough to let her know. "What about tomorrow?" She asked.

"Hiroto is making the reunion dinner party."

"Say what?" Aya's eyes widened. "He invited us to meet his wife…"

"Check your mail. He invited more people than just the two of you."

"What?!" She sprinted to get her phone. She checked her mail. Indeed she had a mail from Hiroto; he invited them to come at six thirty and the same message was sent to Shiranui brothers and Katsunori too.

"But that's fine. I've thought he invited your ' _old crew_ ', the former members of the national team. Don't scare me like that."

He chuckled. "I wanted to tease you a bit."

"That wasn't good."

"Hai, hai. Have you resolved your argument with Aomine?"

"Pretty much." She nodded. "We are on speaking terms, friends, let's say... And he helped us with the 'post-office'…" _And played one-on-one with me._ She added inwardly.

"Post-office?... Ah… The box?"

"Yeah, the box." She sighed and watched the boys.

"Are you okay?" He knew she knew he was referring to the letters she'd received. He'd read them.

"Yes! I'm fine. I've been called _'a whore'_ before. By my father, Katsunori. Trust me; there is nothing more humiliating than that." _More so if it's a lie._ She said, not averting her eyes from the boys dying from warm-ups. She needed to be sure they wouldn't hear it.

Katsunori's face twisted in shock. Did he hear right? Haruka would do **_that_**? That Haruka, who couldn't get enough of boasting about his perfect children some years ago?! What the hell had happened to his best friend since he had stopped keeping in contact and started to ignore his calls?

"It's been almost ten months since then… We haven't really talked about anything besides business. And I can't bring myself to forgive him." She sighed. "…but I can't hate him. Is that weird?"

Katsunori didn't answer. He was too shocked to say anything.

Aya shrugged it off. "Hey! Let me join!" She shouted and joined the basketball practise with a smile on her face.

* * *

"Headmaster?" Katsunori peeked into the headmaster's office. He didn't do it often, because the man had some strange personality, but now he needed his help.

"What is it?" The man raised his head from the papers he was reading.

"Do you have a minute? It concerns Irihata-sensei and my niece, I fear."

"The box?" Of course he knew about it. And he wanted to see how it would solve itself. Kagami sure dealt with it in an interesting way. He'd seen the girl several times, when she'd stayed over-practise to help her team, or when she chatted with Tsuchiya-san. And he concluded that she was a smart young lady, who loved to be around people.

"Well… one letter in particular." He pulled at his fringe. "I have a suspicion that the letter claiming Aya to be a whore was written by Irihata-sensei herself. And right now, she is grilling Aya and Ohno-san, god knows why."

He frowned. "That's a very serious accusation, Harasawa-sensei. I hope you do realize that."

"Yes, but I can back it up. Will you help me to prove it?"

######

"You feeling okay?" Wakamatsu asked them. He was the one to come and get Kagami Aya and Ohno Kiku from their classroom after classes.

"Never felt better." Aya chuckled, but she was slightly nervous. This was exactly the type of situation Katsunori feared. She was being a Kagami; impulsively dealing with her problems the way she was used to – head on. She only hoped that this little problem wouldn't escalate and cause troubles for Kiku.

Wakamatsu opened the door for them, and they walked in. The committee had six members altogether, two from each year. There were tables arranged in a circle around the small committee room, and six people were sitting there. Irihata-sensei and another five students.

"Welcome girls. Please sit." The teacher said and pointed towards two chairs in the middle.

Kiku gulped. The atmosphere was heavy, and even Aya-san seemed to be serious. Until she whispered to her…

"Looks like an inquisition. Beware, they found a redheaded witch they want to burn." She said in an eerie voice, and Kiku fought laughter.

Wakamatsu snickered behind them and lowered his head. Corners of his lips were twitching, as he fought back laughter as well. He quickly slipped to his seat and smiled at them encouragingly. At Kiku, mostly. There was nothing for them to worry about. Or so he thought.

"Thank you." Aya smiled at Irihata-sensei. "Why are we here?"

"But to discuss what you've done." Sensei was smiling at them with a smile of someone who knew they had an upper hand. "I'm sure you know it very well, Kagami _-san_." She said the honorific as if it physically hurt her.

"I fear we have no idea what you are talking about Sensei. I'm sorry."

"Are you Ohno-san's spokes person?" She frowned at Aya. "Ohno-san, do you too claim you have no idea what you've done?"

Everyone was staring at Kiku and she was starting to feel sick. She was staring at the floor, and she could feel she was shaking. This English teacher didn't like them. She liked to humiliate Kiku in front of the class when she messed up some pronunciation. Now, she was glaring at Kiku, she could feel it, and it made her stomach turn. Nevertheless, she had to do something; speak for herself.

"Y-y-yes."

"Yes what? Yes you don't have any idea what happened, or yes, you do?"

"I-I-I d-d-don't have a-any i-idea." She stuttered.

"Could you repeat it again?"

"I believe we all heard her, Irihata-sensei." Wakamatsu jumped in, helping the poor girl. He could see tears of embarrassment in her chocolate eyes and he so hated it.

Teacher shot a glare at Wakamatsu, but let it be. "What can you tell us about the white box for bully letters?"

"Oh, is that what we've done?" Aya acted innocent. "I didn't know it was against the rules." She tilted her head in question, and her reddish eyes were staring straight at the teacher; she wasn't afraid of her.

"It was a rebellious act, Kagami-san. Do you realize that by publicly displaying the letters you might have exposed other people to bullying? They might get ostracized by those who recognize their handwriting. Is that okay in your merit?"

"With all due respect, I didn't force them to write those letters. And do _you_ think it's okay if students receive such letters on daily basis? You think it doesn't hurt them?"

"You are not in America anymore, Kagami _-san_ , we deal with it differently here."

Aya raised her eyebrow. "By ignoring it?"

"You need to learn to face consequences of your actions, girls." She didn't answer Aya's question and her voice indicated they were indeed in trouble. She was glaring at them.

 _WHAT?!_ Aya's blood was boiling. What the fuck was this teacher spouting? That Irihata hated her, Aya knew, but that she would punish Kiku because she got bullied infuriated her.

Kiku was playing with the hem of her skirt. She admired Aya-san for her bravery. She wouldn't be able to speak so confidently or without stuttering and shaky voice. And yet, she felt it didn't matter. Irihata-sensei was already set on punishing them. She could feel it. And if they got punished by the teacher for getting bullied, then what was the point of fighting it? _What a useless struggle._ She thought bitterly. _You are and always will be useless._

"What?!" Wakamatsu shouted. So far everyone on the committee kept quiet. The teacher was vicious and they didn't want to oppose her. "You want to punish them for being bullied?! That's nonsense!"

"It's you who said it, Wakamatsu-san." She smiled at him, and it took the air out of his lungs. "The box you made was an act of revenge and thus bullying. I would say they should be banned from club activities permanently."

"But she is our manager! And Ohno-san helps us a lot too!" He shouted, trying to protect Aya-san, and Ohno-san at the same time. Kiku wasn't doing much for the club, but she showed up during practises here and there, and it made him happy. "They are not bullies! The team needs them."

"And your judgement is thus biased. You should leave and let us deal with the rest."

"And why are you keeping your mouth shut!" He yelled at the other members. No one dared to look at him. Wakamatsu was fair, that's why they'd taken him in, but right now… Right now, he was acting impulsively and they couldn't fail in English or repeat a year. "We should look for the bullies who wrote those letters! Not punishing girls who got bullied! That's twisted!"

"They received the letters as the result of their behaviour." Irihata-sensei said calmly.

"What are you implying?" Aya asked coldly, almost threateningly, before Wakamatsu could shout out anything else. It was great to see him trying to help, but he was only making it worse.

Aya was starting to feel powerless. ' _Even if I am fiery, and don't fear arguments, we are here on our own. Realise our position…That teacher is a venomous snake, I don't wish to take that on.'_ She had told that to Taiga after the teacher tore the necklace off of her neck. _I am taking that on now…_ No matter what she said, Irihata-sensei would twist it the other way around. It was an uneven fight, she knew that, but she was refusing to give up or show her insecurity. There was no reason for her to get punished, just because she refused to be a victim.

"There must be something true in those letters."

 _True?! If I cite them, she'll say 'you said it'._ So Aya decided to play dumb. "Explain it please. I don't understand what you mean."

"Do you say you've never had an affair with a basketball player?"

 _Tatsuya? How the hell does **she** know?!_ This was going too far and Aya momentarily panicked, but she kept her poker face. How glad she was that Tatsuya had taught her the little trick. "Pardon me? I have no idea what are you talking about." She replied without flinching. _Burn in hell sensei._

"I've seen the photo." Irihata said slyly, trying to break Aya.

 _Oh… You've seen that? So it's personal._ "I'm Kagami Aya, sensei. There are many photos of me. Many of them photoshoped and used out of context. I don't keep a track of everything." She said icily. She knew exactly what photo Irihata was referring to; the one where she was making out with Tatsuya, the one that found its way into a press. _Tch…_ Using her name like that… If the disciplinary committee found out… _Then so be it._

Kiku didn't dare to look up, but this caught her interest. Wakamatsu too, didn't know what to say or do. He had no idea what Irihata-sensei was talking about. No one had an idea what this was about anymore, but Aya.

Irihata could sense when she was pulling by the shorter end and at the moment she was. She'd never expected she'd use the photo. Too bad she hadn't printed it to show it to everyone. "But you do expect me to remember those letters?"

 _'So-you-didn't-bring-it.-My-win.'_ Aya smirked at her, knowing the teacher got the message. "You want to punish us for the letters we received, so yes. I expect you've read them, or…?" Aya stuck her chin our. She regretted dragging Kiku here. If she had known…

The door opened, and Harasawa waltzed in, accompanied by the headmaster. "I believe you do remember this one in particular, _dear_ colleague." He slapped a copy of one letter in front of her.

Her face twisted in a grimace. With Harasawa intervening, it would be troublesome to get away with this. She'd never expected him to stand up for the girl. "Where you listening behind the door? This is under my supervision, you shouldn't undermine my authority." She said, aware that members of her committee will keep quiet about this matter. She just needed to punish Kagami and maybe Wakamatsu…

"I saw the box, and there was something I was wondering about. Then I heard my niece got called in, and you are supervising it, I got curious. You personally see to major troubles only, while minor problems are dealt with by the committee alone. This was a minor dispute. They didn't break any rule. If anything, what they've done is admirable and gutsy."

Aya was never happier to see Katsunori in her life. But if he was there, then he had figured out that something which had bothered him the previous day.

"They might get others into trouble." She argued.

"Shouldn't the others face the consequences of their free actions as well, Irihata-sensei?" The Headmaster asked, observing his English teacher. He was an elderly man, who hated injustice. He always tried to pick out his teachers carefully, but there were some decisions he didn't approve of, which happened anyways and she was one of those. "You included, Irihata-sensei."

"What are you implying?" Her eyes narrowed into thin slits.

"It's your handwriting isn't it?" Katsunori pointed at the letter. If there was anything he would fight for, it was his family. Even if the family was not related by blood.

 _WHAT?!_ Aya turned her head to stare and Katsunori. _What the hell are you talking about? It's not her handwriting! She wouldn't be that stupid…_

Irihata's eyes widened. _How the hell did he…?_ "I don't know what you're talking about."

"We searched your table and found a draft, and your personal notes, sensei." Headmaster said. "You obviously can't stand Kagami-san."

"You can't accuse me like this. And it's not my handwriting. Look at –"

"I know you are ambidextrous. And that your handwriting differs, depending on which arm you use. You use your right hand preferably, but you are originally left-handed, am I right?" Katsunori's eyebrow went up.

He figured it out thanks to Aya, when he went over her latest basketball report and saw how her handwriting changed when she'd switched hands. And he'd known Irihata from college, where she'd only used her left hand. No doubts the letter seemed so familiar.

"And I'm the headmaster; I have the authority to see your teacher's notes. Despite that I won't tolerate a teacher calling my students _whores_." He spat out the word angrily. "Much less girls who diligently fulfil all their tasks and participate in club activities. Come to my office."

"B-b-but…"

"NOW!" Headmaster thundered, turned on his heel and left.

With a slumped head, and cheeks red from anger and embarrassment, Irihata followed him. That little Kagami-bitch had caused her so much trouble. It was unfair that the girl had everything she'd ever wanted at that age. Kagami was pretty, skilled, liked by others, she knew languages, she was good at sports, and she was constantly surrounded by boys. It didn't matter that they were her teammates and friends only. Irihata envied her. She hated her. So she'd thought that making Kagami's life a little bit difficult wouldn't hurt anyone. Well, except Kagami. She'd thought the flamboyant girl would ignore it, but that the constant letters would depress her eventually. Or that she would react the way she had and take matters into her own hands, which was the preferable option for Irihata. She'd been able to find a reason to punish the redhead, after Kagami had created the box… Taking away the club activities seemed like a good idea to shut her up. If only Kagami hadn't talked back to her, if only Wakamatsu hadn't prolonged the case, if only Harasawa had never showed up… she could've won, she could've felt better. And now, she was about to get fired… She could feel it. Because of Kagami! If only the girl had never showed up!

The door closed.

The entire committee sighed in relief. They hoped Irihata-sensei wouldn't supervise them anymore.

"Thank you!" Aya squealed and jumped at Katsunori with tears of happiness glimmering in her eyes but never rolling out. "Thank you, thank you, thank you…" She breathed out as she hid her face in his shirt.

"Err…" He didn't know what to do now. His arms instinctively held her. "You're welcome, Robin." He said finally and squeezed her in a tight hug. "No one will call my niece a whore. No one. And I didn't like her anyways."

Aya chuckled and stepped back. "You are welcome for me causing this scene then…"

"Don't cause another. Or let me know in advance."

"Sure." She winked at him and then grabbed Kiku into big hug. "We are off the hook! We are not getting punished!"

"The rest of you." Katsunori gave them a strict look. "Ueda-sensei will be the new supervisor of you. So treat him well. And I'd prefer if you don't talk about this incident much."

"Hai." They nodded in unison. Thank gods they'd be working with Ueda-sensei, he had a good reputation.

######

That day, no one skipped practise and Kiku came with Aya, Wakamatsu and Harasawa-sensei to their gym. They were late and no one was practising. The boys were too interested in what had happened. The entire school knew about the 'post-office', and the word about Aya and Kiku being called out by the disciplinary committee spread like wildfire.

The boys from their class immediately flocked around them. They wanted to know what had happened.

"Let's say, we weren't banned from our clubs thanks to Katsunori." Aya smiled.

"What?! They wanted to punish you for being bullied?!" Kano shouted in disbelief. "Wakamatsu-senpai! How could you let it happen?!"

"What?! I tried to help, you know?! But Irihata wouldn't listen to a reason!" He defended himself.

"Yes, yes. He was awesome." Aya smiled at him and patted his shoulder. Wakamatsu turned his head away with a blush. "Right, Kiku?"

"A-ah… Y-yes." She stuttered. Her stomach was still shaking from all the drama. But she was glad they made it through. Now, she wanted to go home and shoot some arrows to calm down her shaking nerves. "T-thank you, Wakamatsu-senpai." She said quietly, staring at her feet.

Wakamatsu's face lit up.

Aya, Tada and Imayoshi exchanged knowing looks and snickered.

"I believe Kiku-chan has had enough of people for today, same goes for you, Wakamatsu." Imayoshi said, and Aya knew he had some ulterior motive. "Why don't you make sure she gets home safely or as far as she lets you tag along? You can skip practise today, because of the circumstances."

Kiku stared at the third year with wide eyes. What was happening?

######

Aya could've gone home too, but she decided to stay and practise with them. It was the best way for her to forget about all the bad things that had happened during the day. The rest of the practise continued in the usual matter. Power training, balance training, stamina runs and mini matches at the end.

During the mini matches, Aya was taking notes and smiling. With this, they would definitely get through prelims smoothly, even without Aomine playing. She wasn't sure he would show up for all the matches they were assigned to. After all, he was still apathetic and fed up when it came to playing against 'useless' opponents.

"LIL' MONKEEEYYYY!"

Upon hearing that voice and that nickname, she froze, shivered and ducked.

A boy flew over her head, rolled, and stood up.

Everyone in the gym stopped with whatever they were doing and stared at the idiot. Who the hell was that?

"You avoided me!" He accused her.

She was staring at the boy. Yes, she recognised the voice. No, she couldn't connect it with the phenomenon standing in front of her. It was a 20 years old, Shiranui Kouta. The same Kouta, who used to be a bookworm with glasses –similar to Kano Shima. Smarty-ass, with his hair always short, and wearing old-fashioned clothes. But this Kouta… He had long dreadlocks which ends were dyed pink, no glasses and he was wearing torn jeans and a tank-top. What a few years could do to a person…

"Uuuuhm…" Aya was staring at him. "Who did that to you? And where is the Kouta I know?"

But he ignored her question. "You've got boobs now! Lemme feel 'em." He tried to catch her into embrace again but she avoided him.

"Wah!" She was basically running away from him every time he tried to catch her.

She could say he was just playing this stupid demeanour, but it was still shocking to see the usually serious Kouta acting this way. Yes, he was the one coming up with hilarious pranks when they were children, but he always managed to keep his dignity. So now, she was curious as of how long he could keep to this silly behaviour, and what would happen.

"But monkeeeyyy! Don't fight my love!"

Aya rolled her eyes. "Will you stop acting like a pervert?!"

"Oh?" He stopped and tilted his head. "I haven't seen you in years! And you managed to avoid me when I moved in to your house! How you did that is beyond me…" He mused, acting goofy. "I'm offended! You were so rude to completely ignore your friend and future fiancée!"

Entire team gasped. "Future fiancée?!" They asked in whispers.

"WHAT?!" She yelled in surprise. Yeah, he'd said something like that when they were kids, but that he would stick to it… "Is your brain overheated or what?!"

"I've told you. You'll be mine one day, Lil' monkey. I'll wait all you want."

Katsunori rolled his eyes. They were causing ruckus, but he didn't feel like butting in, the practise was already ending and he didn't want to end up in the midst of it. As he watched the stunned faces of his team, he assumed they were way too shocked to interrupt either.

"Over my dead body." She said in a deadly cold voice and glared at him.

Kouta gasped and put his hand over his heart. "Don't be like that. I've come from America just for this reunion Hiroto organizes! You can as well be nice to me for one night."

She understood the double meaning. "Then stop spouting nonsense!"

"But we've promised when we were kids!"

" ** _YOU_** have." She jabbed her finger into the air. "Not me. And then you threw a cockroach under my shirt!" She shivered at the memory.

Kouta had a terrified expression for a moment. "You don't have to remember **_that_**!" He whined.

"Just stop making a fool out of yourself, Kouta!" She said with her hands on her hips.

The boy smirked, "Very well then." and he suddenly switched from goofy, into serious, sly even. "It's good to see you after so long. You look good."

She shook her head in exasperation. "Yes. Can't say the same. You look ridiculous with that hairdo…" She chuckled at his shocked expression. "Anyways… Sorry I avoided you back in America."

"Naaah." He waved his hand at it. "It's not like I don't get your reasoning. In your position, I'd probably pack my stuff, slam the door and leave immediately."

She sighed. "I couldn't possibly do that."

"Oh yes you could. It was an easy way out, but you chose to stay and face 'em instead… Aaand that's why I want you for a wife, Lil' monkey. Though I do know I'm not your type." He joked and ruffled her hair. This time, she didn't run away, but she suspiciously glared at him. Then his eyes finally focused on Katsunori and their surroundings. "Oh, hey everyone. I'm Shiranui Kouta, her… What are we? Friends, siblings, family by choice? Whatever…" He waved them with a goofy grin and took a few steps towards Katsunori. "Long time no see, Katsu! You age like a wine! The older the better!"

Katsunori rolled his eyes. "Welcome home, Kouta. I hope you are done with acting foolishly."

"But that's me!" Kouta laughed. "I haven't seen my Lil' tiger yet! There'll be ruckus, when I get my hands on him!"

"Urgh." Aya groaned. "Why do you make it sound so perverted?"

"What?! If he looks as good as your ol' man, I wouldn't mind leaving my mark on him." He winked at Aya.

"Eeeew! Stop it! If Taiga or father heard you you'd be dead by now." She knew Kouta swung both ways, and she didn't mind it, but if he could just leave out her brother and father…

"Your father wouldn't bother himself… And Taiga… Has he ever won a fight against me? I bet he is around your height, no?" He asked cockily, acting full of himself.

Aya and Katsunori exchanged glances and Kano, Ishii and Naito chuckled. The boys were grouped together. They were trying to be as discreet as possible and observe the scene in front of them. Even Satsuki was hiding from the eyes of this wildly looking and obviously perverted newcomer, though she appreciated the pink dreadlocks.

Aomine gave them a weird glance. "What?"

"Nah… This guy is hilarious."

"You mean fucked up?" He hissed at Kano, but suddenly Aya's hand grabbed his wrist and pulled him out of the group. _Eh?_

"This is a good example of physical built of the _'Lil' tiger'_." She dragged him in front of Kouta, who was barely reaching Aomine's shoulders. "You sure you want to provoke him when you see him?"

"Eeeeeeh?!" He looked up at Aomine. _Another sexy one… You are a sly little fox, Aya…_

The way Kouta stared at him, send chills down Aomine's spine and he instinctively took a step back, to be out of the man's reach. It felt as if Kouta wanted to undress him then and there, and it sure as hell didn't please the grumpy ace. His eyes glared down at him. No, he didn't like this Shiranui either. And his face looked so much like Hikaru's, it annoyed Aomine. "Heh… pink dreadlocks? Aren't you impressive?" He asked mockingly.

Kouta smirked. "Says a guy with navy blue hair." He jabbed back. Then he muttered under his breath: "Very hot guy, with navy blue hair…"

…and he wasn't sure whose glare was scarier, Aya's or the boy's. _Definitely Lil' monkey's…_ He decided. He would have to survive the night in the twins' presence, so he decided he should ignore the boy, and he turned to Katsunori. "Anyways. The practise is over! Shouldn't we head out? I'm staaarving! And I want to see the two idiots." He started heading out.

"If the two idiots are your brothers, then there'll be hell to pay." Aya called after him.

He stopped and turned at her with narrowed eyes. "What they don't hear won't get me pranked." He said, but could already feel her retort.

"I'll gladly tell them."

"Oh you wouldn't dare Lil' monkey, I'm the number one in pulling pranks. You don't want to get on my bad side."

"Is that a challenge I hear?"

Aomine was forgotten by both. It was annoying, but the expression on Aya's face at the moment was priceless. The challenge was burning in her reddish eyes, and she was excited. Despite the amount of time she hadn't seen this man, it was as if they'd parted yesterday. At least that's what it looked like to Aomine. Could he ever have this type of relationship with Kagami? Was that what he wanted, or…? When he heard the word 'fiancée' in connection with Kagami, it made his blood freeze for a moment. _Maybe your little crush is a bit more than a crush?_ Kise's words echoed in his mind. _Shit... That can't be it._

"Careful, monkey." He smirked and looked at Katsunori. "Gimme your car keys, I'll fetch it and wait for the two of you at the school gate. It feels creepy to be back at my high-school grounds."

"You are not driving my car."

"Urgh, come on, Katsu."

Katsunori narrowed eyes at him. He knew Kouta way too well to trust him with his car, but it wasn't a bad idea. "Don't do anything weird." He warned and threw him the keys.

Kouta caught it. "Hai, hai. I ain't a lil' kid anymore." He waved them and disappeared outside.

"Wow… That was… Interesting…" Imayoshi summarized Kouta's intervention accurately.

"Sorry. He surprised me too. He used to be more like Naito… Not like this… natural phenomenon…" Aya shrugged and stared after the dreadlocked guy in surprise as well.

"Okay everyone!" Katsunori clapped to get their attention. "It's time to wrap it up!"

"I think we can close the gym ourselves, coach." Imayoshi offered himself. This day was crazy for everyone. "You don't have to wait for us."

"Okay, Imayoshi-kun. I leave it up to you then." He nodded to the captain, glad he could trust the boy with always doing a proper job.

"Have a good night!" Aya waved them enthusiastically and followed after Katsunori. She needed to change into normal clothes, and brace herself for the evening full of memories and pranks and food and no sleep at all.

######

"Turn right here." She said and pointed at the side road leading towards Seirin. "We need to pick up Taiga."

"Oh god... You really didn't lie!" Kouta said as he spotted the tall figure of 'Lil' tiger', standing at a sidewalk and waiting for them.

"Yo." Taiga saluted to both of them as he got into the car. He fastened a seatbelt and only then he looked at the driver. His eyes widened in surprise. "WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO YOU?!"

"I could ask the same! What fertilizer did they feed you?!"

"… Is that really you?!"

"Yep, in flesh and blood." He nodded and smirked slyly. "You look very hot, Lil' tiger." He said in flirty voice. "I wouldn't mind getting closer with you."

"FUCK NO!" Taiga said loudly with pale face and leaned as far from Kouta's direction as the inside of the car allowed. Then he sighed, it wasn't his intention to sound hateful. "Swing whichever way you want, but leave me out of it."

"Hahahaha." Kouta's head tilted backwards as he laughed. "Your sis' said the same thing. I'm disappointed. I hoped I'd get at least one good fuck during this trip."

 _I didn't say it out loud…_ she thought.

"Then try not to pick your family members and minors, stupid." Katsunori rolled his eyes.

"We are not blood related!" Kouta exclaimed desperately.

"That doesn't matter moron, we are family. And that's it!" Aya hit the back of his head. "Now drive. I'm starving too."

######

"Anata! Your guests are here!"

"It's our guests." Hiroto corrected her, just as he took out a chocolate cake from the oven. "Go invite them in, Mayu."

She played with the hem of her casual dress. "They don't know me." She pouted slightly.

"What are you talking about? Katsunori and Shiranui brothers do. And those twins are sweethearts, really."

"As you wish…" She huffed and stomped towards the door.

They decided to host the dinner at the bar, which was closed tonight, and so she had quite a way to get to the front door. Along the way she breathed in and out through her nose. She was nervous. She saw Shiranui brothers only once or twice, and the possible reaction of the twins worried her. The age gap between her and Hiroto was quite big after all…

"Welcome!" She opened with a bright smile on her face.

"Hello! Thank you for having us." They all said in unison, as if they had rehearsed it.

"Please come on in. You don't have to take off your shoes." She reminded them, as they were in the usually public place, now turned private for the dinner.

Aya was staring at the beautiful young woman, who opened up the door for them. She had straight silky black hair cascading down her back and the darkest black eyes Aya had ever seen. Her face was heart shaped and she had a mole under her right eye. The woman was lean and around her height. Judging by Katsunori's quick description and the wedding-ring on her finger, she assumed she was Hiroto's wife. She didn't expect someone so young, and looking at Taiga, he didn't either.

Mayu was, on the other hand staring at Kouta's wild appearance. _He changed so much in only half a year?!_

"I believe we don't know each other." Aya broke the staring contests and Mayu finally looked at her, and then at Taiga standing behind her.

"Eeek…" She took a step back. Out of all the men there, Taiga was the tallest and he looked the most intimidating. _Is he really just fifteen?_ On the second glance, the girl had intimidating presence as well. _Just who are these twins?_ She wasn't prepared for this. They looked like the Kagami twins; Haruka and Kyou! Were they related? If yes, then Hiroto withheld a lot!

"I'm Kagami Aya, and this is my twin brother Taiga. Nice to meet you."

"Ussu." Taiga nodded. "Nice to meet you."

"Ka-Ka-Kagami?!" _As in children of one of the Kagamis?! The owners of this place?! Oh god!_ And she was wearing only a casual black cotton dress and a little make-up!

"Oh?" Aya and Taiga exchanged glances. "Hasn't Hiroto told you?"

Mayu was frozen on her spot. She should introduce herself. But she wasn't prepared for this!

"You must be Hiroto's wife, right?" Aya was trying to break the ice. She was pitting the poor little lamb, which fell into this trap. "You don't have to worry, we don't bite."

"Ah!" She bowed immediately. "I'm so sorry. Please forgive my rudeness! My name is Amane Mayu! I'm Hiroto's wife since September." She blurted out and her voice jumped up several octaves.

"Can we call you by your name?"

"Errr. Yes!"

"Okay then. Please, call us our names too." Aya asked with a smile and pushed her way into the building. This time it was her, leading the way towards the kitchen. "Right now, we are not Kagamis, okay? We are not here on Kyou's or father's behalf. We came here to meet our closest family and friends and to relax, so please don't feel nervous, Mayu." She said and hoped it would help at least a bit. "Oh, and Taiga is one big softie, so don't feel intimidated by his size."

"Wha –? Ayaaa!"

"What? It's true." She laughed and patted his back.

Mayu smiled at the gesture. _So the kids of Kagami Haruka…_ The one she hadn't met yet. _Maybe they are not as scary._

The dinner was great and everything went according to the plan, or rather the no-plan they had. Hiroto knew that with this bunch, there was no need to try impressing them. They enjoyed great food (and lots of it), no matter what it looked like, and they talked about everything and nothing at the same time.

Hiroto decided to offer them a wine and champagne, whichever they chose. The twins went for the wine as per usual, and he was keeping an eye on them so they wouldn't get drunk. He knew he could trust them, and they kept drinking water not to get light headed too quickly. Aya was avoiding family topics as he'd expected and Taiga didn't poke it either. They mostly questioned his wife, who was a new addition to their family circle and he was surprised that they never mentioned the age gap, which must have been obvious. At the same time he wondered when would his wife break and question it herself… Hiroto knew how difficult it had been for Mayu to persuade her family that their relationship was worth it. But after the marriage, they'd cut all ties with her anyways. He only hoped it would resolve itself at some point, because he hated the idea of being the reason for Mayu's loss of family.

"So you don't mind?" Mayu asked suddenly. She wasn't sure where she took the courage from, or what lead her to ask that.

"Don't mind what?" Aya blinked at her.

"Uhm… the age gap?"

"How old are you?" She asked curiously. She didn't want to poke that bear, but when Mayu started on her own, she'd be foolish not to ask.

"Twenty five." She said and averted her eyes.

"So it's only seventeen years… You are forty two, ol' man, right?" Aya turned her eyes at Hiroto, who nodded. He was the same age as Katsunori.

"Only?" Mayu asked hesitantly.

"Yeah. I don't care. Honestly, your relationship is your own, and as long as you two are happy, who are we to judge? It's your path and we haven't walked in your shoes." Aya shrugged and smiled at Mayu, who had glassy eyes from unshed tears, upon hearing this from a fifteen year old Kagami Aya. "You are kind, nice, pretty, caring and your cooking is awesome. You seem to genuinely love this old man, so I'm happy for you both, and I hope you'll stay together forever and have lots of little kiddos running around in no time. And since we didn't attend the wedding, for which we are very sorry…"

Aya and Taiga stood up from their chairs and rose their wine glasses (that kept refilling itself throughout the dinner; mostly thanks to Hiroto's skill), the others joining them.

"We want to congratulate you to your wedding and offer you a gift, even if it's months late." Taiga continued when Aya went to get their gift. "It's great to welcome you to our small patchwork family, and we hope we won't scare you away… Erm… But if you were easily scared you wouldn't end up with Hiroto, right?" He chuckled nervously; he wasn't as smooth in talking as Aya, so he was more than glad when she returned.

"Congratulations to the newlyweds, even though it's late! Welcome to the family Mayu! We are more than happy to have you!"

Aya pulled Mayu into an embrace while the others cheered. Then she pulled away and handed over the gift.

Mayu was crying crocodile tears of joy and happiness. What her own family hadn't given her, these teenagers offered without a second thought, naturally. She felt flooded by acceptance, and love and she couldn't stop her tears.

"I…" She got out after a moment. She felt Hiroto's arm around her shoulders, quietly supporting her. As if he was saying: ' _Go on. I'm here with you. I love you.'_ "Thank you…" She whispered. "Thank you both."

Aya was grinning widely and she had tears in the corners of her eyes as well. Seeing someone so happy was melting her heart. When she glanced at Taiga, she noticed that he was discreetly hiding his tears as well. They had another family member, who was a sincere person and could be trusted. They could tell that much.

"Oi, oi. We are all crying from emotions, now could you continue and open up the gift, sweetheart?" Kouta demanded. "I'm curious as hell."

"Enjoy the moment, stupid." Hikaru scolded him. "You last cried on their wedding."

"Not true! I last cried a few weeks ago, during an awesome sex."

"URGH! Could for ONCE stop talking 'bout sex?!" Aya shouted at him. "You are ruining the moment!"

"But I love it!"

Senri smacked his head, and sighed in exasperation. "Yeah, yeah, we know. We can see it. You've changed into this unguided missile. Stop rubbing it in our faces. Grandpa is turning in his grave when he hears you, Kouta."

"Oh, behold, the eldest brother trying to bring in some order!"

"Be happy you have big brothers to rely on, idiot!" Hikaru joined Senri in trying to rein in on Kouta, who was indeed going through some late rebellious stage.

Mayu burst out laughing. This was indeed a patchwork family full of big hearted dorks. "Hai, hai. I'll open it in a minute… Oh… can I?" She looked at the twins.

"Sure. It's nothing dirty. We are not _him_." Taiga pointed at Kouta with a pouty expression.

"Ossu… Here it goes." Mayu started to tear off the white wrapping.

The gift was a middle sized box, but she couldn't guess what was inside. She loved a white wrapping with tiny roses printed on it. When the wrapping came off, she stroked the white leather of the box. Hiroto gently rubbed her shoulder to cheer her on; he was curious as a little kid. Mayu opened the lid and was met with a glimmer of two crystal goblets. The stems were made of beautifully crafted silver, and black onyx stones were crafted into it.

"It's beautiful…" Mayu breathed out. "Thank you."

"Look beneath it, dear." Hiroto said, when he noticed something unusual.

"Eh? What's that?" She asked and pulled out a thick envelope to open it.

"It's plane tickets… To Paris, I believe…" Hiroto leaned forward to see better; there were indeed the airplane tickets and all reservations the twins had made for them.

"It was Taiga's idea." Aya shrugged. "He said it was your dream to go there once, so… Take your lovely wife and have another honeymoon."

"Really?" Hiroto blinked at Taiga, who scratched his cheek in embarrassment; Aya had promised not to rat him out.

"Well… Yeah… But I –"

"Oh come here!" He pulled Taiga into a fatherly hug. "Thank you, Tiger."

"Ah… Errr… You're welcome?"

"And I can't even touch him." Kouta pouted.

"Would you shut up?" Katsunori narrowed his sharp eyes at the brat, who kept interrupting everyone's moments.

######

"Aaaa, so here you are." Kouta leaned against the railing on the rooftop, where he came to smoke and where he found the twins; who went to get some air.

It was past midnight and their conversation turned into playing family games, twister, and whatever they took into their hands.

Kouta inhaled the nicotine and offered a cigarette to Aya. She glanced at it, then she glanced at Taiga, asking for permission and when he shrugged, she took one.

"You want some too?" He asked Taiga, even though he knew the answer right away.

"No thanks. I don't smoke."

"Ah well… Good choice, Lil' tiger." He patted his shoulder.

"…only because you came all the way from America just to see us." Aya said as he lighted it for her.

"Sure, sure. I wanted some break anyways." He puffed smoke and stared as it dispersed in night breeze.

"How is he?" Aya asked about her father, and stared at the red tip of her cigarette. It tasted awful, but for some reason, she didn't mind. The cigarette calmed her down in a way.

"Locked up with his work, or out on business trips, most of the time. When he is at home, I only know thanks to the housekeeper lady, ehm…" He was trying to remember her name. _Something like…_ "Gabi! Yeah, Gabi-san who says hello, by the way… I don't get how you can hide in that house and not bump into each other if you don't want to. I mean, your house is huge. It's not even a house, it's a mansion…" He got carried away. "Anyways… I've only met Haruka-sama thrice. Once when I arrived, then when he asked me to have a dinner with him, and then when he questioned my dreadlocks."

"Haruka-sama? Do you actually respect our ol' man?" Taiga asked in surprise. They used '-sama' honorific when addressing their father lately, but it was more out of obligation than real respect.

"I don't want to be thrown out, right? And he still has the image of the previous me in his head… As long as I can feed that image, I will. I want to finish my university there."

"I wanted to ask whether he approved the hairdo…" Taiga mused.

Kouta scratched his head. "He didn't, but it was already done, and I told him I'd lost a bet… It's not like I'm a Kagami, so he can't do anything with it."

Aya chuckled. "He can still throw you out, or order you to cut it."

"Nah, he wouldn't go as far. It's more like… he couldn't care less. As long as I don't cause troubles, don't bring my dates in, and as long as I'm discreet with my partners, he doesn't care what I do."

A bitter chuckle escaped both twins. "Yeah, he couldn't care less. As long as we don't bring shame on him…" Aya echoed his words and inhaled tobacco fumes.

"I'm sorry." Kouta said sympathetically. He grew up without parents too. And he knew how hard it could be. Maybe having no parents was better, because he could still believe they would've cared…

"It's fine." Taiga shrugged. "We are used to it."

"He doesn't really know you anymore, does he?" The question was meant for both of them.

Aya thought about Kouta's question for a moment. "I don't think so. Not anymore. And I think we don't know him anymore either."

"We tried to fix it, but fixing this cannot be one sided." Taiga added. "Sometimes… It's like we don't even exist."

"So you left?"

"We didn't run away. We asked him to come with us… I wanted to come back here and Aya tagged along." He shrugged. "I don't think he actually misses us. He knows we left, but he probably doesn't notice our absence. We didn't spend much time in that house anyways."

"So here's where you are!" Hikaru's voice interrupted whatever Aya wanted to say. "Come on! Hiroto is making pancakes! And we want to play truth or dare!"

"What?! Pancakes? Now?! It's two in the morning!" Aya groaned.

"Naaah… We want something sweet, come on."

* * *

 **A/N:** Our 'favourite' teacher gets caught up in her own game. Oh... someone's pointing out Kise's copying ability! And a little moment for our couple. I hope I didn't confuse you with the OCs too much and that the story is still enjoyable. (I like creating them all.)

For those who also read my other fic, sorry for not updating - I don't have the 4th chapter yet :( But I'll try to have it sometime next week (now I have a crazy exam - work week).

Let me know what you think and remember, reviews are appreciated but never necessary.

-S.


	18. Chapter 18: Getting to know you

**A/N:** Hello everyone. It's Christmas! So here's the 18th chapter for you.

Merry Christmas to you all! Or "Šťastné a Veselé Vianoce!" as we say it in my language. :)

Reply to **gomeluve:** Thank you for the review! I'm happy you like the story.

Enjoy.

* * *

 _It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them. **– Ralph Waldo Emerson**_

 _A smart girl leaves before she is left. **– Marilyn Monroe**_

 _You can look at my palm and see the storm coming. Read the book of my life and see I've overcome it. **– Mary J. Blige**_

 _The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance. **– Alan Watts**_

* * *

"Mom! Give me a ride to school!"

"Eh? You want to go to practise, Daiki?" Michiko asked him in surprise. It was quite strange for her son to ask for a ride. He usually avoided morning practises and even if he was up, he preferred going out with the dogs, laze around and _then_ go to school.

That he sometimes skipped classes, she had no idea.

"I feel like it. You've got a problem with it?" He retorted and jumped into his shoes.

He would be at school some time before the official morning practise, but he couldn't stay at home. He wanted to be sure that Kagami was all right. He hated the idea that she had spent the night in the presence of that dreadlock guy and Hikaru. It didn't matter that the coach and her brother were there too, he didn't trust the Shiranuis he knew. All the strange thoughts kept him from sleeping almost the entire night.

"… N-no." _What in the world…_ "Did something happen?" She asked diplomatically, because her son had no idea about the dancing video she had. With Daisuke they decided to observe their teenager without butting in too much.

"Nothin'." He mumbled, but he knew his mother could see through him.

To his surprise, she shrugged. "If you say so. Come on."

"Ossu." He grabbed his bag and followed her to the car.

######

"Let me accompany you to school." Kouta proposed to Aya when they were leaving Hiroto's bar. He kept his voice down, so Taiga wouldn't overhear.

But Taiga was too preoccupied by helping Senri with dragging drunken Katsunori to his car.

Katsunori overdid it with whiskey. He'd let Hiroto provoke him into a drinking contest, and of course he had lost. His entire world was spinning and he couldn't walk straight. It felt so embarrassing that his godchildren saw him like this, and yet, they didn't say a word.

"Eh? Why?"She asked him in surprise.

"We haven't talked much, Lil' monkey." He said. It's been six years since he had last seen Aya. Despite texts and mails and occasional calls they exchanged, he felt like he didn't know her anymore. He had watched all news and articles about her, some of which were complete bullshit, but nothing could replace a real, face-to-face, conversation. He wanted to get to know her again, and he wanted to ask her a favour.

Aya raised an eyebrow. "You want to talk with me? Like talk talk? Without your dirty-comments?"

"Hmmm…" He frowned in deep thoughts. "… Unfortunately, I believe so."

"Taiga won't be happy much. You behaved rather wildly... But fine." She knew Taiga was protective, and that he didn't like Kouta acting like a perverted idiot. But she wanted to talk with Kouta too. The cigarette they'd shared on the rooftop of the bar wasn't enough, and Taiga'd been there. Moreover she was more than sure Kouta wanted to ask something from her, something he didn't want Taiga to know about. And it got her curious.

"Thank you, Monkey." He grinned happily.

"I'm driving!" Hikaru announced. "I don't care how you five are going to fit in, but hurry up. Katsu needs to get home."

"Oh, but Lil' monkey can sit on my lap!" Kouta suggested.

 _And there goes his 'serious'…_ Aya rolled her eyes. "If I'm sitting on someone's lap it's gonna be Taiga's."

"Urgh, why? You are heavy!" Taiga complained.

"Oh, then do _you_ want to sit on Kouts's lap? I believe he'd be happy." Aya teased him.

Blood was drained from Taiga's face. He sitting on someone's lap was out of a question. _Not a chance._ "Fine, do as you wish."

"If you see police, you –" Hikaru started.

" –have to keep yourself from being seen." Aya filled in. "Yeah, yeah, I know."

With some difficulty, they got Katsunori into the passenger's seat. Then there was some more yoga until the four of them squeezed into the backseat of the car. Fitting three big men there was troublesome, but adding one more girl, was a true art.

"Everyone's in?"

"Yep! Go." Taiga grumbled. He so wouldn't feel his legs after this ride.

The first out was Katsunori. They accompanied him home, helped him into his pyjamas, made sure he would be okay and left. Aya was finally sitting in the passenger's seat – it was too funny watching how uncomfortable the three in the back were. Next out was Senri whom they drove to his job. Then Taiga, who felt like practising more than the others – preliminaries were drawing closer, and so he wanted to practise alone.

"So? Should I throw you two out at Touou?"

"Good nii-san." Kouta laughed. "You hear everything!"

"I thought you two haven't had enough time to talk." He shrugged. "By the way, Robin, I've already had your dress cleaned. You can pick 'em up whenever you want. And the video of you and Ao-kun dancing is so cute."

"WHAT?!" She abruptly turned to him. "Even you?!"

"What video?" Kouta asked confused. "I wanna see, I wanna see!" He nagged, despite having no idea what was going on.

"… but the video of Robin dancing with a boy, who has never held a girl that close before. Probably." Hikaru chuckled. "I'll show you later."

"Yes!"

"No! Where do you have it from?!"

"I work in the same company as Kise, you forgot? Of course I'm in charge of styling him as well…"

"Oh?" Aya raised an eyebrow at him. Her expression was scary. She was ready to murder them both.

Hikaru gulped after glancing at her. "…Shit…"

Kouta in the backseat was dying from laughter.

######

"Is that Kagami-chan?" Michiko asked when she spotted the redheaded girl entering the school gate with a wild-looking guy following after her. "And who's that?" She looked Kouta up and down and she didn't like the dreadlocks he had…

Daiki was frowning at the duo. _Why would he accompany her here?_ Then he noticed his mother's curious stare. _Wait… How does she know her name?_ "What?" He barked.

"So it **_is_** Kagami-chan!"

His eyes narrowed in confusion. "How do you know?" Even if she knew the name… what of it, if she didn't know Kagami's face?

"Mothers have their ways, my dear." She ruffled his hair. "Go and figure out what are they up to. Mom's rooting for ya!" She said with a wide smiled and crossed fingers.

"Tch… There's nothing going on." He rolled his eyes, but deep down he was glad to have a mother like this. Despite behaving like a jerk towards her at times, she was always the number one ally of his.

"Of course not." She said seriously, fighting a chuckle.

He could see the familiar teasing spark in her dark eyes. So with a desperate sigh he got out and followed after Kagami and Shiranui. He felt like some weird stalker. This wasn't his style at all, and yet he didn't want to interrupt them, because unlike the previous evening, Kagami wasn't running away from the guy.

"So you have the keys from the gym?" Kouta asked suggestively.

Aya ignored it and answered seriously. "Well, I tend to lock up when we stay longer."

"You can't imagine the dirty stuff that happened in here."

 **" _Urgh shut up!_ "** She shouted in exasperation. "I don't want to know!" She yanked the door open and walked in.

If Aomine could just get to the second floor and watch as Kagami had done so long ago. But he didn't have the keys. He approached the door, and noticed the keys left in the keyhole. _Eh? Lucky._ He quietly took them and headed up, hoping the door wouldn't creak.

Her feet led her towards the storage room and she pulled out the cart of basketballs. "Wanna try?"

"I don't play basket."

"I didn't ask you to play. Just shoot." She threw him a ball.

He caught it. "Ufff… you give some powerful passes. For a girl."

"I've always trained with boys, so of course."

"Always surrounded with men. Tcs, tcs, tcs, Lil' monkey. You are lucky!" He shook his head in mock disapproval, teasing her. "And that hot stuff you showed me yesterday!" He smacked his lips.

 _What hot stuff?_ Aomine managed to soundlessly enter the spectators' area and crouched down, so a poster hanging there hid him. He felt like that night when he and Kise had observed Kagami twins. _Why the hell am I doing this?_ He felt guilty. Maybe if he had just asked her…

"Aomine wouldn't be happy if he heard you." She said and a shiver ran down his spine. It sounded almost as if she knew he was there.

"Aomine? So that's his name! Wait, the same one Hikaru mentioned? You danced with him? You are one surprise after another… Then you must have a crush!"

Aya wasn't fazed by Kouta's rambling. She shot a ball she was holding; it landed in without touching the rim. Aya nodded in satisfaction. "So? What did you want to talk about?" Teasing was gone as if she switched it off. She was already holding another ball aiming at the basket.

"Mmmmhm." He took one ball too, once he was there, he might as well try it. "You are coming to L.A. in the summer, right?"

That surprised her. _What does he need?_ "Well yes. The Interhigh is in the first week of the summer holiday, so we'll have to wait, but I should be back some last days of July, I s'pose. Why'd you ask?"

"Aaah… Actually… I wanted to ask you a favour."

"What is it?" She asked calmly and threw in another shot.

"You see… I danced competitively too."

"Yes, I know. You still do if I remember correctly." She interrupted him.

"I did buuuut… I broke up with my dancing partner." He scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. "I know, I know, you warned me about relationships with my partners, but I couldn't help it! She was gorgeous! And those hips she had!"

"And what does that have to do with me, Kouta? Hm? I'm not gonna scold you, so what do you want?" She asked and made another basket, not looking at him once.

His eyes narrowed. "You know." He said, understanding hitting him. "You knew all along that I wanted to ask a favour!"

"Let's say I know you, and it was written all over your face. Let me guess? Want me to become your partner?" She raised an eyebrow, rested one palm on her hip and gave him an ' _I'm-not-impressed'_ look.

Kouta's jaw almost hit the ground as he stared at her with wide eyes. Then he blinked and nodded. "Just for one competition! It's in the first week of August. It's a small local event in L.A.. I want to participate, but I don't have a partner. Aya, please!"

 _Not Lil' monkey?_ She sighed. "Find yourself a partner. You have plenty of time to do that. I don't compete anymore. And besides, you are in a different age category."

"In that competition there are no categories. That's why. And, Raymond is going to participate with his new partner. Aren't you interested? I mean, he was your partner; you'd spent years growing up and practising together!"

Aya laughed at this. "That sure is a good incentive! You know me well too. It makes me quite curious indeed…"

"Why exactly?" He asked because he could feel something more behind this.

"Well… he hasn't entered a competition ever since I've quit. Not once. He has a new partner. He should be aiming higher than local competitions. And entering one in August? That late in a season? Strange, huh?"

"I was wondering about it too. He is a spectacular dancer. You won championship eight years in a row. It was win after win for the two of you, so it didn't make sense for you to suddenly quit and for him not to compete afterwards… And pairs like you two, usually stay together for a long time. What you've told to press… That you were tired of it, it was only half-truth, right?" Originally he wanted a 'yes' or 'no' answer. She said no, he was fine with it, but this bothered him for a long time. Lil' monkey quitting out of the blue… It hadn't been just because of some boredom.

"Half-truths are nice." She nodded. "I was tired of it, partly. Not the competitions itself, but the constant travelling all over the globe. Almost every week different competition or two, the envy and rumours everywhere, it wears you out. You have to constantly watch your back, what you talk about, who you talk with." She shrugged. If she said there were no friends, she would be lying, but they were rare. "And then I learned that Ray was searching for a new partner. Or rather… he couldn't keep it together and someone took advantage of that as I figured out later on."

"He couldn't stand the rumours about you?" Kouta snorted. "What a weakling of a man."

"A boy, Kouta. And I couldn't stand them myself." She drew her fingers through her loose hair and sat down. Kouta followed her example. They started to roll a ball like little kids. "He was a huge support pillar, and he crumbled sooner than me." She chuckled bitterly. "I needed him. The break up with Tatsuya, the photo, the argument with father and Taiga… You know the crap. Suddenly I had nothing to hold on to except the competitions. Except that weird friendship I had with Ray. Or so I thought. And there he was, going behind my back. That he decided to change the partner and ditch me was one thing, but that he didn't have the guts to face me head on hurt much more. And so…"

"You quit first. You decided to win the last championships and leave first." He filled in. It was probably simplified version of the story, considering the little time they had, but he could understand all the feelings behind it. Aya could've fought for it, but considering everything she'd had to deal with, it'd been the best choice she'd had.

"…before he could add one more thing to everything that was falling down on me. Not that it was easy." She said with another sigh, but she felt lighter.

Even now, the battle was visible in her eyes, but she was already past 'what if' questions. It was a waste of time and energy to dwell on things she decided to leave behind. With those basketball dorks and the dancing club she felt happier, calmer, better.

"That means you know her. His current partner, right?"

"Of course I do! She is a daughter of one of our former coaches. And she is good when it comes to technique, but there it ends."

"So an ice queen… Then it makes sense he doesn't compete yet. He dealt with a fire since he was a kid and now he ended up with a pile of ice." Kouta noticed the strange look she gave him. "I mean… metaphorically speaking… Nah, forget it… I'm surprised Taiga didn't break Raymond's nose for hurting his sis." Kouta mused as he sent the ball back to Aya.

 _Fire huh? But I guess he is right._ "Oh, but Taiga doesn't know all my reasons. And we weren't talking to each other much then."

"WHAT?! You two talk about everything and he doesn't know?! Why?!" Those two were an example of a sibling relationship in Kouta's opinion. And now he learnt this? "Then why are you telling all this to me?!"

 _Not just to you…_ Aya shrugged. "Who knows? You leave the day after tomorrow, and I don't have to see your face for another few weeks, but I live with Taiga. I don't want him to unnecessarily worry 'bout me, I'm past breaking down already."

"Precisely because you don't tell him things he worries. Your brother is a dork, but he isn't stupid; he knows you aren't telling him everything. For someone as smart as you, you can be pretty stupid, Aya. Get it through that thick skull of yours: You don't have to deal with everything alone. Okay?"

She was nodding with a gentle smile on her face. _Wait… How do you know he worries?_ "Oi! And when did you manage to talk with Taiga alone! He was avoiding you like a plague the entire night." She said.

She knew, Kouta was (surprisingly) right this time and she'd have to talk with Taiga. She felt she could for quite some time, but she always found some excuse not to. But Taiga was always there for her, even if they argued and fought, he would always care for her.

"Not the entire night." Kouta smirked. "You both know I'm perverted, and I play around a lot, and tease you a lot, but I'd never do anything to you. I mean… I've known you since you were born. I've seen your mother changing your diapers! What a trauma! Urgh, disgusting…"

Aya picked up a ball and threw it at Kouta. She so wanted to hit his face. He barely avoided, and laughed. But another ball came flying his way and then another.

"Stop it, stupid." He shouted at her.

"You are stupid!" She reciprocated.

"Yeah, yeah. So? I'll ask one more time. Are you willing to enter that one competition with me?"

"…" She stopped throwing balls at him and thought about it. "Give me a deadline, and I'll decide by then. It wouldn't be bad to play around with Ray a bit…" She tapped at her lower lip.

 _She'll agree…_ "Your deadline is by the day of the competition. Sixth August. If you ditch me, then I'll have to compete with a broom as my partner."

She laughed at the image. "Careful, it might be more interesting to see you dancing with a broom than become your partner for a day."

"Even you aren't that evil, Lil' monkey."

"We'll see on the sixth August." She said with an evil smirk on her face.

 _What have I gotten myself into?_ And his original idea was to help her, because he thought she was feeling down. To his surprise she was levelled up with everything now and he admired that side of Kagami Aya. Whatever swept her off her feet, she could always get back up.

"Anything else, you want to know?"

"Oh, yes! You've invited me to the summer training camp!" He couldn't believe it when he'd received an email about acceptance.

It was a prestige to get invited. The camp had been taking place in the UK for decades. The main idea was to form dancing prodigies and stars. The idea changed and evolved during the years, but it was still a camp for the chosen ones. The Kagamis took over organizing the camp after a supervisor had died and there had been no one else willing to take over, so Aya's mother decided to do it and after she had passed away, it was Aya supervising it; with help of others, but she was the one that had become the main pillar that kept the idea from dying. Its purpose now, was to gather people all over the globe, so they could practise together for two weeks and exchange their experience and skills. It hosted over three hundred people altogether, divided into three categories each year. Only those with results and outstanding potential could get into this camp. Some people, like Aya were going there every year; that was an advantage of being a part of the organizing group, but without results to back her up, even she would never get to practise.

"Yes I have. The Shiranuis were a part of that for decades but your grandfather was against its policy so you were never invited. He was my first sensei, and I admired him a lot, so I worked with the rules and they are slowly changing. I'd love to expand it and host more people, but that would be logistically difficult… Well… I'm looking forward to dancing with you for the two weeks in the summer."

"Wait what?!" _That isn't right. Did I hear what I heard?_

She put a finger on her lips in thought. "… That is… If you don't find a partner till then."

"I won't." He blurted out. The opportunity to practise with Aya... It wasn't something to throw away. He knew he would puke blood and he wouldn't feel his feet after the day one, but it was so worth it all.

On an impulse he ran towards her and hugged her. "Thank you!"

"Let go, stupid. I can't breathe." She grunted.

He let go and took a step back, grinning like an idiot. "Oh, sorry. I got carried away."

"Someone is in the gym, captain!" Wakamatsu's voice reached them.

Aya glanced at the clock and it was indeed time for a morning practise. The boys peeked inside, they still weren't in their training clothes, but they came to check up the gym first. It wasn't usual for it to be opened.

"So it was you Aya-san! Captain you were right!" Wakamatsu said loudly and Imayoshi took a step back, his ear ringing with vice-captain's voice.

"You don't have to shout, Wakamatsu." He reminded him calmly. "Now, since we resolved the mystery," he looked at Kouta with interest, but didn't comment on it, "go get changed. Coach is not going to be here today. I'm leading the practise!" He ordered, and with some grumbles they turned on their heels and left to the changing room. Imayoshi then stared at Kouta. "I believe you shouldn't be here any longer, Shiranui-senpai."

"Ohooo?" He blinked at Imayoshi. "So you do remember me! I had a feeling you might, Shoichi-kun."

 _Urgh…_ "Yep. At first I didn't but… Well. It's nice seeing you doing so well." He said with a sly smirk. He didn't like this senpai who had been a part of the student council when he had entered in his first year, but there had always been some sort of a mutual understanding between them.

"That terrible personality of yours." Kouta smirked as well. As the number one prankster, his personality was similar to Imayoshi's. He approached his kouhai with an evil spark in his eyes. "What would you say about some reunion poker game? I'm the one who've taught you how to play after all…" He asked and they walked out of the gym, leaving Aya confused.

 _What the hell was the meaning of that?!_ She thought. Then her eyes focused on the poster hanging over the railing.

She picked up one ball, aimed and shot.

"OUCH!" Aomine's startled grunt resonated through the gym.

She knew he was there. She'd noticed him the moment he'd exited his mother's car, and she'd left the keys out there for him; out of curiosity over what he would do. "It's not nice spying on others, Honey-bun. I'm disappointed."

He jumped to his feet scratching the spot that was hit. "I wasn't…" _Damn! This one's on **you,** mom! _He wanted to deny it, but what could he do? She caught him red handed. "I don't trust him." He grumbled out the truth. "So when I saw him going here with you…" He was looking everywhere but at Aya. "I didn't like it."

 _That's the definition of jealousy… But at least he isn't coming up with stupid excuses._ "Thanks for your concern, but I can handle myself, Aomine. Mainly when it comes to my family." She waited until he would look at her.

When he did her reddish eyes pierced him with intensity he'd never felt before. "I haven't lied to Kouta just because you were here though."

"Since when have you known I was here?" He asked, staring back at her.

"Since you've exited the car."

"Why haven't you said anything?"

"I was curious about what you'd do. And did you want to chat with Kouta? I doubt it." _And… maybe… I wanted you to know?_ She thought …because it didn't make sense. For someone who valued her privacy above everything and who hated people sticking their noses into her business, she didn't mind Aomine knowing. On the contrary, as much as she wanted to understand him, she wanted to be understood as well. Not that she'd admit it.

 _So you were saving me? What nonsense…_ Yet everything he learnt… There was quite a lot to process. And he wasn't sure what to think of her anymore. He was learning bits and pieces, but now he wanted to know everything. In the proper order, because some things didn't make sense.

He climbed down; using the ladder Aya feared would break under his weight. "You angry?" He asked.

"A bit. I certainly haven't expected _you,_ out of all people, to spy. But I guess there's nothing to be done about it. Next time, it's your turn to answer my questions." She said with a smirk. Teasing was a good mask both of them liked to use.

"Oh?" He raised his eyebrow, understanding her intention. "You have questions for me, Sweetheart?"

"Of course, Honey-bun. And I'll start right now." She pulled out her phone to look for something. When she found it, she stuck it under his nose. _Diverting attention…_

His eyes widened.

"So, what do we do with Model-kun?"

"I'll kill him." He growled dangerously.

"Aomine-kun! Good to see you here!" Satsuki appeared at the door carrying water bottles.

 _Not a good timing, Satsuki. Not a good timing…_ Aya sighed inwardly.

"Have you seen this?" In his abrupt turn he almost hit Satsuki in the face with the phone.

She avoided it and stumbled backwards to regain her balance. "Aomine-kun! Watch it!" She scolded him, but then she noticed what he was showing her.

Her eyes widened upon seeing the video and she paled. _I'm dead for sure._ "I…" She took a step back and looked at her feet. "Ki-chan sent it to me right away… And to your mom, and I have no idea who else…" She rambled out the truth. It was pointless trying to come up with excuses when Dai-chan was pissed off.

"Why haven't you told me?" He asked Satsuki in a dangerously low voice.

"Because she knew you'd react exactly like this." Aya butted in. "I received in on Sunday too. It probably circulated your former team…" The moment she said it, she realised her mistake after she saw the rage glimmering in his eyes.

He was too furious to feel embarrassed anymore. He felt like punching something. "You're all traitors." He growled and stormed out. On his way out he rammed into several boys, shoving them roughly out of his way.

"What has gotten into him?!" Wakamatsu grunted; the first year sure had a lot of strength. "And why was he even here?!"

"Let's say we pissed him off…" _Enough that he forgot to return my phone…_ Aya shrugged with a half smile. "Now I'm finally going to change."

######

Aomine skipped classes that day.

He was laying on the rooftop slowly calming down. So the entire Teiko team saw him dancing… _Oh god… I'll so kill you Kise!_ (Kise felt a chill run down his spine at that very moment.)

But he had Aya's phone. He should go and return it. The idea to rummage through its content crossed his mind, but he had spied on her enough. He decided not to do that anymore. If it were the other way around he wouldn't like it either.

 _So what have I learnt about her? She had a partner who ditched her… Because… Why? Why would someone ditch her? He was just a coward. And she won't be here during summer break… Well neither will I… And she will spend two weeks in a camp with Shiranui?! That one?!_

"…What the hell?!" He mumbled and stared at the clouds passing by.

But that wasn't all. He could relate to almost everything she had said:

 _Having a talent that exceeds everyone? Check._

 _Getting tired of winning? Check. She didn't say it like this, but she must have felt that too._

 _Arguing with parents over it? Check. But we've resolved it already. Kagami probably hasn't._

 _Being ditched by your teammate and friend? Check. Tche… Who am I fooling? I'm the one who ditched Tetsu…_

"What d' ya know? We are more similar than I've thought…" He said out loud and sighed, spinning her phone in his palm.

"Yep, we are." Aya's voice came from below him.

He almost got another heart attack. "Shit! Do you have to do that?!"

"No. But I want my phone back. It's not my fault you talk to yourself." She climbed the ladder up and sat next to him.

He was frowning at her, not willing to hand her the phone. "How did you know I was talking about you?"

"After your little spying adventure? Pretty obvious." She said with a serious face. But then her lips broke into a wide grin and she laughed. "I didn't, stupid! I can't read your mind. But I thought it was a hilarious remark."

He rolled his eyes and slumped back to his original position; spread on his back with arms folded under his head. His eyes were closed now. It was easier to talk with Kagami this way.

She took the phone he left on the ground. "Are you still angry?" She tried. Satsuki kept nagging her to go after him, because the pinkette was too scared to face him.

"Yes."

"For how long?"

"…"

"You know, just so I can mentally prepare myself for classes when my partner will ignore me, or be very rude and hostile to me… And I don't recommend that."

"…'cause you'll be a bitch towards me?" He remembered her words from when she'd decided to take him on as a partner for schoolwork.

"Something like that." She smiled and he could hear rustling of her clothes as she laid next to him. "Who are you angry with the most?"

"Kise-bastard. And Satsuki and mom and you, and everyone who haven't told me a thing." The more he talked with her, the more his initial anger seemed pointless. It was already out, and he couldn't erase it from their minds…

"We knew your reaction…" She said and watched clouds above her. "And you can't kill Model-kun before the preliminaries."

"They would manage without him too." Aomine didn't pout, but this was the closest thing to pouting he could do.

Aya chuckled. "Come on. When I saw it for the first time I wasn't pleased by it either. I don't like people taking photos or videos of me without my consent... But it's not that bad! He caught your first baby steps in dancing and it's cute!"

 _First?_ He cracked opened one eye to glare at her _Go-to-hell-with-calling-me-cute_.

She laughed. "So what do we do to him?"

"We?"

"You are not going to kill him on your own, are you? Let's prank him."

"Oh?" That sounded interesting. Pranking Kise was never easy. Something like a video sharing wouldn't make him angry in the slightest. He was a model after all, he loved being seen. "What are your ideas?"

"I don't know, but let's wait until after the preliminaries, but before the final league. That means two weeks for coming up with a good prank. And we could get his sister involved. The one you addressed formally." Aya didn't know her, but she assumed they would get along.

 _That sounds good._ "… Aiko-san? Careful with that, she knows the best ryo ashi hishigi [S1] in the world. You don't want to provoke her much." He shivered at the memory when he had last fallen victim to her. Aiko was all smiles, until one managed to piss her off; then her abilities in martial arts shone. And she was better than both of them.

"What is that?" Aya asked, confused.

"A wrestling move, basically." He didn't feel like explaining it any further, and demonstration was out of the question. Though the idea intrigued him...

"You wrestle?" Her tone was careful. She didn't think that was it, but she couldn't _not_ ask.

He turned his head to look at her; he so wanted to see her expression. "No. I do jiu-jitsu."

At that moment her expression went blank. "So you do…" She turned away and stared expressionlessly at the clouds. Then she snapped back to stare at him with wide eyes. "You do martial arts?!" She asked loudly, not quite believing it.

A typical smirk formed on his lips. It felt great stunning the redhead. "Satsuki hasn't told ya?"

"No!" She shouted.

"I'm surprised you know what it is."

"Of course I do! I don't know the names of techniques or anything but Kiku gave me a quick explanation of Japanese traditional martial arts. It was really interesting…" She rambled out. _Crap, I shouldn't have mentioned Kiku…_ "But I thought you did only basketball. So why…"

 _She wanted to question me… But she sure does it in a roundabout way…_ "My father is a policeman, former soldier. I did martial arts since forever, and I wasn't allowed to quit, though I was allowed to cut down those practises to two in a week." And he enjoyed it too. Maybe because he wasn't as good in it as he was in basketball. But he still loved basketball the most.

"Interesting…" _How come it didn't occur to me sooner?_ She mused inwardly. Aomine had that kind of air around him, she couldn't describe. It was a mixture of respect, confidence, aggressiveness and wildness but it wasn't scary. It was safe. Aya just never connected it to fighting skills.

"That's all you say?" He raised an eyebrow, expecting her to ask more, to say more.

"Want me to praise you?" She teased. "I knew you had to do some work outs to stay in shape, but martial arts… That was unexpected."

He chuckled. "So you were thinking about me?"

"I'm a manager, I think about the entire team." She was spinning her phone now… "Did you go through it?"

He had to trace her stare to understand the question. "I don't need the hell to break loose, do I?"

"Smart choice." She nodded. "We should go back. There are still three more classes."

"I'm skipping today." He announced and closed his eyes again.

"Fine."

#####

"Tada-senpai!" Aya called after him when she spotted him in the second year's hallway. Surprisingly he was not accompanied by Wakamatsu.

"Aya-san, what's up?" He stopped and waited for the manager.

"Shall I invite Kiku for our preliminaries? At least to those matches we have in afternoons?"

Tada caught Aya's hands into his and his eyes sparkled. "Please do! Kousuke is too shy to do that, and it's probably better if he doesn't know."

Aya smirked. "Consider it done, senpai."

#####

"So? Is he still furious?" Satsuki asked, when Aya returned to the classroom, with phone in her hands.

The boys and even Kiku were expecting Aya's reply. They didn't know what exactly had pissed the ace off so much, but they were more or less involved in the story.

"Not anymore. At least I think so. But he is still skipping." Aya announced.

Satsuki sighed in relief. "Thank you. I was afraid he might start ignoring us."

"So he ignores people that piss him off?" Kano asked. He had pissed Aomine off several times, but the ace didn't seem to ignore him.

"If it's serious." Satsuki nodded gravely. "Dealing with him when that happens is very difficult."

"Good to know." Aya smiled at her, just as the bell rang. "Let's give him some space and we'll see."

"Sure. I'm going! See you at the practise!" And the pinkette was gone.

######

"What are you doing, Kise?" Kasamatsu asked him during the afternoon practise, fighting the urge to kick him. He knew that Kise was strange and weird, but his behaviour that day exceeded the usual weirdness. The blonde kept looking over his shoulder and mumbling something that sounded awfully similar to prayers.

"I'm feeling chills, Kasamacchi. Someone is cursing me." He shivered and looked over his shoulder yet again.

Kasamatsu rolled his eyes. "Call me senpai! And if you don't start practising properly **_I_** will be the one to curse you."

"But Kasamacchiiii! Don't be so mean towards me!" He whined, which earned him a kick from Kasamatsu.

He took a deep breath, chills or no chills, he had no time to spare.

After the practise, he checked his phone to see if he had some new texts from fangirls, or new jobs, but to his surprise he found a mail from Ayacchi:

'Aomine saw the video. Pray you won't meet him by chance, Model-kun.'

 _Craaaap! Why'd you do that Ayacchi?! Whyyyyy?_ He slumped to his knees holding his phone up in almost a praying gesture.

"What is he doing?" Moriyama asked their captain.

"Let the idiot be the idiot." He rolled his eyes and slammed his locker.

######

Aomine returned home, much later than usual – Satsuki was too immersed into her analysis of their first opponents, which, in Aomine's point of view was pointless. It was Kitamiya-high, the one they had faced before. After one glance at their game he assumed they were not worth the sweat, but Satsuki insisted, she had to finish her analysis, and she wouldn't have time once she got home, and so he stayed at school with her. He wasn't angry anymore, but he wasn't talking to her much either.

"Where were you, Daiki?" His mom asked when she served him dinner. Father was in a night shift and it was surprising that she was home. They were usually working the same schedules.

"At school. I'll go out with Shiro and Kurome after dinner. Why?"

"Did you stay with Kagami-chan?"

"No, Satsuki. Kagami went to her practise." He explained curtly and started eating. "I believe you do know she dances."

Michiko sighed, but ignored his jab. She'd been warned. "Ryouta-kun stopped by. He said he had something for you. So he left it in your room."

Daiki's eyes narrowed. So the Kise-bastard dared to come to his house after all that…

"Are you angry with him?"

"I'm angry with all of you!" He snapped. "You should've told me, when you received it."

 _Oh dear… He's seen it…_ "Well son, we didn't want to trouble you –"

"Don't." He raised his arm to shut her up. "Just don't talk to me now."

Michiko sighed sadly, but nodded. They finished dinner in silence, but to her surprise, Daiki took the dishes and washed them. He usually didn't do that at all, and it made Michiko smile.

He strolled up to his room, followed by whining Shiro, which wanted him to pay attention to her. But he pushed the Samoyed away and sat on his bed. Shiro wasn't one to give up so she rested her big head on his thigh. With a sigh he scratched her behind ears.

"Yeah, yeah… Good girl."

His eyes fell on the magazine stuck under his pillow, wrapped in a brown paper. _So he brought Mai-chan's photo book…_ Kise kept his promise, but Daiki didn't care much about it now. It was intact, meaning that his mother hadn't checked it out. He reached over and took it out. Once he tore off the wrapping, he spotted a sticky note covering Mai-chan's breasts.

 _That bastard…_ He smirked mockingly, a vein popping on his forehead, but then he read the message Kise had left.

'Here's the photo book I've promised. **Sorry** 'bout the video, please don't kill me Aominecchi! I've sent it only to Momocchi, Kurokocchi, Murasakibaracchi, Shiracchi and your parents!

(And Aiko-nee-cchi might have seen it by accident…)

 **Sorry!**

If you really want to kill me, do so after the prelims…'

Daiki crumpled the note and threw it away. _What a smart idiot._ He wasn't that angry anymore. Somehow, talking with Kagami had helped. Though he still wanted to get back at the blonde.

His phone vibrated.

He took it out of his pocked. _Who might that be?_

It was a mail from Kagami. She'd never sent him anything, except an invitation to their team's chat group she had created some time ago, and he kept ignoring the chat anyways.

'The video, so you can't say you didn't see the whole thing.'

* * *

[S1] Boston crab holding. I'm 99,9% sure it's called "ashi hishigi" in Jiu jitsu, but the term comprises more than just this one technique. Whether it's "ryo" ashi hishigi I'm not sure (Mr. Google said so), so if someone knows, please let me know!

* * *

 **A/N:** I feel kinda strange, posting a chapter taking place in some late May, while it's Christmas, but oh well. I hope you liked it! Aomine might be a bit OOC with the spying adventure (if so, then sorry), but I believe he can be quite unreasonable too - and Kise's rubbing off on him.

Let me know what you think and remember, reviews are appreciated but never necessary!

 _-S._


	19. Chapter 19: Preliminaries begin

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone who followed and favourited and reviewed, it makes me very happy.

Enjoy!

* * *

 _Here's a freebie: Don't play poker with a kid who can read minds. **― James Patterson,**_ ** _The Final Warning_**

 _Winning is habit. Unfortunately, so is losing. **– Vince Lombardi**_

 _You have to get along with people, but you also have to recognize that the strength of a team is different people with different perspectives and different personalities **. – Steve Case**_

 _Beware the fury of a patient man. **– John Dryden**_

 _Do you know what my favorite part of the game is? The opportunity to play. **– Mike Singletary**_

 _One thing that you can't fake is chemistry. **– Blake Shelton**_

* * *

"Are you okay, Imayoshi?" Susa asked him in the morning when they walked into the gym. His neighbour, because they were both living on the school campus, probably hadn't slept a minute. Muffled voices could be heard from Imayoshi's room the entire night, because Shiranui-senpai stopped by, and stayed the night. They had called him over too, but after a night patrol checked the rooms and left (Susa had no idea how Shiranui-senpai managed to hide.), he refused. He didn't play cards at all, let alone poker for money.

And ever since Imayoshi had exited his room in the morning, he'd had a menacing aura surrounding him. Susa wasn't blind, he knew Imayoshi's personality, and he assumed that Imayoshi must have lost. Big time.

Imayoshi blinked and smiled in the way he knew would keep Susa from asking more questions. "Yes, of course. I'm fine."

"Oh? Imayoshi-senpai! Have you lost your packet to Kouta?" Aya asked in a cheerful voice. She appeared from behind them and after she'd noticed Imayoshi's tired expression, she couldn't leave it without some teasing.

 _Bullseye._ He thought loss he'd suffered was terrible, and there he had thought that playing poker was his special ability. That 'reading minds' was his speciality. Shiranui-senpai had proved him wrong, and won his entire pocket money for the next month… That meant no social life outside the campus, no snacks and no lunches in cafeteria. _Tcs. No way can I call home…_ If there was anything Imayoshi hated, it would be losing at his own game.

And now, his kouhai was being mean to him.

"I'm surprised you haven't joined us, Aya-san." An evil smile appeared on Imayoshi's face, which usually discouraged people to pry, but Aya seemed immune to it.

 _So he knows I'm just being mean…_ "If I had, you would've lost your pants, not just the money, captain." She said mischievously, with a wicked smirk of her own.

Both third years stared at her stunned; both slightly blushing. This first year girl was truly a piece of work.

"What?" She asked. "Be glad Kouta played with you only for money and nothing else."

"Oh?" Imayoshi raised an eyebrow. "Shall we play poker some time then, Aya-san~?"

"Imayoshi…" Susa warned him. "Careful with how you say it."

 _Aren't you hasty, captain?_ "I usually don't play for money, though." She smiled and decided to go along with their sly captain.

"And what do you play for?" Imayoshi asked with a smile. "Clothes?"

Susa was inwardly cursing both of these idiots. If anyone overheard them, they would think it was flirting, but those two were just two fools, trying to intimidate each other. _Well, they don't interact much…_

Aya wasn't fazed by his guess and she smirked. "Favours, preferably." _And yes, clothes…_ She shrugged. "But think twice before you challenge me for a game, captain. Kouta wasn't the only one who taught me how to play."

"Hoooo~ Sounds interesting~" He whistled, already thinking of a good time when to challenge her. He would finally get to observe her expressions properly. _Summer training camp… Maybe._

######

"No hangover anymore?" Aya asked Katsunori after the morning practise.

He gave her one of his unimpressed looks and grumbled: "I'm not ten. I can take care of myself."

"And I'm not teasing you now." She cleared for him, because his comment stung.

"I'm fine." He answered hesitantly. If she wasn't teasing now, it was about to come. "How were the practises?"

"Fine. Imayoshi is a good leader. And Aomine ditched both, like usual."

"Like usual…" He pulled at his fringe and leaned against the wall, while watching boys cleaning up. "Who is our first opponent on Wednesday again?"

"Kitamiya high…" Aya's voice indicated she didn't want to meet that team ever again. "But they won't be a problem. The problem will be if one team from the opposite bracket will get into the final round."

"Which one?" Katsunori asked. He didn't remember all the schools in the B-block. As a coach he had no reason to check out all schools, just those his team would face. And it was mainly the job of managers anyways.

"Kirisaki Daiichi."

"Are they that good?" He asked with raised eyebrows. They had none of the five prodigies, and Touou had never faced them so far.

"I wouldn't say good… Just big trouble. Our analysis isn't complete yet, but there is something very disturbing about that team. I'll know for sure after I see them playing with my own eyes. And they are trouble only **_if_** they progress to the final round."

"Hmmm… That's right." _When Robin doesn't like something, she is usually right about it_. "Let me know what you find out."

"Sure. And I won't let you drink with Hiroto ever again." She smirked and ran away to get changed.

 _I knew the teasing would come…_

######

"Have you heard? Irihata-sensei is leaving. Do you know why?" Aki stopped by Aya's desk on Friday when their English teacher didn't come and they were left to self-study.

"I have no idea." Aya played innocence. The entire school knew that Kiku and she had to visit the disciplinary committee, because of the 'post-office' they'd created. And suddenly the teacher in charge of this committee was leaving… "Probably she has some personal reasons." She shrugged.

"Hmmm…" The girl thought with a finger on her lips. She wasn't stupid enough to believe there was no connection. "It's strange though. I mean, no one liked her, but still…"

"Let's say she decided to leave." _And I hope she won't cause any more problems for me…_ "I have no idea what happened, Aki-chan."

Aki nodded reluctantly. "It's good that she is not gonna teach us anymore though." She shrugged too. "I hope a better teacher will come."

"I hope so too." She smiled and Aki returned back to her chair to read her magazine. Not everyone cared about English enough to self-study, but they were keeping respectful silence for those who might.

"Oi, Kagami." Aomine kicked her chair. "Explain this." It'd been some time since she'd last explained English to him. They had no after school study sessions and Irihata had kept Kagami occupied during the lessons.

She turned around with an annoyed expression. _"Please."_ She added to his demand. "And stop calling me Kagami." It annoyed her when Aomine called her by her family name.

"But it is your name, no? Sweetheart." He said, trying to keep his voice down. But with the classroom as silent as theirs was right now, it was near impossible.

"Urgh…" She rolled her eyes. "Fine, Hon –"

His huge palm covered her mouth before she could finish his nickname. No, the class would not know she had nicknamed him 'Honey-bun'. Over his dead body. However, he heard Kano's snicker, so they probably knew.

Having Aomine's hand over her mouth wasn't such a bad feeling, but it annoyed her. How dare he cover her mouth so casually? Her eyes narrowed and she was thinking of licking his palm, but god knew where it'd been, and causing a scene like that so soon after the 'whore' comments…

She grabbed his wrist and glared at him. ' _Let-go.'_

His blue eyes narrowed. ' _Will-you-keep-your-mouth-shut?'_

Aya rolled her eyes again. ' _Yes-stupid.'_ And she gave a small nod afterwards.

Their small exchange lasted only for couple of seconds, and not everyone in the class noticed.

"What should I explain?" She asked in exasperation.

"This." He pointed at a lecture in the textbook.

It was the one they'd gone through two weeks ago. "What about _this_?"

"Everything."

"What?!" Her voice resonated in the classroom. "We learnt it weeks ago! How can you…" She threw her arms into air.

"Will you explain, or not?" He asked with a yawn and totally bored expression.

With long sigh she agreed. At least he was trying.

* * *

The last few days before the actual competition went by incredibly fast. Aya decided to have a nice long talk with Taiga, so there were no more unsaid things between them. Surprisingly, it had helped them both. Aya didn't have to be careful about what she'd say, and Taiga was suddenly less worried, and could concentrate on his upcoming match much better.

"So you have the first match today?" Taiga asked his sister over a breakfast. Their coach decided to give them the last day free… or with less training than usual.

"Yep. At 10."

"Why are you up so early?" He stared at her in surprise. "You could have slept for another three hours at least."

"I wanted to have a breakfast with you, and prepare something small for the boys. Though I think they can win without problems."

"It's the school you had a practise match against right? And you won then."

"And we will win today…" She shrugged. "Your match is tomorrow at 11 AM, right?" She played with her food, and hoped she would be able to go and watch Taiga's first match against the 2 meters tall guy from Senegal. She so wanted to see that match.

"I can't wait." He said, his eyes shining with excitement and challenge.

"Ohooo… So you won't sleep tonight, right?"

"Eh? What?" He blinked in surprise, but after noticing her mocking smirk he frowned. "So what?! I can't sleep when I'm excited, any problem with that?"

"No." She chuckled. "It's cute."

"Don't call me cute!" He growled threateningly.

"Or what?"

Taiga's eyes narrowed. He took a piece of tomato he had on his plate, aimed, and threw.

Before Aya could react, a piece of food ended up in her cleavage. She gasped in the sudden cold sensation and looked down. Tomato juice was staining her white tank top.

"You little…" She growled and grabbed her vegetable, intending to throw it, but then… "You know what… I don't feel like making a mess here. I'll get back at you later on, Tiger. Just you wait." She said calmly and ate the food she was holding in her palm.

An involuntary shiver ran down Taiga's spine. He was in a dangerous position now.

######

Interhigh preliminaries weren't as formal, and so the first rounds took place in a small local stadium rather than in a huge city stadium with numerous courts. There was only one court and it looked like a regular school gym, with only small spectators' area on the second floor. At least they had their own changing room.

"Where is that bastard Aomine?" Wakamatsu growled and walked around the changing room like a lion in a cage. "We are supposed to start warming up in ten minutes."

"He'll be here. I'm sure he will." Satsuki said, but she wasn't so sure about it. He'd been complaining he didn't want to come and play against those weaklings. She took her phone and went out to call him.

"Hmm…" Katsunori was pulling at his curly fringe. "If he's late, we'll start without him." He decided. "Yamaoka-kun, you'll play power forward in Aomine's stead, until he arrives." And he doubted the ace would arrive.

"Ossu." Yamaoka nodded. He hated Aomine (and Kagami), and at the same time, he wanted to defend his position in the team. After, he'd played a power forward for a year, he wasn't useless. Against Kitamiya high, they didn't even need Aomine's talent.

Aya noticed that small spark of determination in Yamaoka's voice. _Maybe there is something more to him…_

She was watching the boys, chosen to enter the court. They were fidgeting, or sitting quietly with tighter expressions than usual. Nervousness was normal; she would be more worried if they weren't nervous. Because from personal experience, she knew that once you become overly-confident you tend to do stupid mistakes, and loose. And she also knew that this slight discomfort would fade away the moment they'd start playing. The best example was Sakurai, who was always nervous, but once he made his first shot, his engines cranked up.

Noticing everyone, she felt a bit sorry for those who didn't get their chance. There were some disappointed faces, but not everyone in the team had the ambition to play in matches; some of them just did it for pleasure. And it meant she'd have a company in the spectators' area. But still…

And then there was that tanned lazy ass, who stole the light from all the others, and he was late; totally stomping over the efforts of those who wouldn't get to play. _You have this one job, Aomine…_

"It's time." Imayoshi commanded and left the changing room first, followed by his team. "Aya-chan, you are allowed on the court until they call up the starting line-up." He called after her, when she was about to change direction with half of the boys.

"Okay." She nodded and gave an apologetic look to the boys, "I'll join you in a few minutes." She said, because Imayoshi sounded like he wanted her to be there for those few minutes for some reason.

They hummed in agreement and led by one of the third years climbed up a stairs.

When they entered the court, Aya immediately noticed Aoyama. He smirked and waved at her as if forgetting the little incident they'd had. _Hello dickhead, long time no see~_ She hummed inwardly and ignored him.

"Keep close to the team." Katsunori told her quietly as if noticing her sudden discomfort.

"Hm?" Aya turned her surprised eyes at her godfather. Usually it was only Taiga who could guess what was going on inside her head, not anyone else. Was she becoming that open? Or was it because she trusted him? "…Sure. Was I that obvious?"

Now it was Katsunori's turn to look at her in surprise. "What? I just don't like the way he looks at you." He frowned at the boy.

"Oh. Okay. I'll keep close to our guys." She nodded.

She helped Satsuki with filling the water bottles and the last strategic meeting before the line-up. It was rather a simple strategy – quick start which was to Touou's benefit and then after luring Kitamiya into high a paced game, slow down to confuse them again.

"Yamaoka-senpai." Aya called out to him.

He turned to face her with disbelief in his eyes: _Now-you-talk-to-me?_ "Yes?" He asked carefully, he still remembered the slap she had given him during the training camp, and he sure as hell wasn't okay with it, but he couldn't get back at her. Not with Harasawa as a coach and Imayoshi as a captain.

Aya sighed. "We are on one team, we shouldn't be enemies." She was holding out an olive branch; their mutual hostility existed long enough. It was time to bury it.

"We sure as hell aren't friends." His voice was hostile, perfectly giving out the message he didn't like her.

"But right now, we are allies. Listen to me for a moment."

He nodded curtly.

"Okay. You didn't get to play against them before, so… Aoyama, their PF you are up against, used to play football and he has incredibly good footwork." She noticed his uninterested look – he had read Satsuki's analysis. "He will try to sweep you off your feet, or foul. I'm just warning you, so you won't fall on your ass and get humiliated. And whatever he says, it's just to provoke you, don't let him do that."

For a moment he was staring at the girl and she stared back. There was nothing malevolent in her eyes, and she just wanted to help. So far she had done a great job as their manager and regardless of her annoying personality; she cared for all of them.

She was about to turn and leave, but she wanted to add one more thing: "And I'm glad to see you are not giving up your position on the team too easily." She smiled at him.

 _Eh?_ He blinked. This was something he never expected to hear from her, as she was always defending Aomine. Maybe he was slowly starting to respect the girl…

######

"Welcome, Aya-chan!" Kano greeted her happily when she appeared in the spectators' area. "We've been keeping a good spot for you."

"Thank you!" She smiled and made her way to the front. She wanted to see.

The two teams lined-up, shook hands and bowed.

"I see, no Aomine this time." Aoyama smirked at Touou's PF. "Are you sure you can stand here?"

Yamaoka snorted. But he had been warned. _What a brat_. "Let's find out, little boy."He said mockingly, enjoying that the height difference was in his favour.

"Hmmm… Don't be so sure about it, _senpai._ " Aoyama answered, but his smirk seemed faked now.

The tip off went to Touou, and as they had planned, it was a quick start. They were an offensive team after all.

"Sorry!" Sakurai said as he stole the first three points. His nerves dissipated, and all he wanted to do, was to win. His release got quicker, compared to the last time he had played against this team, and so he caught the opposing shooting guard by surprise.

After those first points for Touou, they flooded Kitamiya with a series of quick attacks. They were aware of their lacking defence which now relied solely on Satsuki's research. For Touou, continuously attacking was the best strategy; point wars were their speciality.

Of course Kitamiya had lots of chances to counter attack, but it wasn't as easy as it might have looked. Their moves had been analysed and predicted. And despite the fact they had faced Touou before, they felt as if they were facing some completely other team.

Aya was nodding approvingly and smirked. _That's how much they've improved…_ She could see the results of her balance practises, because ever since the training camp it was a part of the usual training regimen.

"Wow…" Kano breathed out. It's been only five minutes and Touou was already leading 26 points to mere 8.

"You've all improved, Kano." Aya smiled at him.

"They don't even need Aomine." He said with wide eyes.

"We. It's **_we_** , not **_they_**. We are all one team." She corrected him. "And we don't need him now. For this match… but there are some opponents that might be troubling if he doesn't appear."

Kano nodded and stared at his team.

The high-paced game they had started continued for the entire first quarter. When it had ended, boys gladly sat down for the two minute break. Suddenly they were happy for their never ending stamina practises, as they watched their opponents completely out of breath.

The first quarter ended with Touou leading 43 – 22.

During the second quarter they slowed down. After the high-paced first quarter, Kitamiya was happy to have some rest, but it only led to more mistakes on their side. For Touou, slowing down didn't mean a decrease of attention, on the contrary, they became even more dangerous.

But there was one player that didn't get to touch the ball much.

Aya watched two power forwards as they were staring at each other the entire time, but the ball rarely found its way to their hands. She had a feeling that Aoyama's task changed to keeping Yamaoka in check, once they found out Aomine wasn't there. Yamaoka only managed to score once, and he missed once. His frustration could be felt all the way up.

Despite Aoyama's lack of basketball skills he had better reflexes than Yamaoka. And thus he managed to keep the Touou's current PF in check.

"Oi, give it here!" Yamaoka shouted at Imayoshi angrily. The first year boy he was guarding was getting on his nerves; all those mocking comments, attempted fouls, and the fact that he could barely touch the ball, were pissing him off.

Imayoshi's eyes darted towards Yamaoka. _Hmm… Good position._ He thought, but frustration in Yamaoka's voice made him hesitate. Jumping into this PFs' one-on-one with a hot head wouldn't help Yamaoka, then again, they had a huge lead. Imayoshi shrugged, and passed to him. It was almost the end of the second quarter… If he lost some points, then so be it. The only way to deal with Yamaoka, as the captain had learnt, was to leave him fall on his ass at times.

"I thought we don't do team-plays." Naito muttered.

"That wasn't exactly a team play." Aya said and watched the two boys playing with interest.

During this game, watching from above, she understood that despite Touou's non-team-play policy they were playing as one team. It wasn't close friendships or bonds between the boys that made Touou a team. It was the ability to know their strengths, weaknesses, place and purpose during the game, and the readiness to contribute when it was needed. It was a thirst for victory that held them together. _Not bad at all. Strong individuals willing to cooperate in order to win. Not bad at all._

Yamaoka was dribbling. He tried to fake right and then go left, but Aoyama reacted in time, and cut him off. _Tch. You are so lacking, boy… How can you keep up?_ He wondered. _Ah… footwork._

Aoyama couldn't measure up to the third year in strength or height or basketball experience, but he had his reflexes and footwork. So far, it was working. _Maybe if I let him pass and then sweep him off his feet…_ He looked were referees were. _Yep… that could work._

From above, Aya noticed that small movement he made when he was checking out referees position. Her eyes narrowed.

Yamaoka found a gap in the defence and was about to get past Aoyama when…

"Watch out!" Aya shouted at him from above, breaking their rhythm.

It was only a split second hesitation, and Yamaoka hesitated only because he was used to listening to her commands during practises – at the time he wanted to avoid it, but listening to her voice over and over again had its effect. Yet, it was enough of hesitation to notice Aoyama's leg, trying to sweep him off his feet.

"Hmph." He snorted and avoided it, scoring points.

Aoyama turned his angry glare at Aya. She smirked and showed him thumbs up in a mocking gesture. _Good-job._

"Hmmm… I've never thought _he_ would react to your voice." Aomine's lazy voice echoed behind them.

"Aomine?!" Several players blurted out his name. "We thought you weren't coming!"

Aomine glanced at the digital board with scores, 85 – 43 for Touou.

He yawned. "It doesn't look like I'm needed." He said just when a referee blew his whistle to end the second quarter.

In the smaller gym, players remained on the court during their 10 minute break between half-games and they could go out, if they wanted.

Katsunori noticed the ace, now standing next to Aya. He gave him one of his hard looks.

 _Get-your-ass-down-here_. – was the meaning Aomine could read in Harasawa's dark eyes even in that distance. He had thought that their coach had rather a weak personality, and would bend however he wanted, because of the lax approach Harasawa had towards him most of the time. But now, now he witnessed the quiet spark of anger in Harasawa's eyes, and thought it would be wise to obey – just this once.

"Where the hell were you?!" Aya scolded him first.

The boys instinctively took a step back. She was angry, and they didn't want to be near their fiery manager when she got angry.

"Tch. It's pointless for me to play in this match anyways."

She noticed Harasawa's stare.

Her hand shot up and she grabbed Aomine's ear. "Now come with me." She said coldly and dragged him towards the door.

"Ouch. Let go, you witch!" He growled, but it didn't faze her.

When they were out, she dragged him down the stairs and towards the changing room. Only then she let go.

He rubbed his sore ear. "What was that for?!" He asked annoyed and angry.

"Why are you late?!" She asked sharply with her hands on her hips.

"I said it's pointless for me to play. Kitamiya is a joke, not a real opponent." He barked at her a bit more aggressively than intended. "Just like everyone in our block."

Her eyes narrowed, and she threw her arms into the air. "It doesn't matter! That's not a reason for you to be late. And you know it. You are supposed to **_be here_**. Period."

"They can handle fine without me." He grumbled.

 _Does he realise that he is basically saying 'I trust that you can win without me'?_ She thought. It was a strange way to show respect towards his team. But it didn't make her less angry.

"You are disrespecting your opponents! If you'd asked to stay on the bench, Katsunori would've let you, I believe. Or don't come at all! But showing up half-way… that's mockery." At the last sentence her voice jumped higher, it was clear; she was against what he'd done. "…towards those on your team who didn't get a chance to play as well." She added.

Aomine's eyes narrowed. "Mother-hen coming out again? I haven't thought you were this _virtuous_." He spat out. For a split second he could see that his words hurt her, and he almost immediately regretted them. But they were already out.

"Well… I haven't thought you were _this_ arrogant." She said with a disappointed undertone in her voice. "I recommend you to show yourself to Katsunori, or you're in big trouble. He is not as lax as he appears." She added coldly and left. It was pointless to argue with him over this; he didn't want to understand.

For a moment, Aomine thought he would just leave. But Harasawa's unknown nature was something he didn't want to tempt too much. It was a side of the coach, he had no experience with, but he felt it would be a huge mistake to ignore him. And he didn't want to be kicked out of the team.

"Tch." He dragged his feet towards the gym.

######

"Look who's here!" Tada-senpai greeted him with his usual smile.

"Aomine-kun!" Satsuki was about to scold him, when Wakamatsu's voice over-shouted her.

"Where the hell have you been?!" He yelled at him.

"Tch. Stop yelling at me." He said lazily. "It doesn't seem like you need me here anyways." He repeated once again and pointed at the score board.

"You were supposed to be here, you arrogant prick!" Wakamatsu said the same words as Kagami, without knowing.

"Wakamatsu." Imayoshi said calmly, and touched vice-captain's shoulder, to hold him back. It was pointless to yell at Aomine. And the ace was right; he wasn't needed.

It was enough for Wakamatsu to step back and grumble something incoherent under his nose.

"So, I'm here, ol' man." He turned to Harasawa. He had to endure the coach's stare for several long seconds.

Then, Katsunori spoke up in his usual, bored tone. "So I see. I hope this is the first and the last time you were late. You won't play in this game, but you will remain on the bench."

Something in the way Harasawa said it, made it clear he wouldn't take any arguments, so Aomine frowned and nodded. When he sat down and Satsuki started to lecture him, he raised his palm and covered her mouth. "Shut up, Satsuki. I've heard it." He grumbled and kept frowning at the floor.

For the next twenty minutes he had to watch his team playing. Of course they won by a huge margin, just like he thought. 123 – 59.

After the match, they all gathered in the changing room, which was rather small to fit 28 people in.

"Yes we WON!" Wakamatsu shouted happily, when he took off his sweat-drenched jersey – completely inconsiderate about the two managers.

"Do you need to shout it?"

"We have one more match in the afternoon."

"Shut up."

Several team members spoke up, leaving Wakamatsu frozen on the spot.

Imayoshi just sighed in exasperation.

"Why are you like this?" Wakamatsu asked almost sadly.

"Someone's sure taking a win for granted." Aya mused and shook her head.

"We are one of the top eight teams in the whole Japan. Of course we think of winning as the only outcome." Yamaoka said, taking off his jersey as well.

As Aomine noticed, Aya wasn't influenced by a dozen of half-naked boys running around, looking for their stuff and changing. She was calmly standing near the door with an unreadable expression on her face.

"True, if you go into a match thinking you'll lose, you probably will. But at the same time, there is only a thin line between confidence, and arrogance." She said casually, but her words hit the mark. "Anyhow, you did well during the match. Good job."

They mumbled their thanks, not looking up to meet the reddish eyes of their second manager.

"Now," Katsunori spoke up to get their attention. All running around stopped, and the boys listened to him. "Our next opponent, Keika Academy, is an average offensive team. You should handle them without much trouble." He was paging through Momoi's research data, and nodding to himself; this school shouldn't be a problem either.

"Ne, Katsunori?" Aya asked; she used his name only when it was regarding basketball and whenever she met him in hallways, he was 'Harasawa-sensei', or 'Coach'. The boys were already used to her addressing the coach by his name, and no one saw it as something overly familiar – the two were family.

"I'm listening." He knew Aya had something in mind, and it could never hurt to hear her out.

"What if you change the starting line up this time? Only first and second years playing? I think we can afford it in this match, and give an opportunity to the others. Plus those who played in the first match can use some rest."

"Hmmm…" He was pulling at his fringe. This was not a bad idea. "Name players you have in mind, and positions."

"Aomine as a power forward, and he'll play the whole match." She gave the boy a long stare, and Katsunori nodded; they'd need him to cover for possible mistakes of the others. "Oyama-kun as a center, but with Wakamatsu-senpai ready to sub him out when needed." The boy nodded, he knew he lacked as a center, and that he had to train a lot more to be as good as Wakamatsu-senpai. "Naito as a point guard, Kano as a small forward and Tada-senpai as a shooting guard." She looked at every one of them as she named them. Kano and Naito exchanged frightened looks – this wasn't expected. "…with third years ready to sub in if absolutely necessary. Oh… And no Satsuki's data before the match." Aya knew those data were just to be distributed after their first match – to not confuse anyone.

"What?" Satsuki asked loudly. She'd spent a lot of time making her research – well with Aya-chan's help, but still.

"Why?" Katsunori changed Satsuki's question and stared at Aya.

"You've become one of the best eight without Satsuki's help. But aren't you relaying on it too much now? And it's only the start of the season. We are facing teams we can defeat without the data now. Maybe we won't double or triple their score, but we will win. And having a team of thinking boys who can analyse and adjust during the game is not such a bad idea. Of course Satsuki can use the research to give you tips during time-outs and breaks." She explained her reasoning.

"Hmmm…" Katsunori was considering her answer.

Even Satsuki had to admit that it made sense. Her research wasn't belittled, but Aya was right, it could be more important when it came to dangerous teams up ahead. She loved her researches, so she kept doing them regardless of their importance.

"Fine." Katsunori approved. "We will do it as Aya said. Aomine will take care of covering for mistakes, and third years will be ready to sub you out when necessary. Go through the first page of the research, so you know what kind of team they are. Other than that, go have a lunch, walk around, rest and be ready at four."

"Ossu." They mumbled collectively.

"You're dismissed."

######

"Kiku! Hi! I'm so glad you came!" Aya quickly hugged the shorter girl, who came to watch the afternoon match.

Kiku was already used to Aya hugging habit. "Me too." She nodded. "I've brought it."

"Very good." Aya smiled, eyeing the box of cookies. Then suddenly: "Uhm…" Aya looked at her feet and kicked some small stones away. They were outside, near the gym, where Aya came to meet her up.

"What is it?" Kiku asked curiously. It was unusual for the redhead to look this… guilty?

"I kinda changed the starting line-up for the afternoon." She said with only a half smile. "Wakamatsu-senpai is on the bench, and he might or might not get to play…"

"Oh." There was slight disappointment in Kiku's voice. She enjoyed watching the loud center play.

"…Sorry?"

"Hmmm…" Kiku shook her head. "Never mind, I'll see some of our other players!" She wanted to see this positively, and it wasn't like Wakamatsu wouldn't be there.

"Well then, let's go. The match starts in 10 minutes."

######

"Maaan, I feel so left out!" Ishii whined as he watched his team shaking hands with the opponents. "I want to play with the guys."

"Sorry." Aya said with a culpable grimace. She was aware about this small injustice the moment she had presented her opinion to make changes in the starting line-up. "I'll try to put you in some future match, but we have two very aggressive PFs as it is, and letting you play Kano's position… You'd only compete with Aomine, and it wouldn't do us good."

The boys who were not even on the bench were now the main players of the match. They could manage, she knew. And she was cursing herself for not finding a role for Ishii, but she just knew Yamaoka or Aomine wouldn't let him take their position. For now at least.

Ishii sighed. "I know. It was probably the best choice, though they would probably be better with Wakamatsu-senpai. I'm glad for them, I just feel a bit left out." He said with a forced smile.

"I believe Aya-san will come up with a way to let you play in the next match." Kiku said encouragingly.

"I don't know about that… I won't be here tomorrow. I'm going to watch Seirin's match." She said apologetically. She wanted to see Taiga's match which was at 11 AM, and Touou's third match was supposed to be at 11:30 AM, it wasn't possible for her to attend both.

"And Kirisaki Daiichi's match?" Ishii asked. All teams from their block rotated in this gym, and semi-finals and finals, which were to happen in a week, took place in a city stadium.

"Yep." Aya nodded. "I'm going with Satsuki. Do you want to come?"

Ishii chuckled. "My girlfriend is understanding, but she would get jealous over this, so no. I'm sorry, I can't join you."

"Sure. Consider bringing her in sometime. I think she should know us, to avoid any future misunderstandings."

"I'll ask her." He promised.

######

"You sure you can take us on only with newbies and no regulars?" Keika's captain asked as he shook hands with Imayoshi.

Imayoshi smirked. "Well~ We have quite some good material this year. If you manage to make us sub them all for the regulars, I'll admit you are good. If not, then they are more than enough." His smile turned into an evil grin and his hand squeezed the opponent's stronger.

A vein popped on Keika's captain's forehead and he grinned back. "Be ready to come out."

"Anytime~"

With a content smile Imayoshi returned to the bench. Tada stared at him with worry, he was asked to lead the team of the first years for the first time. Despite the fact that all attacks would be planned by Naito, it was still a huge responsibility. Tada was basically asked to act as a captain during this match.

"You haven't provoked him, have you?" He asked their captain.

"Not too much. Don't worry, you have Aomine after all."

"Tch. You rely on me hell too much." Aomine grumbled, ready to go and warm up.

"Are you planning to lose on purpose?" Imayoshi asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I don't lose." He retorted immediately.

 _Hmmm…_ He observed Aomine for a while, then he turned back to Tada: "Then, there is nothing to worry about, Tada-kun."

"Just give me the ball." Aomine said in a bored voice, this time to Tada, and left to have some quick warm up. Tada just stared after the ace and then followed after him.

One of two referees whistled to signal the end of the warm-up. They lined up and shook hands.

With this line-up, Touou had a slight height disadvantage – the tallest of them was Aomine – at all positions, except shooting guard and power forward. Oyama was staring at the opposing center with determination, and some insecurity, because he was about 6 cm shorter than the opponent.

"I'll go for the tip-off." Aomine said in a firm voice, which didn't accept any arguments. He wouldn't get the first ball that way, but he would definitely take it for Touou. He could feel Oyama's insecurity, and he was aware that if the center goes for the tip-off thinking he will lose, then he would. If someone asked Aomine why he decided to do it, he wouldn't know the answer.

The opposing center smirked at him. "You sure you can take it?"

"Easily." Aomine narrowed his eyes at him. It was annoying when opponents feared him, but it was infuriating when they underestimated him.

All players took their positions. Whistle blew and the ball was up.

Aomine leapt up with a brute force, quickly out-jumping the center and pillaging the ball for his team.

"And you call yourself a center?" He asked with a mocking smirk as he landed on his feet. He was ready to crush this team.

Kano caught the ball with a loud "Uff." The power of that 'pass' was unbelievable. He's never caught Aomine's pass before, because the ace just didn't pass. It didn't matter much; he had to make a shot. But he miscalculated, and the opponent guarding him stole the ball. It wasn't that easy to play without Satsuki-chan's research.

"Tch." Aomine clicked his tongue, and ran after the ball. Stole it, and made the shot himself. "At least don't lose the ball." He grumbled at Kano.

Kano frowned, but didn't retort; Aomine was right. This time, he could've kept it, but he was too stressed, because it was his very first official match.

The opponents countered it, or tried to counter with a three pointer, but Tada stopped it easily, and turned it into Touou's second successful attack. The pairing of the two shooting guards was in Touou's favour. Tada towered the shorter opponent by good 15 cm, and he was sure that after some more failed attacks, the opponent's three pointers will be completely shut off and he'd give up.

After less than a minute score was 5 – 0 for Touou.

The opponents then managed to get some points with a successful rebound.

After the initial testing, the game quickly paced up. Touou, and mainly Aomine forced Keika Academy into the game of speed, skill and stamina.

Aomine wasn't considerate whether his teammates of the game could keep up or not. He didn't pass anyways, and he could catch any ball that came his way. And his opponents were clueless when it came to his streetball moves. _Gee', even Kagami is better than the five of 'em._

By the corner of his eye, he however, observed how his teammates were doing. He considered Kano to be one of the weakest at the beginning of the school year, but the boy got noticeably better, quicker and steadier on his feet. Kano was one of the few who stayed over practising almost every day. _Heh... Kagami's sure working them to the ground._ Naito was like usual, playing his games with a cool head and in a calculating manner; he knew exactly when his opponent would falter, but he was faltering too. Tada, was a good shooting guard, and it was obvious he often played two positions, he just missed too many of his shots. Surprisingly the weakest of the bunch seemed to be the robust center, and Aomine wasn't sure if it was nerves, or just lack of skills and practise.

 _Why do I even care?_ He shook his head and made another formless shot.

Because Touou wasn't getting their rebounds and Aomine wasn't really trying, the score after 8 minutes was 36 to 24 for Touou. Too little difference in Aomine's opinion.

Whistle was heard. "White time-out." Referee announced.

 _So they asked for a time-out._ Tada thought, happy he could rest for a moment, because apparently their own coach didn't think of using it.

"You are doing fine." Harasawa said. "There is nothing I can advise."

Naito looked at him with a perplexed expression. "That point-guard is pretty skilled." It was infuriating him, how the opponent's point guard could fake with his eyes. "Any tips how not fall for his tricks?"

Imayoshi smirked, he was observing, and he liked how Naito was learning to cope with that slithering snake of the other team. He wanted to get some chance to play himself. "You are coping well, Naito-kun~"

"That's not an advice." He retorted.

"Because he is faking with his eyes and sometimes he is not faking at all. It's like a lottery; you are never sure where he is going to pass, right?" Imayoshi asked.

Naito nodded.

"Well then don't look into his eyes, but on the middle of his chest. You'll see his body and limbs move more clearly." Imayoshi shrugged. He used that sometimes, and it worked as a tool to annoy opponents as well.

"You sure about that?" He asked sceptically.

"Yes." He sighed. "Aya-san tends to do it too, if you've failed to notice."

In a meanwhile, Wakamatsu was enthusiastically giving advice to Oyama. "Just relax! Relax! You are stronger than their center, just leap up with more force, and don't be stiff."

 _Easier said than done._ Oyama thought as he drank. He could feel that he was currently the weakest one out there. Even Kano was outrunning him. _I suppose I won't play the whole game._ He gave up inwardly.

Katsunori observed the robust boy with a slight frown, because he was the only center there after Wakamatsu; the only one to sub Wakamatsu if there were any problems. He had higher expectations of the boy than this. _Let's hope it's just stress._

"The next two minutes," Aomine started and stared at his teammates with a wild look in his eyes, "pass them all to me."

Naito was about to retort something, but then he bit his tongue. He wouldn't argue with Aomine, when he had such a look in his eyes.

The first quarter ended with Touou leading 48 – 24. It was as if Aomine was a one-man team. He managed to widen the gap that much in just 2 minutes.

Now, the Keika's team was staring at the monster in disbelief. _He's a demon._ What was the point in trying if Aomine didn't even need his team at all?

During the second quarter, the opponents' team was trying to avoid sending the ball anywhere near Aomine. And Aomine took the small break without complains. He let the other four to enjoy the thrill of crushing their opponents.

Naito slowly got a hang of what Imayoshi had advised. Satsuki persuaded the coach to take one time-out, when she thought Naito might need it to sort out his thoughts, but then the match continued in a steady rhythm.

Missed rebounds, and Aomine's sudden disinterest allowed Keika's team to pull closer to Touou by some points, but not too close. When the score was 74 – 48, Aomine claimed the ball once again. The gap didn't get to one digit difference at all, and he widened it in the last minute by another 6 points.

The second quarter ended with 80 – 48.

"You still think I can't _take_ it?" He asked the opposing center with mocking smirk. Then his deep blue eyes travelled from one player to another. "Maybe it's time to give up?" The score was indeed like if it was the end of a match, and not just a half-time.

"Says a spoiled brat?" The opposing captain asked, disgust lacing his voice. He thought Aomine Daiki was arrogant, but he didn't think it was this bad; though he had to admit that the darker boy had the skill to back up his behaviour.

Aomine shrugged. "You are not even a worthy challenge." He turned on his heel and headed out, grabbing his jacket in the process.

"Aomine-kun!" Satsuki called after him. "Where are you going?"

"Out. We are allowed to, no?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

She took a breath to answer, but he shut her up with a raised hand. "I'll be back, don't fret over it." He grumbled and left.

"Stupid Aomine-kun." Satsuki mumbled quietly.

Oyama was sitting on the bench, staring at his feet. If he had gotten those rebounds, the score difference could have been greater. He just wasn't good enough.

"Oyama-kun." Coach towered over him.

"Yes?"

"Do you want to continue, or do you want to sit out?" He asked seriously.

Oyama was staring back at Harasawa and then he averted his gaze in self-pity. "Should I?" He asked, fully aware of his poor performance.

"If you say you want to play, I won't object. But you look like you want to run away."

Oyama shrugged. "Then I'll sit out I suppose." He said with a slight relief in his voice.

"Wakamatsu, go get warmed up. You are playing in the second half." Coach ordered his vice-captain firmly. "You should be rested enough."

"Ossu!" Wakamatsu nodded and took off his jacket. He was actually happy to get to play against that center of Keika. It looked challenging enough.

"That doesn't mean we won't need you." Katsunori continued still staring at his center who had given up despite the team's lead. "Your training regime will get tougher from now on. I believe you will keep up with it."

 _Eh?_ Oyama blinked at the coach. He liked basketball but when he kept comparing himself with the others and their growth, he wasn't sure he could keep up at all. And now, despite his failure – or so he saw it – he was told he was needed. _Really?_

"Really." Katsunori nodded, catching up with Oyama's train of thoughts. He knew that this boy was too kind and too self-conscious about his mistakes. In a team like Touou, where everyone cared for themselves, he had it difficult. Well, Aya was slowly changing this "each man for himself" mantra, but there was still a long way for his niece to go, and Oyama wasn't in her classroom.

Oyama nodded. "Sure." _I'll keep up._

The break passed quickly and everyone gathered back on the court. The ball was in Keika's possession, as they had lost the initial tip-off.

"He ran away?" Aomine asked Wakamatsu, who took Oyama's place.

Wakamatsu shrugged. "Coach told me to play and I don't care about his reasoning."

"Welcome, Kousuke." Tada smirked. "You can get all the rebounds if I miss."

"You are missing quite a lot today." He teased, and asked for a reason at the same time. His friend wasn't usually that inaccurate.

Tada shrugged. "I can't be lucky every day." He was tense because of the sudden match he wasn't prepared to play. It was always like this with him, he wanted to play, and at the same time he hoped he would remain on the bench.

 _Why've you done this, Aya-chan?_ He thought and glanced to where Aya was supposed to be. Her eyes were staring right at him, as if she could sense his stare. She smiled and showed him thumbs up: 'You can do it much better! Go for it!' And he noticed someone standing next to her.

"Kousuke? Look up there." He pointed towards the girls.

Wakamatsu looked up and noticed Kiku, who was holding onto the railing with focused expression on her face. His cheeks flared red upon seeing such a cute expression on her face. "Did you have to tell me?" He growled at his friend, who was just smirking under his nose.

"Would you start playing?" Naito's sharp voice reached them, and his pass almost hit Tada's chest. Aomine had already made two shots, while these two senpais were chatting like old ladies on a market. He was rightfully irritated by them.

"Uff." Tada caught it and instinctively went for a shot. His guard had long given up, so he was shooting frees most of the time.

Kousuke got into his position to get the ball if Shun missed – which was highly probable.

But this time, the three pointer went in without scratching the rim.

"Thought you had a stage-fright." Wakamatsu grumbled. He hoped he could get the first rebound.

"I see someone better swapped the first year." The opposing center said in a mocking tone. He could feel that this blonde was much better than the previous one.

"Ha?!" He turned to look at the boy's face and then they both ran towards the opposite basket.

It was a counter-attack. Focused on the Touou's small forward, because they figured out, it was the only chance for them to get some points now. Aomine, Tada, Wakamatsu and even Naito were too much to take on, so it left Kano in the focus of his enemies.

Suddenly he was facing two defenders, and he had no idea how to get past them. He wanted to, but he knew he'd lose the ball. Again. His eyes darted towards Aomine, who was unguarded. Keika figured out it was just a waste of time to try stopping Aomine, but they could at least make it difficult for this first year.

Aomine shrugged and motioned for Kano to pass him.

The moment Kano found a gap, he passed and Aomine scored.

"Thanks." Kano said to him.

"I didn't do it to help you." The ace retorted.

"Sure thing, Mr. Ace." He mumbled to himself and smiled. _Aya-chan sure sees through you._

Thanks to Wakamatsu's addition and Tada's sudden improvement Touou excelled even without the three regular players. That was a huge blow for Keika, who were losing not to the Touou's regular team, but to a bunch of first years! Their motivation had been shattered in the first half, and it was completely crushed after Wakamatsu had joined.

The blonde guarded Touou's basket with an almost beastly ferocity – even though he didn't have to. And he stole opponents' rebounds as well. And maaan he was loud!

The third quarter ended 114 – 58 for Touou.

"Do we have to play the fourth quarter at all?" The opposing captain asked their coach. "It's obvious we've lost. Why resist?"

The coach was frowning. He hadn't expected Aomine Daiki to be this great, and even the other members of the Touou's team were of high-calibre. His team on the contrary… But it was fully their own fault.

"Don't whine! You train only twice a weak! What do you expect? You will play and lose just like you deserve it. Maybe then you will show up to practises." He thundered. It was only a club, and his boys were not taking it seriously at all. Sometimes he wondered why they played at all.

"Now that's interesting…" Naito mused. He didn't like practising that much, but he enjoyed the game and the time spent with his friends. He would never avoid his responsibilities and ditch practise just because he felt like it.

"That's the difference between us and them." Tada shrugged. "You don't become one of the top eight with hands in your pockets."

Aomine sighed and sipped his sports drink. This was so not worth his energy, but he had to remain there till the very end. "What a load of losers, they don't even bother with guarding me." Underestimation pissed him off, but this ignorance…

"They all bully _me_!" Kano whined after hearing Aomine's comment.

"You are the weakest one out there now." Naito reminded him, and earned one long accusatory stare from his friend.

"Shake them off then." Aomine told him with a smirk on his face, knowing it was impossible for Kano with his current skills.

"You are both so mean!"

Sakurai was fidgeting on the bench. He wanted to play. He envied Tada-senpai at the moment, but he also enjoyed watching them. It was more of a team play than previously. Tada was coordinating with Wakamatsu, Kano and Naito, and all four made a pretty good team. Aomine-san was playing on his own, but it was just like usual. Sakurai wanted to try and play _with this_ set-up. He felt that he could rely on them a bit more.

Aya smiled when she heard the whistle. "The last quarter is starting."

"It's not even needed." Ishii commented, burning with envy just like Sakurai. He wanted to be down there and play with his friends. And take off some of the defenders that ganged up on Kano.

Kano was the aim for the opponents bullying, whenever he got the ball, because they considered him weaker than the others. The Keika's team gave up long ago, but they would at least enjoy torturing this poor small forward a bit. They didn't foul him, but they made him feel completely powerless. It wasn't nice to watch.

"I'd love to strangle them." Aya growled as she watched how, once again, they surrounded Kano, making it almost impossible for him to pass, or dribble past them and stole the ball.

Aomine stole it back almost immediately, but Kano was pushed back. It was difficult for him to cope with it. Somewhere in his head he knew that when the three of Keika's players surrounded him, his teammates were free, but it frustrated him.

"It's not nice." Kiku peeped up. She knew the feeling of being the center of something similar.

Naito noticed it, and he refrained passing to Kano. He focused on the other three, sometimes taking shots himself. By now he saw through the other point guard easily. _Maybe it was good we haven't read the report._ He thought. They had to figure the opponent out on their own. The satisfaction he felt tasted much better this way.

The game ended with score: 161 – 58. Touou won. Keika lost.

Imayoshi shook hands with the other captain. "So I see you didn't make us come out at all."

"You have a monster in your team." The boy said.

"I believe there is someone who would oppose you." Imayoshi said with a smirk, his eyes finding the redhead.

The boy shrugged and went to his team.

They bowed, thanked for the game and went towards the changing rooms.

Despite their win, Kano felt terrible. The feeling of complete powerlessness he had experienced was unbearable. He followed after his team towards the changing room staring at his feet the whole time.

"Good job!" Aya's voice reached him, as the girl hugged him around the shoulders. "You did great! I want to break the douchebags' necks for how they ganged up on you."

"Aya-chan?" He asked surprised and raised his head to look at her. He didn't feel like his performance deserved a praise.

Her red eyes were smiling at him. "What's with that long face?" She asked. "You did awesome, given the circumstances and you won! Be proud!"

He blinked. "Eh… well…" Her arm was still around his shoulders and he blushed slightly. "Thank you."

She let go and went around all the others to praise them in the similar way.

"Falling for her won't end well for you." Ishii said to his friend quietly and patted his shoulder. "She is too much for you. And besides…" His eyes darted to Aomine who was now bickering with Aya over something.

Kano followed his line of sight. "Yeah, I know." He smiled. "But I can admire from afar, right?"

"Just don't get broken-hearted over it."

"I won't." He said dedicated to this answer.

######

 **The banter:**

Finally, Aya got to praise Aomine, who was walking at the very front. She naturally hugged him around his shoulders, "Good job, Ho-!"

His palm was over her mouth already. "Don't say it." He growled but he didn't pull away from her friendly embrace. She'd done it to everyone else, who played in this game, so he could enjoy it for a while as well.

Her face twisted in a grimace. Aomine's palm was now rough, and smelled of the basketball. She slapped his palm away. "It smells." She grumbled.

"Like a ball." He said with a nod. "Serves you right, Sweetheart."

 _Oh, so they know of **my** nickname?_ "Really, Honey-bun?" This time she said it.

Aomine took a deep breath to bark something, but the laughter of Tada, Imayoshi and all those who were close enough to hear, just made him blush. "Laugh your heads off, idiots." He growled at them.

"You little witch, I'll get back at you!"

"Just try it, Aomine Daiki!" She laughed and waited for Satsuki and Kiku who were chuckling as well.

######

"Eeek." Kiku squealed quietly when she entered the changing room with Aya and Satsuki, and suddenly there were half-naked boys. She covered her face and hid behind Aya.

Aya and Satsuki giggled at the response. The boys were ignorant towards the reaction they had caused. They decided not to waste time with taking a shower, they wanted to go home and rest as soon as possible. It was a difficult day for all of them; mainly the players. Wakamatsu kept his mouth shut for a reason – he didn't want to embarrass himself in front of Kiku, but he didn't notice that she was _in_ the changing room with them.

"If you keep making treats for them, you'll see this more often." Aya cleared for Kiku. "Start getting used to it."

 _Though I said it…_ Her eyes were staring at the shirtless Aomine, tracing his perfectly refined muscles. The trail of dark navy blue, almost black, hair starting under his navel and disappearing in his pants was something Aya considered unbelievably sexy. She had an urge to trail it with her fingers, to touch Aomine all over. She liked what she saw, everything she saw, and she knew she would like even what she didn't see. _Of course it's boxers…_ She thought.

Aomine was quickly wiping off his sweat with his jersey, when he felt a steady gaze on him. Following his senses he lifted his head and noticed Kagami staring at him. He stopped moving and stared at her.

Aya tracked Aomine's torso back up, just to meet the pair of stormy eyes watching her with an amused and teasing sparkle.

 _'Enjoying-the-view?'_ He asked wordlessly with a raised eyebrow and his typical cocky smirk. He didn't want to drag the other's attention to this personal and almost intimate exchange.

Aya couldn't fight the heat rising to her cheeks. _Now you've done it._ She blushed and bit the inside of her cheek to calm herself down as she averted her eyes.

This reaction caught Aomine off guard. He expected Aya to stare back at him without flinching or with some smirk and wordless remark of her own. It would've been their usual teasing. But she blushed and looked away (the face she made was something he decided to remember). He wasn't sure what to think of it. Suddenly, he felt embarrassed himself.

 _You can't, Kagami Aya, you shouldn't… But when he looks so damn good!_ Being caught staring made her feel embarrassed. Exposed, because she didn't manage to hide it. Yes, she was used to seeing half-naked men, but no, she wasn't used to seeing half-naked Aomine Daiki! It was something else completely. _' the hell? You took his measurements without a second thought! Get a grip, Aya._

"Aya-san?" Kiku asked quietly when she noticed Aya's blushing cheeks. "Are you okay?"

"Hm?" She blinked at Kiku, finally overpowering the embarrassment she felt. "Ah, yes. Yes I'm fine." She said with a smile. _It's nothing._

Katsunori stared at his niece with a raised eyebrow. _Oh man, this is gonna be troublesome…_ He wasn't a father, so he had no idea what to do, or how to cope with a teenage girl in love, so he hoped that Aya would keep her usual, wise demeanour.

"Now, when you are all done and waiting to go home…" Aya clapped and Kiku walked out from her hiding spot behind Aya.

It was just then when the boys realised the shy girl was there the whole time.

 _At least we didn't talk dirty…_ They all thought relieved.

"I-I've made something for all of you." She said with only little stuttering, and showed them a box she was hiding behind her back. "I'd promised cookies, but… I was trying out mini muffins with banana flavour. I hope you'll l-like the taste." She said and presented her creation, packed into small packages.

"We will love it, Kiku-chan!" Kano said loudly, already reaching for his share.

"She was here the whole time?" Wakamatsu asked his friend.

"Yep… And staring at you." Imayoshi said with a sly smirk. He noticed how both girls behaved, each staring at her preferred guy from his team. "You sure you're not popular?" He teased.

Wakamatsu turned his glance to his best friend; ' _Really?'_ asking wordlessly.

Tada nodded with a perfect poker face.

Poof – Wakamatsu turned red in an instant.

Tada and Imayoshi were both biting their lower lips to not burst out laughing, at their vice-captain's reaction. They got up and went to take their treats.

Wakamatsu slumped on the bench, facing a locker and stared at his hands. _That's not true. Uh-uh, not possible. Ohno-chan would never…_

His train of thoughts got derailed, when a small hand touched his shoulder from behind.

"Uuuuhmmm…" The big brown eyes were staring down at him with a question. "D-do you not like banana muffins?" Kiku asked, holding the last package in her hand.

Aya pushed her to go and deliver the treat to Wakamatsu. Kiku wasn't stupid, she could see through Aya's tries to put her near Wakamatsu, but honestly, she didn't mind. She would never find the courage on her own, so having the redhead pushing her forward – by small steps – wasn't bad at all.

Now, when Wakamatsu's hazelnut eyes watched her, she realised it was the first time he was really looking at her face. And it was the first time she was really looking at his face. He had rather angular jaw and nicely shaped eyes and lips. He frowned often, and Kiku wasn't sure she liked it. And now, he was blushing. Whatever the captain and Tada-senpai had told him, it made him blush – under her stare he blushed even more. It made her wonder why. She was no one after all.

Yet, she blushed as well, when his eyes traced her face hidden behind her thick framed glasses.

When staring took too long, Wakamatsu realised the girl asked him something. "Err… Yes!" He shouted. "Yes! I like them!"

Kiku's eyes widened, she was surprised and startled by the sudden loud voice and Wakamatsu's abrupt reaction. She took a step back, tripping over the second bench which was there. She shut her eyes ready for an impact, but Wakamatsu's reflexes were quicker.

He spun around and his arms wrapped around Kiku's waist; he was sitting and Kiku had been close to him.

"Careful!" He said, his face buried right above Kiku's breasts. When he realised it, he let go immediately. "S-sorry." He blushed furiously.

They could hear snickers of the basketball team, who were watching the scene. And then Aya's curt 'Get out!', as she was forcing them to leave.

Kiku was blushing as well. It was the first time she got hugged by a boy. Well… it wasn't a hug hug, it was only an accident, thanks to her clumsiness.

"So…" She spoke up when her heart rate calmed down. "Here." She presented him the package again.

Wakamatsu stared at the small hand, and then covered it with his big one, as he took the treat, "Thanks." his fingers brushed Kiku's palm and lingered there a moment longer than necessary.

 _This is not real…_ Both of them thought.

"Now!" He said and stood up abruptly, making Kiku take a step back again – this time not tripping. "We should go!"

* * *

 **A/N:** Aaand the preliminaries finally begin. I'm not sure if I described the matches well enough, I hope I did. This is my idea of how it might've been. I hope I managed to keep Aomine in character and I hope you don't mind me changing the starting line-up for the second match - I thought it's just fair to let the youngsters try it out if there is a chance.

Let me know what you think and remember, reviews are appreciated but never necessary.

 _-S._


	20. Chapter 20: Meeting the Green

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone who followed and favourited and reviewed! It makes me really happy.

Seirin's match was supposed to start at 10AM (manga) – I changed it to 11 AM.

* * *

 _I let her go because I knew she could do better. And now she's gone, I wonder if I should've just been better. **― Atticus Poetry, Love Her Wild**_

 _My mother once said to me, 'You must promise to be happy; it is the greatest favour you can do to others'. It has guided me throughout my life. **– Stephane Hessel**_

 _One man can be a crucial ingredient on a team, but one man cannot make a team. **– Kareem Abdul-Jabbar**_

 _It is better to use fair means and fail, than foul and conquer **. – Sallust**_

 _Life isn't that sweet. That's why everyone wants sweet things. ― **Yana Toboso**_

* * *

Aya was, once again woken up in the middle of a night by her buzzing phone. With a low grunt she groped around the free side of her double bed in order to find it.

"Yes?" She asked sharply. It was her personal phone, the work one had been shut off when she'd gone to sleep, she could afford to be a bit snappy.

 _"Hey, Robin. Sorry for waking you up. When I realized what time it was over there, I'd already dialed your number."_ Tatsuya's soft voice greeted her; it turned a bit apologetic towards the end.

Aya sighed, and switched to English. It was that easy for her. _"Well I'm up now, so?"_

 _"I just thought you might want to know that I was accepted to Yosen. I have a part scholarship, so I don't have to pay for the dorms."_

Now it was a sigh of relief. _"Thank gods! I thought I'd ruined your chances, by being a bit… daring… towards their coach." _Yosen took less than two weeks to give Tatsuya a proper answer to his application form; it only meant that he must have impressed them.

 _"I'm surprised it was this quick. Alex told me she had sent some videos of my current matches… And she was sure I'd be accepted."_ He said and she could almost see him shrug. _"I doubted it. Their team favours the height too much, so I didn't have high hopes–"_

 _"Oh you had, you lying fox."_ She interrupted him. _"You wanted that school because it's a 'western-like' school."_ Then she waved her arms, as if he was sitting on the bed next to her, while they talked. _"Nah… Be it as is… It's official now. You're coming back. Congratulations!"_ She said cheerfully, but she was still keeping her voice down; she was sure Taiga wasn't sleeping at all.

A smile played on his lips. _Lying fox, huh?_ _"You know me too well… Thank you."_

 _"I didn't do anything. I've just sent those videos. You got there because of your skills, not my influence."_ She had a feeling that it might have been troubling Tatsuya. He wasn't used to asking for favours, or hoping that others would help him. And when they did, he suddenly thought that he did nothing himself.

Tatsuya was quiet for a moment. _"I've lived in America my whole life. I'm a bit scared now…" _He admitted.

 _"Now you're getting' cold feet?"_ Aya laughed. _"Start practising your Japanese then."_

 _"I'll have to. Kanji mostly. Are you willing to exchange some e-mails with me? In Japanese of course?"_

 _"I don't mind. But don't expect immediate replies. I have my responsibilities here."_

 _"…and a boyfriend?"_

Was it hurt she could hear there? Of course not. Tatsuya was over it already, just like she was. The worst thing she could do was start sticking her nose into it again. For both of them.

"…" She bit her lower lip thinking back to Aomine. Was it okay to try and go for it? Probably not for now. _"No. At least not for now."_

Tatsuya wasn't stupid. He noticed the hesitation, and he could read there was someone special. Not a boyfriend, at least not _yet_. But it was only a matter of time. And the guy must have had something special, if she was considering the option. _Ah well… **You** let her go, pal._

 _"You are troubled."_ He said, and it wasn't a question.

 _"… Nah. It's nothing you should worry about, Tatsuya."_

 _"That doesn't change the fact that you're troubled."_

 _"Yes, but I have a lot on my head right now." _She said more impatiently. She still considered Tatsuya her best friend, but she sure as hell didn't like the idea of discussing Aomine with him. It just didn't feel right.

 _"… I'm coming back right after I finish my first year. I need to take some final exams of your first semester, and attend a few supplementary lessons in July. Why is it that strict? Isn't enough that I have a paper from America?"_ He understood Aya's reasoning and changed the topic.

 _"Well, we have some different subjects they probably want you to catch up on. And it's a good opportunity for you to be among your schoolmates to be, so you won't be that new weirdo."_

 _"Weirdo?"_

 _"Well… The amazingly handsome transfer student, all girls will faun over?"_ She teased him good heartily.

He chuckled at the teasing. _"You have a high opinion of me."_

 _I fell in love with you once, stupid._ _"Of course I do! You are still a very important member of my patchwork family."_

 _"Your own family is big enough, silly."_ He shook his head and laughed, but her words made him happy. It was problematic in his own family, and Aya offered him a way out, a safe ground. She was his hero, and always will be. _You are a very important person in my life too._

 _"True, but I appreciate them all. Blood or not."_ She fought back a yawn. At least she tried to.

 _"You should get your beauty sleep. We don't need Taiga to get frightened when he sees you in the morning."_

Aya's eyes narrowed. _"You say what?"_ She hissed.

Tatsuya laughed. _"Go to sleep. You have some matches to attend tomorrow, if I'm correct."_

 _"Yes. I'm going to watch Taiga tomorrow. And then some other teams, just in case."_

 _"Good night, Aya."_

 _"Good night."_ She smiled at invisible Tatsuya. _"Don't forget to e-mail me. **In Japanese**."_

 _"I won't."_

He thought they would be on the phone for a few more seconds, hesitating to end the call, like they had done for so many times in the past. But Aya hung up without a second thought.

The message was clear. She'd moved on. Now it was up to Tatsuya, to move on as well. It would be the best for both if he stopped bringing any sad and regretful feelings into their, still fragile, friendship.

######

"I knew it! You haven't slept at all." Aya laughed when Taiga shuffled into the kitchen with a loud yawn.

He scratched his bare stomach and yawned again. Then his red eyes glared at her in warning. But red veins, now clearly visible in them due to the lack of sleep made his intended glare more funny than threatening. "Mind your own business." He grumbled and slumped onto the closest chair.

She placed rich breakfast, consisting of steamed fish, rice, soup and fresh vegetables, in front of him. "Eat up, so you have enough energy."

He blinked at it, usually they ate simpler breakfast, and this was a luxury. _What did I do to deserve it?_ He thought, but food was food, and he didn't want to waste another minute. "Itadakimasu!"

Seeing people enjoying her food like this was the greatest appreciation she could receive. So she waited for a moment and watched him stuffing his cheeks like a squirrel with a smile.

"Tatsuya was accepted to Yosen and I'm going to watch your match today." She announced.

"What?!" Taiga almost choked. Then he coughed and it took him a moment to successfully gulp down his mouthful. "Tatsuya called? When? And didn't you say you have a match today as well?"

Aya was smiling innocently. "Yesterday night. I thought you heard me talking. And we do have a match, but Satsuki can handle it. And after seeing their yesterday's performance I don't think there will be any problem for us to win." She answered all three questions at once.

"I thought you were sleep-talking." He mumbled.

"I don't sleep-talk."

"You do. Sometimes, but you do…" He sounded really certain about it. "So Tatsuya is officially coming to Japan?"

"Yep. But we knew it before, right?"

Taiga nodded, frowning at his food. "You said you don't doubt your team. Are they really that good?" He asked with a thoughtful expression, and he didn't wait for an answer. Of course they were **_that_** good, if Aya believed in them. "And there we are, afraid of our first opponent."

"Just because he is a foreigner." She shrugged. "You'll be fine. I had a look on them, and they were nothing special, except that transfer student. Seirin should do just fine."

"It's heart-warming when you say it."

Aya narrowed her eyes at him, she wasn't sure if he was being ironic or if he really meant it. But she let it slide. "I'm going to get changed. You think it's okay if I don't wear my uniform?"

"Did you wear it yesterday?"

"Only the skirt and I had Touou's basketball team jacket on top."

"No one from Touou is going to check up on you, right? Wear something comfortable."

"Good idea, brother. Good idea." She liked when Taiga sometimes became her fashion consultant or commentator on her choices.

"'f course." He answered with his mouth full, once again focused on the delicious food.

######

"Aya-san! Hello." Riko greeted her in surprise. Seirin's team was meeting at their school grounds, and then they went to a local gym where A-block had their preliminary rounds. Taiga was the last one, they were waiting for, but his twin tagging along was something no one expected.

"Long time no see, Riko-senpai." She bowed her head in greeting. "Kuroko-kun" _I hope you've kept your promised._ – remained unsaid.

The ghostly boy understood the hidden words and he nodded, and then bowed politely. _Your video was kept secret._

"I hope you don't mind if I join you today, Hyuuga-senpai?" She turned towards the captain with a smile.

"Ah…" He blinked at her. "No, not at all. But are you sure your team doesn't need you?"

Aya waved her hand at this. "I'm not allowed on the benches anyways, and they have Satsuki-chan. They are not as team-like as you, but they are functional."

"Oh well. Alright then. Another pair of eyes and a quick mind can only help us." Riko said with smile. Her eyes went over her entire team: "Since everyone's here. Let's go."

"You couldn't sleep again?" Izuki asked quietly with a smile on his face.

Taiga acted as if he didn't hear a thing. But Aya chuckled. "Yep, you're right, Izuki-senpai."

The boy nodded approvingly. It was nice that Kagami's sister remembered their names after only one meeting, and it was a little bit scary as well.

"Again?" Kuroko glanced at Taiga with a corner of his eye. His voice was calm, but he was fighting a chuckle himself.

"Shut up." The ace grumbled. "Both of you." He added and glared at Aya as well.

"As you wish, Tai." She smirked. "Ne, Riko-senpai! Wait up." She sprinted to catch up with the Seirin's coach.

"It's nice to have another girl here." She said when Aya caught up, though her eyes slid down on Aya's breasts. _D-cup… Were they this big when I last saw her?_ "So which block are you in?" Riko asked to divert attention.

"B-block. We had two matches yesterday. One today, and another two to on Friday."

"Two matches on the first day are quite difficult." Riko mused. She could imagine that with her small team, which barely had enough players, it would be troublesome, but she knew they wouldn't avoid it.

######

Seirin arrived at the gym, similar to the one Touou had matches in, and headed towards their changing room.

"I think I should go up towards the spectators' area." Aya said with a smile. After all, she wasn't a part of this team; it didn't matter that her brother was part of it.

"You can come with us, but it's up to you." Riko shrugged. She wouldn't mind Aya joining them today, but at the same time, she was aware that Aya was their enemy too.

"I'll go find a good spot for watching." She stared at the boys for a moment. "Go get them. You should be able to win without any problems."

"OSSU!" They collectively appreciated her encouragement, and suddenly their nerves seemed smaller than minutes ago.

Kuroko remained behind the group. "You sure know what to say, Aya-san."

"Oh? I haven't said anything special." She smiled at him.

A small smile formed on Kuroko's lips. People like Aya-san were his lights. "If you say so."

######

 ** _Meanwhile in Touou's changing room:_**

"Uhm… I'm sorry to ask… but, where is Aya-san?" Sakurai asked when they all gathered in the changing room, and he couldn't see the redhead anywhere. It was confusing and saddening as there was no one else who would encourage him before a match.

"You miss her?" Yamaoka asked in an annoyed tone. "I sure don't."

"Ah. I'm sorry, senpai, sorry for asking…" His voice trailed off and he sighed, staring at his jersey.

Aomine raised an eyebrow at the dejected expression of his classmate, and lunch bringer (at times). Then he sighed and asked: "So where is she?" He could already hear all the teasing about his 'Honey bun' nickname…

To his surprise, none teasing came and Imayoshi, who was changing next to him explained the mystery. "She went to watch Seirin's match against some team with a transfer student, and in the afternoon she'll go observe Kirisaki Daiichi from our block. She should be back for tomorrows' two matches. Right?" He looked up to their coach.

"Right." Harasawa nodded. "I want to know how Taiga will manage this two meters tall boy. Plus she can have a look on Shuutoku and Seiho, while she is on her trip. We might as well end up facing one of them in the final league."

That surprised Imayoshi. "You think Seirin won't make it?" Honestly, he didn't think Seirin was good enough to make it past preliminaries, but he thought coach believed in his nephew, just like Aya believed in her brother.

"I don't know. Taiga just recently started playing again." He shrugged. "One can never be too sure. Anyhow, it's good to know your possible enemies in advance."

"Hmmm..." He nodded, and then looked at Aomine. "Satisfied?" He wanted to add 'Honey bun' there, but he could feel that Aomine's fist would spring at him if he did so.

The ace didn't answer.

######

Aya climbed the stairs and found a nice place from where she could see the show on the court. There weren't a lot of people. _Well, it's only the first match…_ She thought.

The boys entered the court and started their warm up, but she couldn't see the transfer student anywhere. _So he is late._

"Eeeh? The transfer student isn't here yet?" A loud and cheerful voice behind her asked.

"Hn. Don't be loud, Takao. He will come." A deeper voice answered.

"But look. Your friend is already down there. Number 11."

"I'm not here because of him."

 _That's Kuroko…_ Aya had to turn around, to see the two boys.

One of them was tall, taller than Taiga, with vivid green hair and eyes. He wore glasses, fingers on his left hand were taped, and he was carrying a maneki-neko. _Midorima Shintarou._ She recognised him.

The other one was shorter, with black slightly longer and messy hair, blue eyes and a sharp chin. He had slyness and mischief in his face, and he appeared to be friendly and easy-going. She didn't know his name. The boy noticed her interested glance.

"Hey!" He talked to her with a smile. "You know us?" He asked without a thought, his eyes looking the redhead up and down. She wasn't wearing a uniform, so he had no idea which school she was from.

"I recognise Midorima Shintarou-kun, but I have no idea who you might be." Aya said with a polite smile and an unreadable expression; she was baffled by his straightforwardness, but she didn't mind it.

"I don't remember meeting you." Midorima said, his eyes glaring down at her. He had to admit that there was something familiar about her, maybe the hair…

"Because we haven't met yet."

"Then how do you know me?" He demanded an answer.

"I'm a part of Touou's basketball team. And the sister of the number 10 of Seirin." She pointed her thumb towards Taiga and shrugged. "I've seen Teiko's matches."

He blinked at the answer. The girl must have known Aomine and Satsuki, and most likely Kise and Kuroko too. "Your name?" Though he would swear Kise had mentioned some redhead… (When he had been pestering him over a phone a few days back. Again.)

"Kagami Aya." She said and bowed slightly. "And you are?" She turned her eyes at Takao, who was just curiously staring at the two.

"Takao Kazunari, Missy." He bowed. "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too, Takao-kun."

"So you are a manager, right?" He asked, because Midorima was not likely to start any conversation. And the spot she had picked was indeed very good.

"Yes. You two are from Shuutoku, right? Are you a regular as well?"

"Sure thing. I'm a point-guard. With number 10, actually." He snickered and glanced at Taiga, with the same number. "Oh, look! The transfer student!"

Aya and Midorima turned their eyes downwards. They had missed Papa's entrance. Now, the tall black guy was holding Kuroko up in the air as if he was a little kid, telling him something. It was too far for them to hear. Aya's eyebrows went up. "I think we will see something interesting." She mused.

"Hn." Midorima picked up his lucky-item higher, as if it could watch the match. "I'm here to check out that transfer student."

"Not Kuroko-kun? I thought you were here to see Seirin…" She said and Midorima narrowed his eyes at her. How could she see through him?

She decided to change the topic. "Anyways… What's that?" Aya asked, staring at the white and gold maneki-neko, with a red choker and a jingle bell, calmly sitting on Midorima's hand.

Takao's shoulders were shaking in held in a withheld laughter. He was interested how Shin-chan would explain this. And more so, how Kagami-chan would react.

"It's my lucky item." He said seriously.

"Lucky item?" She asked curiously. "You want to tell me you carry this thing with you every day and everywhere?" She tried not to sound prejudiced or disapproving.

"Just today. It's my lucky item just for today, according to Oha-asa horoscope. And that horoscope is always right." He explained seriously, almost protectively.

"Horoscope." Aya repeated confusedly. "Right…" She would add something, but she didn't want to insult this tall boy. Then again… "What is Oha-asa?" She asked after a few seconds.

Midorima's expression suddenly turned pained and shocked. How come she didn't know? "It's a radio programme. How can you be so uninformed?" He asked quietly, but his voice made it obvious he wasn't pleased by it.

"Oh?" Her eyebrow went up and she chuckled. "Sorry, I don't listen to radio much. So does it really help?" She vaguely pointed at the maneki-neko.

Takao couldn't take it. He burst out laughing. "Ahahaha… But Shin-chan really gets in trouble if he doesn't carry those things around." Takao said with laughter tears in his eyes, as he remembered those hilarious yet dangerous situations, which had occurred when he had destroyed or hid Shin-chan's lucky items… Now, he wouldn't do it again.

"Shin-chan?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Shut up, Takao."

"Shin-chan…" She repeated. "I like the sound of it." Aya decided with a nod.

"See what you've caused?" Midorima was frowning at him. "So?" He looked at Aya again. "What's your zodiac?"

"And why do you need to know?"

"To know how much I should avoid you."

"How mean… And if I won't tell?"

He was frowning at her, as if he could see her zodiac sign written on her forehead. "Hmpf. Then don't."

Takao was still laughing his lungs out.

"I'm very tempted not to, Shin-chan. But I can't have you ignoring me this entire match, so… Try to guess, once. And then I'll tell you."

"Hmmm…" His constant glare continued. Wrinkles formed on his forehead, while he was concentrating. She was out-going, friendly, maybe even funny. She was pretty. She attracted attention, and she didn't seem to mind it, she was confident, but not arrogant. He hadn't seen her move, but he'd bet it was elegant and smooth. And she had a mischievous sparkle in her eyes. He had no idea. There were more zodiac signs that would fit… Even his zodiac description didn't fit him in all aspects… There was something fire-like about the girl: _Her element must be fire._ He thought, which reduced his options to three signs, but it would still be a guess… "Aries?"

"Nope. I'm Leo. August 2nd, if it helps you in any way." She said.

Oha-asa did say he would meet someone interesting, and there was no mention he should be careful when approaching Leos, so it should be fine. _The horoscope is always right…_

"And you are something closed of… That makes me think of Cancer…" Aya guessed. She didn't believe those things but she knew the basic traits the zodiac signs should have, and which were most likely not true. So she guessed the first thing that came to her mind.

Midorima's eyes widened. She was right!

"Eh? Was I right?" She asked in disbelief. "I was just guessing!"

Takao laughed again. "You are amazing, Kagami-chan."

"Please, call me Aya. I don't like it when people address me by my family name."

Now they both exchanged confused glances but nodded.

A referee whistled. Aya's attention turned towards the court immediately.

Seirin lost the tip-off, but with Kuroko as a starter, they were doing unbelievably great. It exceeded Aya's expectations. And to top it, Taiga was dealing with Papa perfectly fine. Whatever the boy had said to Taiga and Kuroko, it only made them play harder.

Midorima was staring at Aya by the corner of his eye. "You are not surprised by Kuroko's style." It wasn't a question; he was simply stating a fact.

 _Interested in foreign student, sure…_ "I've seen them play and played with some of them. I don't know Seirin as well as my own team, but I'm aware of their style."

"You play, too?" Takao asked with a surprise in his eyes.

"Yes. He is my brother after all." Her eyes tracked Taiga. "But I play either a point guard or a shooting guard of course."

"That's like us! Are you good? Would you play with us sometimes?"

"Takao. Don't be pushy." Midorima warned him with a meaningful look. He didn't need this girl to bother them.

Takao made an exasperated face, but let it go. _Whatever…_

The first quarter ended with a big lead for Seirin. 23 – 8.

There was a short break and Aya leaned her back against the railing, turning towards the two boys to chat with them some more, but she noticed someone familiar. She frowned.

"Could you hold this spot for me please?" She asked, not even looking at them and she walked towards a boy with a cap on his head.

Kano Daiki didn't notice her until she placed her arm around his shoulders and he startled. He had been staring at the court, not people around him.

"It's been some time, Daiki." Aya greeted him cheerfully, took off his cap and ruffled his hair in a familial gesture.

"A-Aya-san!" He stuttered as a response to fright. "W-w-what are you doing here?"

"And what are you? Aren't you supposed to be at school?" She asked teasingly and spun his cap on her forefinger.

He breathed in to respond, but he couldn't deny it. His expression turned guilty. "I am." He mumbled, then his head sprang up and his eyes glimmered, "but I wanted to see Kuroko-senpai playing with his whole team!" He said with a sudden urgency in his voice. "I had to!"

To his surprise Aya chuckled, and let go of his shoulders. "Then I have nothing to say. Everyone should skip school at least once. And if you have a good reason…" She shrugged with an obvious mischief in her eyes.

Daiki realised that Aya, didn't mind his irresponsibility, on the contrary, she completely favoured his decision to skip school for this reason.

"Come with me, and meet my two new acquaintances. We have a better spot to watch the game from."

"Eh?" He blinked, and followed after the redhead.

When he stopped next to Midorima Shintarou, and Takao Kazunari – he knew both of them; Midorima because he was a part of the generation of miracles, and Takao because Daiki was in the same class with his younger sister – he had to double take. Midorima was taller than he had expected, and Takao had a sharp edge in his eyes.

"This is Kano Daiki." Aya introduced the younger boy. "He is a younger brother of my classmate and teammate."

Both Shuutoku players stared at the boy in front of them. Kano Daiki was short, around Aya's height, and thin, almost skinny. He had unruly brown hair and clear forest-green eyes. Freckles framed his cheekbones and nose. The boy had a weak presence, and averted his eyes when Midorima stared at him too long.

They both introduced to him, bowed and shook his hand. Daiki was surprised by this.

"You are in the class with Airi, right?" Takao asked, tilting his head. The boy was familiar, and he would swear his sister had mentioned the name, with a dreamy face. _So Airi has a crush on this one… Not so bad._ He thought. _A bit too skinny._

"Hai! She helped me to pass biology!" The boy answered immediately, and blushed.

Takao stared at him for a moment, which made Daiki fidget. Then he smirked. "Oh, yeah, she mentioned you. I'm glad to finally meet you in person! Take a good care of her, Kano Daiki-kun~" He teased.

Daiki blushed even more. "I'm not… we're not… I mean… We are just friends!" Meeting the older brother of his crush by a chance was embarrassing and scary. He had no idea what Airi-san's brother would be like, but he'd wanted some time to prepare. Now, thanks to Aya-san, he had none.

"Sure you are~" Takao said with a whistle.

Aya gave Takao one warning look. ' _Don't-tease-him-too-much.'_ But she was smiling at the boy's reaction as well. _Maybe we could invite the girl for Daiki's birthday… Then I need Takao's number._ She made a mental note to propose this idea to Kano later on.

Takao shrugged. ' _If-you-say-so.'_

The second quarter began.

Daiki stared at it and then sighed. "I hoped I'd see Kuroko-senpai some more."

"You will, don't worry. He will come out towards the end." Midorima said, surprised that the boy was actually interested in Kuroko. "It's not like that dunking monkey can do much alone." He snorted.

He was then exposed to a pair of dangerously glaring reddish eyes.

"Good observation, Shin-chan!" She said way too sweetly, which sent shivers down his spine. "But I recommend you not to underestimate that 'dunking monkey', or you might be unpleasantly surprised."

He gave her a sharp nod and didn't say anything more. Kagami Aya seemed scarier than pissed off Miyaji-senpai. That shouldn't be taken lightly.

Takao elbowed him. "Good job, Shin-chan~"

Five minutes into the second quarter, and Aya was leaning onto the railing, watching her brother in serious concentration, ignoring everyone else. He was a level better than when he had faced Kise. This was… She knew his jumps were crazy. The ability to dunk at his age was something special, well, maybe not that much, but not everyone could do it. She knew he could jump really high if needed, they had played volley together at times. But this was something else… His jumps were getting higher. He was staying in the air longer. The moment Kuroko had stepped off the court, Taiga was performing individually better. _Is he holding back because he relies on Kuroko-kun too much?_ She wondered, but it wasn't the only thing. _If Taiga could change those jumps into his weapon…_

She caught Riko's gaze, and both girls nodded. They could both see the potential there.

 _If he continues, he will stop one of Papa's high three pointers by the end of this match…_ She thought. _And there he was nervous because of Papa's height…_

During the ten minute break, Daiki asked what was so interesting for her. "Those two are enemies, so I will explain when they leave." It made both Shuutoku players frown, but they had to agree. They weren't talking about their team either.

When Kuroko stepped onto the court again, it was Daiki who was leaning onto the railing observing the blue-haired boy in an utmost concentration. He couldn't lose Kuroko from his sight.

When the match was over – Seirin roared happily. They won their first match of preliminaries! A step closer to getting to the top.

"As expected." Aya nodded.

"Only by 7 points." Midorima pointed out.

She rolled her eyes. "Of course your merit is doubling or tripling opponents score, but even this victory is still a victory. No need to belittle it, Shin-chan."

Midorima grimaced and started to walk away. Their match was in an hour, they still had some time for a light lunch.

Takao waved to Aya and quickly caught up with his taller friend. "At the end… The transfer student wasn't at all that interesting, was he?" He said leisurely with his arms joined behind his head.

######

"WHAT?!" Taiga shouted when he heard it.

"We are going back to school." Riko repeated calmly. She was aware this wouldn't go well. There were another four matches they could watch, but the rules had been set. They had to return. She wasn't a teacher, who could bend those rules, or push her ideas through.

"But I want to watch the other matches!" He protested. His eyes naturally found his sister, who came to congratulate them, in hope she would support him.

To his disappointment, Aya just shrugged. She wouldn't support him now. Rules were rules, and she wasn't sure a small new team like Seirin could afford to break them.

"We all do, Kagami-kun. But we need to follow the rules." Kuroko mixed into the banter, trying to calm their ace.

"Then I'll skip." He said vehemently.

"Are you an idiot?! If you skip, you'll get in trouble, maybe you won't play in another match!" Riko raised her voice. "You are coming back with us!"

He took a deep breath to answer something really rude, when a basketball hit the back of his head, almost making him fall over. His eyes narrowed.

"Listen to your coach, Tai." Aya said with sharp voice, resisting Taiga's glare. _'I know you were about to insult her, be glad I've stopped you.'_

 _'I wasn't…'_ They couldn't read each other's mind, but they knew each other so well they could easily guess it. And Aya was right this time, he was indeed about to spout an insult he would regret later on.

"Tch… Fine." He nodded and rubbed the sore spot at the back of his head. "You don't have to throw a ball at me! What if something happened to me?"

"There's nothing for it to happen to in there." She chuckled. "No offence."

######

Kano Daiki stayed with Aya to watch another two matches.

Seiho had a unique style Aya couldn't quite comprehend, so after the match, she went to ask for a video recording of it. She had to ask Satsuki or Katsunori, or maybe Aomine (preferably Aomine), what he thought about it, and whether he ever played against something like that.

All guys from Seiho were moving differently than other players. It looked smooth, and they had unbelievably good defence and stamina. Or maybe they just knew how to tire out their opponents efficiently, without getting tired themselves. All in all, they won with double score.

After the match, she went to grab a quick lunch with Daiki and then they returned back to their spot. Aya enjoyed the company of the younger boy. He was easy to talk to, and he didn't pry or ask unimportant questions. Daiki was slightly amused by Aya's personality, since he had met her only once, but he liked the girl; he understood why his younger sister Aki declared Aya as their adopted older sister.

Shuutoku's match was… It was a massacre. They crushed their opponents 152 – 26. It was even more brutal than Touou's last match, because in Touou's last match Aomine hadn't gone all out, and he had to cover for the others – even though he wouldn't admit it. Midorima's three-pointers gave Shuutoku a huge lead. He always got three points, always. He didn't miss, not once. The maneki-neko was sitting on their bench, watching its owner, as he was shooting one basket after another.

But there was a thing, Aya noticed. Midorima Shintarou didn't pass. Just like Kise and Aomine. When he got a ball, he made a shot. He never cared what his teammates were doing, he didn't screen, he didn't pass. _He thinks too much of himself… Just like those two._

When they were done, Midorima looked up to Aya. ' ** _This_** _is a victory.'_

 _'Good job.'_ She smirked and gave Midorima and Takao thumbs up. "Well, this was brutal." She said to Daiki.

Daiki was staring at the court with wide eyes. "I can't believe what I've seen. It's not real… How is Seirin going to deal with this?"

"Uhm… With high spirits?" Aya joked. "I believe they will manage. There's one week before the semi-finals and finals of the prelims, so I think they will find a way."

"… I would be so scared." He admitted. "Where did they go anyways? I thought I'd meet with Kuroko-kun."

"Ah well… They had to go back to school apparently." Aya shrugged. It had this disadvantage when the coach was also a student, and a member of a student council. "Trust me, Taiga wasn't happy about it at all."

"I can imagine." He did remember Taiga's little outburst from their last meeting.

"Now." Aya got up. "I need to go to another gym, to watch one more match. I believe you should go home."

Daiki nodded, and walked in front of her. Then he suddenly stopped and turned around. Aya almost ran into him.

"What's up?"

"Please, don't tell my brother I skipped school! He would get really angry."

Aya blinked at that. "Can he even get angry? I've never seen him raise his voice on anyone." And she doubted Kano would get angry if Daiki explained his reasons.

"He doesn't shout." Daiki shook his head and paled a bit. "And that's what's worse…"

"Hai, hai. Don't worry. I won't rat you out."

######

"Satsuki! Hey!" Aya waved, as she was running towards the pinkette. She barely made it in time. "Sorry I'm late."

She bent forward to catch her breath, she was sure she looked like she had run several miles the fastest she could. Her feet were burning, because she was wearing espadrilles with thin soles. What a poor choice of shoes. At least it was the same gym where their match had been, so she hadn't had to look for an entrance.

"Aya-chan." Satsuki sighed in relief. "I was starting to think you wouldn't come…" She started accusingly, but then she looked at Aya, and her voice changed into worry. "What happened?!"

"Me too." Aya admitted. "There was a big car crash, so it took forever by bus. I got out four stops earlier and ran from there. I was still quicker than that bus." She explained. _Really… when something can go wrong it will…_

"You ran four stops?! You realize how much that is? You could've called me, you'd be late." It was almost 6 miles, and she didn't doubt that Aya had sprinted all the way. The bottomless energy and stamina Aya had, surprised her once again.

"Yeah, yeah… I've promised to be here the whole match, haven't I?" Aya smiled at Satsuki. Her breathing was slowly calming down. "So, what's going on?" She asked and looked down on the two teams getting ready for the tip-off.

"They warmed up, and we will see. What exactly made you wary of this particular team?"

"Hanamiya Makoto, and… I think you've noticed it too. In majority of their matches last year, there were accidents, injuries. Especially in the Winter cup."

The name rang a bell and her eyes found the said boy. She didn't know he was on this team. _He's changed a lot and he is a captain…_ "You don't think those were accidents…"

"There were too many of them in my opinion. Plus their players were never injured during such an accident. Convenient, don't you think?"

"Hmmm…" The pinkette bit into her lower lip. "Let's see if there's any injury during this match."

A referee blew a whistle and threw the ball up.

Kirisaki Daiichi got it and the game started.

At first, everything went okay, Kirisaki Daiichi seemed to be more skilled than their opponents, and they gained a lead. By 8 points, which wasn't much, but it was still a lead. But then the center of Kirisaki Daiichi stepped on his opponent's foot, preventing him to get the rebound they were going for. It took only a split second, and a referee didn't notice.

And that was only a start.

After this first unnoticed foul, Kirisaki Daiichi slowly started its dirty game of fouling. They were stepping on their opponents' feet, elbowing their ribs, pulling at their jerseys, even punching their stomachs. All of this was happening in a way that referees wouldn't see, that cameras wouldn't record. One of the Kirisaki Daiichi's players always covered the view, and shielded a dirty play from referees' eyes.

"That's horrible!" Satsuki was covering her mouth, staring at the game with wide eyes. "How can the referees be so blind? Their opponents are already forming bruises!" She was shocked and angry. If anyone told her this, she wouldn't have believed it. She had seen recordings of Kirisaki Daiichi's matches, but those fouls weren't visible there!

Aya was staring at the disgusting game going on below her. "They do it so the referees can't see, it also isn't seen on videos… They must've studied really hard to achieve this form of perfect fouling." She snorted, and pulled out her phone to record it from above.

"You've expected this?" Satsuki asked, because Aya's previous tone indicated so.

The redhead nodded, "I had a hunch. You can't see those fouls on DVDs, but if you are really observant, you can see bruises, pained expressions… Their matches were weird, I didn't enjoy watching it, so I needed to be sure what to expect."

Satsuki was frowning. "We will face them. That's for sure."

"The thing is how our guys are going to deal with this."

"They are attacking the ace the most." Satsuki pointed out, her heart suddenly sinking.

"They will go after Aomine. I believe."

"We can't let him play in that match." She didn't like the idea of Dai-chan getting injured by the bunch of low-lives.

But Aya was shaking her head in disagreement. "I think he will want to play particularly in that match." She didn't know why she thought so, but she did. Aomine wouldn't run and hide just because he could suffer an injury. He wasn't a coward.

The half-game ten minute break started. Kirisaki Daiichi was calmly discussing their other plans, smirking the whole time, while opposing players were applying a cooling spray, and ice on their injured and bruised arms and legs. Their ace was visibly injured, tired and shocked, and the coach was frowning deeply, but there was nothing he could do.

"He doesn't need much more to break." Aya said pointing at the ace player. "He is stepping on his left foot very carefully. By the looks of it, I guess his toe nails are cracked, or his toes are injured in some way."

"Hmmm… they've been stomping on his foot a lot…" Satsuki nodded. "The coach should bench him."

"He should, but I don't think so. The point difference is still manageable. Only 19 points. They can still turn it around, but if their ace sits out, they will lose for sure."

"I think they should rather throw in this game, than permanently injure that boy. They can try another year."

"The ace is a third year, Satsuki. He doesn't have a 'next year'." She sighed. If it were her, she would want to continue, injuries or not. "Oh look, someone knew is joining Kirisaki."

"Eh? That's… Seto Kentarou, if I'm correct. There was nothing special about his personal abilities." _Why would he join the game now?... There are better players than him._

"For once, he is taller than the previous center."Aya pointed out. "I wonder what kind of player he is." She said seriously. And then her stomach rambled loudly, as if making fun of her. She squeezed it with her arm and an ashamed blush. "Sorry."

Satsuki chuckled. "Did you eat at all today?"

"Yeah, but the running…" She scratched her neck and smiled sheepishly.

"We can go grab some early dinner after the match." The pinkette proposed with a smile. She'd gladly have another girly chat with Aya-chan.

"Sure. That sounds awesome!" A wide content grin played on Aya's lips. She was starving, so if there was a food in it, she'd go anywhere. "Oh! They're starting the next quarter!"

During the second half, they soon found out what kind of the player Seto Kentarou was. Seto wasn't focused on scoring, or rebounds. It almost looked like he didn't care. But he was moving around a lot. And it took the girls some time, to understand what his agenda was.

In the first five minutes, they continued with their rough play. They pushed the ace of opposing team to his limits, stomping on his already injured foot even more. Then in very quick sequence, small forward of Kirisaki Daiichi stomped on his foot twice, and then swept him off his feet, and they were both falling down. The ace roared in pain, and then the elbow of the small forward jabbed right into his stomach using the momentum of the fall and his weight.

Aya clenched her jaw. The excruciating pain on the injured boy's face could have been felt. This was a very nasty fall. He was forced to go to the infirmary. _An accident…_

The rough play seemed to be forgotten. Now, Kirisaki Daiichi started stealing all of their opponents' passes. If the previous rough play and the ace's break down didn't work, this broke the mental strength of their opponents completely. The opponents couldn't score at all; it was an unbelievable struggle of a moth caught in a spider web, and struggling to get free. It was impossible.

At the end of the match Kirisaki Daiichi won by almost 60 points.

"What a disgusting match." Aya growled and turned to leave. "I need something sweet to lighten my mood. What do you say about having some crêpes?"

Satsuki's eyes sparkled at the idea. "Yes!" She agreed immediately, sweets were sweets after all.

Aya just smiled. "Let's go."

As they walked towards their destination, they talked about the match they had just witnessed. They both concluded that they needed to warn the coach, Imayoshi-senpai and the entire team. At least they weren't at such a risk when it came to Kirisaki Daiichi's spider web. Touou's players didn't pass much, it wasn't their style.

They entered a spacious crêpe-oriented restaurant, with colourful interior. They were immediately greeted and seated to a table of their choosing. Aya wanted to sit near a window, so she could watch people passing by. Then they placed their orders. Aya chose a crêpes with fresh strawberries, chocolate filling and whipped cream on top. Satsuki decided to have one with an apricot jam and vanilla ice-cream, with no whipped cream.

"I'm so interested in how it'll taste!" Satsuki squealed happily.

"Awesome, like usual."

"You know this place?"

"Yep. It was the first place Taiga and I visited when we arrived here." She chuckled. They had gotten lost, then hungry, and then they had found this place, by chance.

"It's my first time here." Satsuki said and then stared at Aya.

"What?"

"You danced with Aomine-kun… How in the world did you do it? He is totally not dancing type."

Aya shrugged. "I dragged him there."

"You can't drag a guy his size anywhere, unless he lets you to." She said witha twinkle in her pink eyes. "Tell me, Aya-chan… Why aren't you dating yet?"

"Because we decided to be friends, and I don't think I'm a good dating material." Aya said in a colder voice than she wanted. In her opinion, whatever relationship she had with Aomine wasn't Satsuki's business. At least yet…

Satsuki understood the hidden meaning. It stung, but this was Aya-chan and Satsuki swore she would learn to deal with it, just like she had learned to deal with Dai-chan. "You aren't rejecting the thought of it, nor Aomine-kun as a choice… But still…" Satsuki mused aloud and decided to change the topic. "I'm confused. Don't all teenage girls want a boyfriend?"

Aya had to smile at that. "Maybe…" She admitted. "But having a boyfriend just for the sake of it is kind of pointless. You don't look at the person that way."

"Hmmm… I've always seen Tetsu-kun."

"And you are not officially dating, right?"

Satsuki's face saddened a bit. "I'd love to go on a date with him, and all, but I have my responsibilities, and we live far away and…"

"You are embarrassed to call him out yourself?"

"I think I'm being too pushy… I am too pushy!" She corrected herself. "But I just don't know what to do. I feel like Tetsu-kun doesn't really look at me."

 _Ah… unrequited love is never nice…_ It was the first time Satsuki was opening up like this, admitting her flaws. "You can never be too sure about that." She tried to cheer the pinkette up.

"It would be nice if you were right…" She shook the thoughts away and looked at Aya. "You won't hurt Ki-chan because of the video, right?"

"No, but we want to get back at him somehow."

"Can I join? Or is it only between you and Dai-chan too?"

Aya rolled her eyes inwardly. The pinkette could get offended quickly, and she would let you know with small jabs here and there. "You can, of course. So far we are waiting for after the prelims, and we don't have a slightest idea what to do…"

"Hmmm… I'll try to think of something too!" She took a bite, of a sweet crêpe. Munched. And her face turned into a definition of bliss. "This is amazing!"

"What did I tell you?" Aya smiled and started eating too. She loved crêpes from this place.

When they were done, they sat in a comfortable silence and watched people outside. It was getting dark, but neither of them wanted to go home.

"There is this idea…" Aya started.

Satsuki turned her pink eyes at her. "About Ki-chan?"

"No. About Kuroko-kun."

Satsuki blinked and leaned forward. She was all ears.

"Kano has four younger siblings. His younger brother, Daiki, is turning 14 on Sunday. If I'm correct, first rounds of prelims end on Saturday, ours on Friday, and we have six whole days before semi-finals and finals, so we have Saturday and Sunday free. Daiki admires Kuroko-kun's style and he wants to learn it… I've been thinking about throwing a small party for him. Kuroko-kun and Taiga would be invited, Naito and Ishii too. If you help with organization, you might join us too…"

 _Eeeeh?!_ Satsuki made a squealing sound and she had hearts in her eyes. It was an opportunity to see Tetsu-kun without feeling too pushy. "I'll gladly help! You are amazing! I love you!"

Aya laughed. "Of course you do. But first of all, we should ask Kano for permission. They might want to have a family party, you never know…"

"Won't you invite Aomine-kun too?"

"Nope. He has nothing to do with Kano's siblings, he doesn't know them, and inviting too many unrelated people would be weird."

Satsuki nodded in understanding. "Do you have some idea?"

"Actually… We could play some basketball, ask Kiku to bake some cupcakes, and finish it with some small fireworks… I've seen those in manga but, I've never done that, so I thought it might be fun. If we stay out longer, you and Kiku can sleep over at my place." Aya offered with a shrug.

"That's awesome! I haven't had a sleepover in years!"

######

Aya came home late.

Taiga was still up, watching some random TV show; he didn't really pay attention to. He was tired from the day's match and excited for tomorrow's one.

"Tadaima. Aaaah, it's nice to be home." She sighed as she walked into the living room.

"Okaeri'." Taiga greeted her, and frowned at the lack of sweat. Something was wrong. "How's been the practise?" He asked carefully.

"What practise?" She blinked at him.

"It's Thursday…"

"FUCK!" She groaned and her eyes widened in shock. She'd completely forgotten all about the dancing club she should have gone to. In the day's drama, meeting Midorima and all the matches she'd seen…

"You forgot…" He assumed, still talking very calmly and carefully. He knew there wasn't much needed and his sister would snap.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck! How can I be so stupid?!" Her palms came to her face and she had horrified expression. She didn't do mistakes like these! And Senri didn't call her!

Senri didn't call her?

She rummaged through her bag and pulled out both phones. Not a single message or a missed phone call. One mail from her father, labelled as ' **URGENT** '. _Great… I won't get any sleep tonight…_

"Senri didn't call?"

"NO! I don't get it! Shit! I'm an idiot. Unbelievable idiot… I mean, how could I forget?" Her voice calmed down, but she was still angry at herself.

"You are overworking." _And you are tired._ He added inwardly.

"Overworking?! Tired?!" She asked incredulously, her voice jumping up. "I was out eating crêpes with Satsuki! I could've as well gone to the practise! But I just…" She threw her arms up, flaring up instantly.

Taiga was on his feet already. He approached his fuming sister – which equalled to a death wish – and caught her wrists. She was angry at herself, he understood, and he knew she would get angry at anyone who would try to comfort her, but he had to.

"You relaxed! It's normal. You need it. You've spent some time with your friend. Senri would understand."

"That's not –"

 _"STOP IT!"_ He shouted at her in French, when she didn't seem to understand.

Her head jerked backwards in shock. Taiga rarely shouted at her like this. And he rarely used French on his own accord. It was a language they used with their mom, as she'd been a halfie, and with the mom's side of the family. After she had died, their father had forbidden them to use French at home, so they gradually stopped using it when talking to each other. But now, now it served its purpose; she took a deep breath, and it seemed she was finally calming down.

Taiga nodded. _"Just stop it. You've missed one practise. The world is still spinning; all those people are still alive. Stop beating yourself over it."_

Aya nodded.

 _"Good girl."_

She rolled her eyes. _"Your accent is off."_ She pouted, adapting to his language choice quickly.

Taiga chuckled. _"I haven't used French in some time…"_ This was better. _"Now,"_ he let go of her wrists, _"go take a bath, I'll call Senri and then I'll help with whatever ol' man has sent."_

 _"You have a match tomorrow."_

 _"Around noon again. I can afford to be up till midnight, don't worry."_

* * *

 **A/N:** Sorry for Aomine's absence in this chapter, he'll show up a lot in the next. But I needed to make some foreshadowing, and I bet you know what it is... :-) I hope I kept Midorima in character - truth to be told, I was struggling with that part quite a lot.

Let me know what you think and remember, reviews are appreciated, but never necessary.

-S.


	21. Chapter 21: Birthday party

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone who followed and favourited and reviewed! It makes me very happy! This chapter turned out to be a long one again. I hope I didn't overdo it.

Enjoy!

* * *

 _Some days are just bad days, that's all. You have to experience sadness to know happiness, and I remind myself that not every day is going to be a good day, that's just the way it is! **– Dita Von Teese**_

 _Understand who you are as a woman in a way that radiates to men that you are one of one, not one of many. **― Rob Hill Sr., For Single People Who Still Understand The Value of Relationships**_

 _Make your mistakes, take your chances, look silly, but keep on going. Don't freeze up. **― Thomas Wolfe, You Can't Go Home Again**_

 _Don't limit yourself. Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do. You can go as far as your mind lets you. What you believe, remember, you can achieve. **– Mary Kay Ash**_

 _When someone shows you who they are believe them; the first time. **― Maya Angelou**_

 _Strong people have a strong sense of self-worth and self-awareness; they don't need the approval of others. ― **Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart**_

* * *

"Hi everyone." Aya greeted her team as she walked into the changing room on Friday morning.

"Aya-chan! How were the matches yesterday? Did Seirin win? And Seiho? And how was your practise?" Kano flooded her with questions before she could close the door and have a look around.

"Woah there…" She raised her arms to stop him. "Slow down please." She blinked at overly energetic Kano. Unlike him, she hadn't slept a minute, because of some urgent work she had to finish for her father. And did he have to remind her of forgetting the dancing club?

"Dancing practise?" Satsuki asked confused. Then understanding hit her and she whipped towards Aya.

"Aya-chan! You –"

"Yeah, yeah. I forgot about it. You don't need to rub salt into my wounds." She interrupted Satsuki mid-sentence and sighed.

"I thought –" Wakamatsu started, but both, Tada and Imayoshi elbowed his ribs from both sides, shutting him up. _'I thought you loved dancing more anything! And you forgot?'_ – he wanted to say.

The blonde coughed and glared at his friend – he didn't dare to glare at the captain. "Just shut up Kou. Leave her be." Tada hissed in a whisper.

"Don't rile her up with stupid comments." Imayoshi added, equally quietly. Kouta had asked him to keep an eye on Aya, because she tended to overwork, but at the same time, she could act all fine and good, until she'd reach a breaking point. It was only after Shiranui-senpai's warning, he was starting to notice it.

"Anyways!" Ishii jumped in, trying to save the situation, which was getting more and more dangerous each second. He glanced at the ace. _Thank Gods Aomine is keeping his mouth shut!_ "Who won?"

Aya smiled widely. If she was tired, it wasn't showing. "Which match?"

"All of them?" He smiled; glad she was quick to catch up.

"Hmmm…. Seirin, Seiho, Shuutoku. And Kirisaki Daiichi from our block."

"I knew he'd win!" Ishii said happily. He believed in Kagami Taiga.

"What do I say? He is improving." She sounded proud.

"And he is your brother…" Kano added with a wink. "That speaks for itself."

"And what about your match?" She asked, and realized, she hadn't spoken with Satsuki about Touou's match at all. She'd assumed they had won, and hadn't asked anything. _Maybe I really am overworking…_

"We won of course." Imayoshi said, omitting the fact that Aomine hadn't played at all. Aya didn't seem to know, and if Satsuki decided not to tell her, he wouldn't either.

"Of course." She chuckled. It was expected. "Good to see you here, Honey-bun." She chirped and nodded to Aomine. He was already in his jersey _… Too bad._ She sighed inwardly.

Aomine smirked, as if reading her mind. "If only _you_ weren't late, Sweetheart." The look he gave her spoke enough on its own. He had caught her staring, and they hadn't spoken since… It'd been only a day, and yet, his eyes were threatening to drown her.

This time, she wasn't willing to blush. "Too bad for me~" She smirked, knowing that openly flirting with Aomine could be dangerous, but she didn't care in the moment. "Anyways… Where is Katsunori?" She looked at the captain again.

"He said he had something to do. He should be back any minute."

The door opened right when Imayoshi finished his sentence and Katsunori walked in, his eyes searching for something, or rather someone.

"Robin." He said seriously.

His stare and voice made a shiver run down her spine, but uneasiness didn't display on her face. "What have I done?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

He shook his head. "I've just talked with Masako. We are going to Hiroto's after the matches, we need to talk." At first, he wanted to talk it out then and there, but all the boys were staring at him in curiosity, and he assumed that talking about Aya's ex-boyfriend wouldn't be the best decision. He doubted Aya had told them anything.

 _Masako?_ Aya didn't understand what he was talking about. "Uhmmm… I don't like the sound of that, coach." She sounded suspicious.

That she addressed him as 'coach', gave away she was more worried than she'd like him to believe. He sighed and drove his fingers through his hair. "You haven't done anything in particular, don't worry. I want Hiroto's insight on this matter. Taiga can join us too, of course."

As a former member of the Japan's national basketball team, Hiroto's opinion was highly valued by Katsunori and he would go to his friend for advice whenever he needed. Sometimes they would even play some, 'like two old idiots' as they liked to call it.

She nodded, still completely lost in what might Katsunori want. She felt that she should know the name 'Masako', but she wasn't sure who it was. _It's not like you to forget names…_

"Okay now!" He clapped and turned his attention to his team. "We have two matches today, and this time I'm not rotating players. I want the usual regulars to play in both matches, full time. That's Imayoshi, Susa, Wakamatsu, Sakurai and Aomine. It's going to be taxing. But I want to see how you can cope with it."

"Ossu!" They nodded seriously. Well, Aomine yawned, he wanted to sleep.

"Let's go."

First to leave were those who would go up to spectators' area, then coach, managers and bench warmers, and the last were captain with the starting line-up.

"Are you comin' or not?" Aomine's voice shook her out of her thoughts.

Aya blinked and realised everyone was out already, only Imayoshi and Aomine were waiting for her to move. "Sorry." She said and hurried out.

Aomine stared at her as she walked by his side. "You okay?" He asked, because it wasn't like her to behave like this all of a sudden.

"Yeah, sure." She said quickly. _Get a grip…_ "Anyways, what are you doing tomorrow?" She asked out of nowhere.

Aomine raised an eyebrow at this. He had no idea how her mind worked, because it was changing like a quicksilver. "…nothing in particular…" He said carefully. "Why? Wanna hang out?"

Imayoshi walking behind them was observing carefully. He had to smile at the straightforwardness of the two.

"Hang out you say… More like I want you to see something."

 _That sounds interesting…_ "Like you in underwear?"

Aya rolled her eyes. "Dream on, Honey-bun. I want you to come with me to a basketball match of Seiho from the A block."

That was unexpected. "Why me?" He asked suspiciously. Truth to be told, he had no intention of watching other matches. He wasn't interested in it whatsoever.

"There is something strange about Seiho's basketball. I can't explain what it is; neither could Satsuki, when I showed her a video of the yesterday's game. I want your opinion; maybe _you_ 'll know what it is." She shrugged. "And watching a real match should be better than watching a video of it. Considering it would be the fourth round for Seiho, the match should be more enjoyable, and the opposing team should be stronger."

"Hmmm…" He rather wanted to spent the time with his dogs, but if Kagami was asking him, if she wanted _him_ to see it… "Fine. I'll go."

"Great." She smiled happily, and Aomine wondered if she was aware of how beautiful it looked. If not, it was damn unfair, because that smile warmed his heart.

"Aya-chan!" Kano waved at her, holding a door to the spectators' area for her.

"Comin'!" She parted from Aomine and ran towards the rest of the team.

"Oya, oya, Aomine-kun~" Aomine shivered at the sound of Imayoshi's voice, when the captain aligned his step with him. And it made Imayoshi smile contently. _Feeling threatened by me, Ace? Good~_ "Going out with Aya-san? Sounds like a date to me~"

"Don't spout nonsense, captain. It's not like you." Aomine grumbled in annoyance, and entered the gym. The comment, however, remained in the back of his mind.

######

There was nothing she could say when it came to the Touou's first match of the day. They were working as good as any other time. They didn't play like buddies, or friends, but everyone was aware of their role, and everyone respected that.

Aomine was playing like he should, though he was holding back a lot. Sometimes, she felt as if he was playing out of obligation, not out of his free will. _I still love his style though…_ She thought, and small smile tugged on her lips.

"This is difficult to watch…" Kano muttered during the fourth quarter when the score was 156 – 49 for Touou.

The other team had given up long ago. And they were moving around just because their coach had ordered them to. Other than that, they wanted to wrap it up and leave. It was indeed unfortunate for everyone in their branch that they had to compete against Touou.

"I think they gave up the moment they heard they'd face Touou _with_ Aomine as the ace." Aya sighed in disappointment. "They blocked themselves."

"Blocked?" Kano asked curiously.

"It's simple." Naito joined the conversation. "If you say it's impossible, it probably is. Like you and Math. It's not that you don't know it, you just persuade yourself you don't."

"But I don't know it!"

Naito rolled his eyes. "That's not… You know what, forget it, you are stupid. We all know it."

"Now, now." Aya chuckled. "You don't need to argue, do you? But yes, when you block yourself, you can't win no matter what. And it's sad, because those guys are not _that_ bad."

"But not good enough to match Aomine either, right?" Ishii asked.

She just nodded.

The match ended, with Touou winning, by a huge margin. All those who didn't get to be on the court were about to join the rest and have a lunch, and some free time before their afternoon match.

"I think it will be the same in the afternoon's match." Aya said as they headed outside.

Her work phone rang. "Huh?" She blinked at the screen, she sure didn't expect a call from Europe – it was past midnight there. "Sorry. I need to pick this up." She said, already answering the phone.

The three friends exchanged glances, after hearing Aya-chan's French. At least they thought that was it.

######

"Work?" Katsunori asked her, when she joined them an hour later with a loud 'congratulations' to their victory no one really cared about.

She sat on the patch of grass, as they were eating their bentos outside and crossed her legs. Unlike Satsuki, she was wearing jeans and their club's t-shirt instead of the uniform. It wasn't that she hated the uniform, more like she didn't like to wear it more than necessary.

"That too, it's already dealt with." She shrugged and then she turned her attention towards their shooting guard. "Anyhow… There is something we should discuss… Right, Sakurai-kun?"

"Y-yes?!"He straightened his back immediately. "I'm sorry for whatever I've done!"

Aya sighed again, this apologising of his... "You haven't done anything. But… How is your ankle?"

"Eh? Ah… Uhmmm… I'm sorry!" He looked away, biting his lower lip. He had twisted his leg during the match, when he had stepped on his right foot weirdly. It hurt a bit, but more than anything it felt strange, almost funny. Like there was a pressure welled up in his ankle, and he had no idea what to do with it.

The others now turned their questioning eyes on Sakurai. They didn't notice anything.

"You didn't answer. Does it hurt?" Aya asked.

"No! Sorry! It's fine! … fine! Sorry!"

A vein popped on her forehead. She was trying to tolerate this, but… "Sakurai-kun… For every unnecessary 'sorry' you let out of your mouth in the next two hours, you'll do 10 push-ups. You don't need to apologise for everything. Now –"

"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to make you angry, Aya-san. Sorry!"

"That's 20~" She cut him off, feeling a bit guilty for doing this. "Now tell me, how does the ankle feel like?" She eyed his right ankle.

"So –… Uhm… Weird…" He said staring at his foot as well. "It doesn't hurt, but it's weird."

"Weird how?" She asked further.

"Like there is a pressure in it. I don't really know… So –" He closed his mouth shut to stop the apology, he was about to utter.

Aya exchanged looks with Katsunori.

He couldn't really suppress his urge to apologise. "I'm sorry!"

"30!" She said immediately. Then she outstretched her arm "take off your shoes and let me have a look."

"Errr…" The boy blushed and looked away. His feet were sweaty, as he played a match, and probably smelly. He breathed in to apologise, but he didn't get the chance.

"Come on." She urged him, leaning forward to grab his right foot, and take off his shoe herself, if she had to.

Sakurai sprang forward, undoing his shoelace on his own. He was so embarrassed he was found out, and that everyone was watching.

"The sock too." She said, and when he did so, she gently touched his ankle.

He winced at the touch. It didn't hurt, but it was so embarrassing. Aya's fingers ran over his entire ankle, trying to find if it hurt, where it hurt and during what motion it hurt. Sakurai's ankle felt warmer than the rest of his foot and calf, so it was certainly damaged, or overworked. The boy was obviously in pain when she gently twisted his foot to the right.

"The outer side is somewhat hurt. Not sprained, but definitely stressed and tense." She said with a sigh. "I'll bandage it for you, but you should probably sit out the next match."

His eyes widened. He didn't want to sit out. "No I… Sorry, I wanted to... I mean, it doesn't _always_ hurt, right? I can still play… No? Ah… Sorry."

"50." Aya said, shaking her head. "If it feels weird, it could very easily become an injury. You don't need it, do you?"

"I'm s –" He started, but Aomine slapped his hand over Sakurai's mouth, saving him from another 10 push ups.

"Just sit out and watch, Ryou." The ace said with an annoyance and arrogance in his voice. Then, as if realising his almost protective gesture, he added, "you're not needed."

"Sorry…" He muttered, and looked down, to hide the tears that burnt in his eyes. He stubbornly refused to let them out. Aomine's words were harsh, but the ace was right. He wasn't needed.

"60!" Entire team said in unison. And there was Satsuki's irritated 'Aomine-kun!' echoing as well.

Aya glared at Aomine. Those were definitely not the words Sakurai needed to hear. She took a bandage and stress-relieving ointment Satsuki handed her and started treating Sakurai's ankle.

"Really, Sakurai, we won't bite your head off if you stop apologising for breathing!" Wakamatsu added.

"So? Who'll play a shooting guard now?" Aya asked curiously. She knew that Tada-senpai had had the position before Sakurai turned up, but she wondered if Katsunori would really let him play.

"But Tada-kun, of course." Imayoshi said without a second thought. "He might not have such a quick release, but he's been playing the whole last year, and he has his height advantage." He explained, for the first years, because no one else would question it. Tada was the obvious choice, and he would have been the vice captain if he hadn't refused.

"So it seems… You can rest at ease, Sakurai-kun." Aya smiled at him and finished the bandaging.

He nodded, not looking up at her. He was still feeling down, and he wondered if those 60 push-ups were meant for real. _I should probably stop saying 'sorry' so often…_

After they were done with lunch, they had another few minutes of spare time. Aya's phone buzzed and she ran off again. Katsunori only sighed at it. _The girl sure works hard…_ Satsuki was discussing their second opponent with the captain and Tada-senpai.

As there was nothing for him to do, Aomine got up and left to get some juice from a vending machine nearby.

"You didn't have to say that to Sakurai-kun." Aya's voice came from behind him, and he startled, almost dropping his juice.

"Do y' have to do this to me?" He asked in an annoyed tone.

"It's funny." She shrugged and looked him in the eyes. "It doesn't change the fact that you hurt him."

"I don't care." He didn't care, but seeing Ryou turn his face away from everyone wasn't a pleasant sight either. There was nothing else he could have come up with, to shut the boy up and force him to sit out the next match. The harsh truth was always better than sugar-coated words in his opinion, and Sakurai with an injured leg was indeed useless.

Her reddish eyes narrowed at him and she stared at his face for couple of seconds; burning a hole in his head, and making him shift weight from one foot to another in slight nervousness. Then, as if satisfied with what she saw, she nodded. "Sure you don't." She said with a hinge of sarcasm in her voice.

"…" He had no idea how to talk with her, especially after what had been said a second ago. But… _What about tomorrow?_ The next match was almost starting, and he knew that the moment it would be over, she would be gone…

Aya seemed to read his mind, because she smiled and her posture relaxed. Her eyes weren't burning him anymore. "About tomorrow. The match takes place close to my house, so come pick me up at 10. I'll send you the address later on, because I doubt you'll remember it if I tell you now."

######

Aomine was right. When the second the match was over, with the Touou winning by a huge margin once again, Kagami and the coach left almost immediately, leaving Imayoshi to lock the changing room and hand in the key.

Aomine had slacked off in the second match. He might have been the ace, but even he would get drained of energy after two full matches. He dragged his feet after Satsuki, wondering what the coach wanted to discuss with Kagami.

"Ne, Aomine-kun…" Satsuki started.

"Hm?"

"… Thanks for playing in both matches today." She muttered. It was really unusual for him to obey the coach.

"The ol' man would kick me out if I didn't." He grumbled.

"Oh? So threats do work on you!"

He made a grunting sound, but didn't comment on it. "Do you know what he wants to discuss with Kagami?"

"Dunno… But 'Masako' he mentioned is probably Araki Masako, the coach of Yosen. If I'm correct, then it might be related to Aya-chan's ex. Though it's only my assumption, I might be wrong." She shrugged. "Aya-chan said she had no clue either."

Aomine frowned at that. Kagami's ex was popping up quite often recently, he didn't like it.

Satsuki was curiously looking at him and then she smiled. "If it bothers you, you should ask her tomorrow. I think she will answer if it's you."

His eyes widened momentarily. "How d' y' know?"

"I have my ways, Dai-chan!" She chuckled. It was amusing to watch the two of them circling around each other like this. She decided not to butt in, at least for the time being.

"Tche." The sound he made was closer to a snort than a laugh, and his lips twisted into a smirk. His old nickname was back, even if it was only for this once. "What a busybody." This time, he didn't mean it as an insult.

* * *

When Aya got up, she realised she was sleeping in her room. She sat up and blinked at a clock. It was around 9AM, so she still had about an hour until Aomine should arrive. Not that she believed he'd be on time.

 _When did I fall asleep?_ She asked herself. _And why am I in my room?_ She remembered falling asleep in the living room, curled up in a fluffy blanket, after she had returned from Hiroto's bar and had finished the urgent work.

She stared at her work laptop, resting on top of her desk, closed up with small note Taiga had written for her attached atop. 'All done & sent!' She smiled gently at the note. It meant that he must have carried her to the bed and checked if she had sent her finished work to their father.

With a yawn she stretched her back. She wasn't willing to leave the warmth of the blanked yet. So she tugged it closer to her body and flung her bare lags over the edge of her bed. She yawned again. _Coffee time._

She slowly dragged her bare feet towards the kitchen. She turned on a coffee machine to warm up a coffee Taiga had made before leaving for the match. The scent of coffee tickled her nose, announcing it was warm enough.

"Aaah… I love the scent." She sighed comfortably and sipped the black liquid.

 _What do I need next? Take a shower…_ She sniffed her hair and grimaced at the cigarette smoke and the scent of alcohol that lingered on it. _And definitely wash my hair._ Friday's at Hiroto's were always full, and he was working behind a bar in a smoking area.

Then she glanced at a clock again, and shuffled towards a couch. _I still have half an hour._ And so she laid down at closed her eyes. She wasn't nervous about meeting Aomine today; on the contrary, she was calm and excited, looking forward to it. She wasn't asleep anymore; she was just enjoying doing nothing, thinking about nothing. It was a nice feeling.

######

Aomine left his home too early. Probably. He had no idea how long would it take to get to where Kagami lived. And it was the weekend, which meant that most trains and buses had different schedules. Not that he knew their usual times either. When he took a bus, it was usually Satsuki who checked the time. Another thing was finding a way from the bus stop to Kagami's apartment building. He actually had to look it up on google maps.

 _This had better be friggin worth it…_

When he finally found the building, he was surprised by how modern it looked. There was a glass door, opened by a motion sensor, and they actually had a reception? _Talk about classy living…_ He walked in, and if he was intimidated by the place, it didn't show. The hall was spacious with some couches and a small cafeteria to his right. A woman sitting on a couch was sipping from a tea and reading a newspaper.

There was an old man sitting behind the reception desk. He looked up to the youngster in cargo pants who seemed out of place. "Hello. Who have you come to visit?" He asked politely.

Aomine nodded in greeting. It was a rude thing to do towards an older person, but he didn't care. He felt strangely uncomfortable in this place, and he didn't want to show it. "Kagami." He answered confidently.

The old man looked him up and down, with an unreadable expression, then he looked at a watch he had on his wrist. "Hmmm… Aya-chan mentioned someone was to come pick her up around ten. I suppose 9:20 is acceptable." He mused, and then looked at Aomine again. The boy had something animalistic and wild to him, and the old man wasn't sure it was safe to let him up…

 _Aya-chan?! Does she really know all the people around her?_

When the man's staring got too long, Aomine's patience was running out. It would be funny, if he couldn't get inside. He was about to say something when…

Then the old man shrugged for himself. His shift was finishing at 10, he wanted to go home and eat and sleep. And if Aya-chan told them to let a young man, her schoolmate, in, who was he to hold him up? "Apartment number 148. You need to take the staircase on the left and go to the very top floor. The last apartment is Kagami's. They have a nametag. Sorry, but the lift hasn't been working since mid-March." He shrugged again. Sometimes he admired the young twins, when he saw them run up and down several times a day – mostly when they had been moving in and renovating the apartment.

 _A classy place without a lift… Tch… How many floors is it?_ He wondered, but didn't want to ask the man.

"Thanks." He said and walked towards another door. The old man held a button to open it for him, and he found himself in a relatively narrow and dark corridor, with stairs leading up on both sides. He reminded himself to go left. When he ascended to the first floor, he was outside. _So an outside staircase._ The natural light was appreciated.

When he dragged himself to the last floor his heart rate was slightly quicker than when he had arrived. 14 floors were 14 floors, after all. He walked towards the very last apartment, and lifted his knuckles to knock. It was only then that he got nervous. He was about to barge into Kagami's apartment more than half an hour sooner…

 _Oh well… better than waiting outside._ He thought and rapped on the door.

For a moment there was nothing happening. Then he could hear a quiet thud. He raised an eyebrow at this.

The door opened. And her voice reached him, before she could see him. "Did you forget some–" Her voice trailed off and she stared at Aomine with wide eyes.

She was standing in front of him, curled up in a fluffy grey blanket, with bare feet and her hair messily tied up, sticking to all sides. He would swear she was still in her pyjamas. And some very short pyjamas, because what he could see of her legs was only the bare skin. Not that he didn't appreciate the sight.

 _Definitely worth the trip._ He thought and a smirk formed on his face.

"Did I wake you up, Sweetheart?" He asked cockily. And the question served its purpose.

A blush found its way to Aya's cheeks, and she looked away, tugging the blanket closer to her chest. For a moment she considered slamming the door at his face. He noticed the small motion her left wrist made, and which she stopped. Then her eyes drifted towards something to her right.

"I thought you were Taiga. You are way too early." She said a bit grumpily. "I still have half an hour though." His soon arrival startled her, because she had expected him to be late, not early. And to top it off, she was still in her pyjamas, with smelly and messy hair. But it didn't matter anymore; he was there, standing at her threshold with that typical expression of boredom and laziness. She took a deep breath. Then she shrugged and her blush vanished. "After you've conquered those 14 floors, you might as well come in."

She stepped aside and let him in. He was curious what was going through her head, because most of girls would probably slam the door, Satsuki included. He proceeded to take off his shoes, while her reddish eyes scanned him in the dim light of the hall. He could feel her gaze on him, and it sent electricity through his body.

 _This style suits him more…_ She thought when she studied his choice of clothes. Loose cargo pants, comfortable, simple grey t-shirt and sneakers. It fitted Aomine's personality the best. Not that she minded the way he'd dressed up for that goukon.

He straightened up, and looked at her curiously. _Well… what now?_

Aya turned around and soundlessly walked further into their apartment. She said nothing, and he followed her.

The corridor was relatively long and dark, but not too narrow. There were two doors to his right and he wondered if it were rooms, or bathroom or what. On the wall to his left were various photos hanging on the wall, but he didn't have time to have a proper look at them, as he didn't want to make a fool out of himself. At the end of the corridor a huge open space of the kitchen and living room opened up in front of him. It had lots of natural light. The kitchen was to his right, at the corner of the room, divided from a sort of dining room by something that looked like a bar, serving as a smaller table too. To his left was a living room twice or thrice as big as the kitchen with several couches, a wooden coffee table, a small library, a stereo system with six speakers, and to his surprise they had a screen and a projector instead of a TV. From the huge open space there were two doors leading to a balcony, or a terrace, he had no idea and it seemed that there was another corridor leading from the living room, and he suspected it led to the separate rooms. If he was right, the apartment was U shaped and humongous, with the living space almost as big as their house, if not bigger.

All the walls were painted white and instead of tatami they had grey wooden floors. Everything else was matched in shades of grey, white, orange and navy blue. There were also several flowers in pots. He could smell a brewed coffee and a fresh laundry, which was hanging on a dryer in the far right corner.

Aya watched him as he was looking around, mapping their living space with his eyes, that widened at the sight. She couldn't resist a smirk, because she could see it surprised him a lot. He knew they were rich, he just didn't know how much. And this huge apartment was probably a good presentation of that. Aya never cared about it; she loved big open spaces that could be easily turned into dancing areas. They didn't own that much of furniture and nothing here was that expensive. But with a way they arranged it, it looked modern and very exclusive.

The apartment was surprisingly neat, considering that only two teenagers lived in it on their own. Well, the cushions on the couch were not neatly arranged, and coffee table seemed to be pushed out of its place. His eyes narrowed at this and he looked back at Aya. If he wasn't that shocked by the size of the apartment, he would've probably behaved like he owned the place.

She had an amused expression on her face. "Done with looking around? Yes, our rooms are on that second corridor on the right." She said as if reading his mind.

"I… Uhm… I wasn't…" He stuttered, which wasn't usual for him, then he sighed. He was defeated, yet again. "It's huge, okay?!"

"Well… it used to be four of us living here, not two." She said with a half-smile, still curled up in the blanket. "Do you want something? Tea? Coffee? Juice? …?"

"Nothing… I'm fine."

"You'll be here for the next half an hour, I need to get ready, and since you've come super early, you'll have to wait." She shrugged. "We have a marble cake too, if you want."

"Oh?" His eyebrows went up. "You bake too?"

"Sometimes, but this one's on Taiga. Don't worry though; he is as good in the kitchen as me. If not better… Anyways, the cake goes well with milk, if you're not lactose intolerant, that is." She wasn't sure why she was talking so much. Right now it was probably her way to cope with this rather awkward situation. She'd love to run and hide in the bathroom, and get out when she was ready. But Aomine was a guest in her house. Uninvited, but still a guest.

"I don't have any allergies." He scoffed. "Gimme some." He added.

"Sure. Have a seat wherever you want." She smiled, and he wondered how in the world she could cope with this situation, because he felt like an intruder.

He chose a high chair at the bar-like table, because couch seemed somewhat… He didn't want to be sitting alone in such an open space. The place was cool, but when a person was supposed to be there alone, it was kind of... Lonely? Impersonal? Too big? He wasn't sure how to describe the feeling.

Aya shrugged off the blanket, suddenly feeling cold and too exposed. But if she needed to cut the cake and pour a glass of milk, she needed both of her hands free. She rather refrained looking at Aomine, but she could feel his eyes on her. He was staring. _Did he feel like this when I stared at him?_ She wondered.

He'd seen a lot of Kagami's skin at the dancing party, but this was different. Her pyjama was visibly oversized with an owl pattern. The shorts were barely hanging on Aya's hips, showing the upper part of her hipbones. The top was wide, but relatively short, with shoulder straps slightly wider than one inch. It managed to cover her naval but not her lower belly. At the back it showed everything from her shoulder blades upwards, but at the front, it barely showed her collar bones. He could see she wasn't wearing a bra, but the top concealed the exact shape of her boobs. _How unfortunate…_

When she stretched to get a glass, the top slid upwards, showing more of her skin. _Tch…_ She bit her lower lip to fight the embarrassment she felt and a blush that was rising to her cheeks. _There is nothing to be embarrassed about, it's not like you are naked or anything…_

Aomine's eyes were tracking those exposed places. He wondered how her skin would feel under his touch. It was probably soft. Then he noticed the scar on her shoulder wasn't masked at all, and he noticed another one, a small one, on the right side of her lower back. _This girl has too many scars on her…_ He thought and frowned at this new discovery. But in no means did it disgust him; he was just curious and he wondered if there were any more hidden under her clothes. He wanted to know. When he had asked Satsuki if she had noticed any scars on Kagami, the girls shared a changing room after all, she answered negatively and it had surprised him.

Those few moments she'd spent preparing the cake and milk felt freaking long for Aya. "Here you go." She set the treat in front of Aomine, with a smile on her face, but even she could tell how fake the smile was.

"You got a new chain?" He shot out a question, when he noticed the ring hanging on her neck. It seemed like he was surprised by his own words.

Aya blinked at him and chuckled. Her hand unconsciously touching the ring. "Yeah. I bought it some time ago actually."

He nodded. The conversation sure wasn't flowing naturally, and he was starting to feel antsy and awkward. Just how awkward it must have been for Kagami?

"Oh well," she started cheerfully. "I'm going to get ready. Snoop around if you want, Honey-bun."

Teasing was the best way to cope with an awkward for both of them. He got the message and smirked. "Heee? Will I get to see you in your underwear?" That's what he said the previous day too, but he never would have thought it might be a possibility.

Aya's eyebrow went up and she chuckled. "You've got to see me in my PJs. Trust me, that's more precious than seeing me in my underwear." She winked at him, and walked towards the corridor, he hadn't explored, then with a handful of clothes she passed the big open space again, and disappeared into the bathroom.

When she finally closed the bathroom door behind her, she pressed her forehead against it, and exhaled sharply. _Craaaaaap! I should've gotten ready when I got up!_ She could feel her cheeks heat up as she imagined Aomine, who was left alone in her apartment. She knew he probably wouldn't snoop, but damn, this situation was crazy. She shook her head and stepped into the shower.

Aomine wasn't the type to snoop around much, but when he finished the cake, which was better than he had thought, and heard the running water from the bathroom, he got up and walked around the big room. The library caught his interest and he wanted to know, what the twins read, and there were some photos he wanted to see. He didn't dare to go back to the corridor, because it would look like he wanted to spy on her. It wouldn't be that much of a lie, but he didn't need to make this whole situation more awkward.

The majority of books were in foreign languages, and he recognized only one or two titles anyways. At the bottom, there were some magazines, mostly basketball, dancing, volleyball or surfing related. No dirty magazines though, but he hadn't expected a girl to have some anyways.

He straightened back up to see the two photos. One of the two of them was the photo of the twins and a black-haired woman with similar face as Aya, their mother, he presumed. Another was the photo of three kids, the twins and one more boy, all grinning, and wearing matching necklaces with rings. First of all, he was surprised that Kagami had short hair on the first picture; second of all… _she wasn't lying about 'the token of their friendship'._ But he had to wonder if this black haired boy wasn't the same person as her ex.

Aya was out in fifteen minutes, completely ready to go. She was just rubbing her red mane with a towel, so it would dry faster. She usually didn't blow dry her hair.

"You're faster than I thought." Aomine pointed out lazily, staring at the books neatly arranged in the library. Or maybe was it the photos he was staring at?

"And I thought you didn't read."

"Tch… I don't." He said; too proud to admit that in reality, he enjoyed good stories as well. The image he had created for himself, didn't allow him to admit this.

"If you say so." She shrugged, but for some reason, she felt he was lying. "Was the cake good?" Her eyes darted towards the empty plate.

He nodded hesitantly. Talking openly about his likes and dislikes, or talking casually in general, was kind of hard for him ever since his middle school friends had alienated. He had problems talking like this with Kise, and that was his friend. And Kagami… Kagami was his crush. Suddenly, he felt self-conscious. _God what am I even doing here?_

Aya smiled, and this time it was the gentle smile he rarely saw. She understood. Aomine Daiki had his protective shell, and he hated coming out of it. Well, too bad for him, because Kagami Aya was an expert at smoking people out. And she wanted to get to know him. But she knew it wouldn't be for free.

"Is it warm enough for me to wear knee-length shorts?" She asked casually and looked out of the window. Sun was up, but she hadn't seen the forecast.

"What is 'warm enough' for you?"

"Everything above 26 degrees Celsius."

"Then it's warm enough." It was almost June after all; temperatures during the day were starting to rise. He noticed a forming bruise on her knee and his eyes narrowed. "Did you hit yourself?"

"Hm?" She asked and looked at her knee as well. "Oh…" Then she noticed the coffee table was displaced. She remembered tripping and falling, but it didn't hurt. At least she didn't feel it.

"Did you fall when you went to open the door?" He asked with a teasing undertone. "I didn't know you were so excited to see me."

"I didn't know it was _you_. And it startled me, you know." She huffed. "I tangled into the blanked, and fell, yes." She moved the table back to its place and adjusted the pillows too.

"Are you a klutz?"

She rolled her eyes and hung the towel on the dryer. "Sure am. That's why I won that race against you."

"That won't happen again."

"We'll see about that, Honey-bun."

"I'll take you on anytime, Sweetheart."

"Really~? Tuesday's morning practise seems like a good day for a small race."

His smirk widened. "As you wish." Then he looked at a clock on the wall. "When do we need to leave?" He asked, because he had no idea when the match of Seiho would start.

"In ten minutes I suppose. It's a 20 minute walk from here… Which means… I still have time for breakfast." She headed to the kitchen and cut a piece of the cake for herself.

"You haven't eaten yet?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Nope. I just had a coffee. The only reason I didn't slam the door at your face." She cleared for him. "And if you are going to stare at me eating, I'm probably gonna choke, so…" she cut another piece of the cake for him. "Eat too."

Having a sweet tooth wasn't a trait that would describe Aomine, but a good cake was a good cake. So he accepted the plate again.

When they were done eating in a slightly awkward, but still comfortable silence, Aya washed the dishes. Aomine automatically took a dishtowel hanging on a chair and started wiping the dishes dry. He wasn't even thinking about it.

Aya looked at him with a raised eyebrow; she sure didn't expect him to help her out and she was pleasantly surprised. "Well, thank you! You didn't have to do this."

Instead of an answer he just shrugged, and she would swear he had a faint blush on his face, but because of his darker skin tone, she couldn't be so sure. She smiled at this. No matter how brash and unapproachable Aomine appeared, he had this soft side to him, which he showed on rare occasions; mainly around her, but Aya couldn't know that. She just felt she could trust him.

She thought she was smiling a lot today. Despite the stress of the past few days, she was feeling happy. She cut another piece of the cake and wrapped it into a napkin.

"Who's that for?"

"Whoever's sitting at the 'reception desk' downstairs."

 _Of course she is **Aya-chan** for them…_ He rolled her eyes when she wasn't looking.

When he was done putting his shoes on, she asked him to hold the cake. She opened the shoe cabinet and took out a pair of sandals and skin coloured tape. She sat on the ground and taped the sides of her feet at the front, and at low inner side of her ankle, where she knew the shoes would damage her skin if wore for a longer time. Then she took her small, cross-body leather bag.

"I s'pose we can go."

She locked the door and he followed after her. To his surprise, he had trouble keeping up with her, because she was running down the fourteen floors, sometimes taking the stairs by two or three; and always jumping down at least five stairs when she neared the bottom of each staircase.

"Ever broke your leg this way?" He asked when they reached the bottom of the building.

"Nope. Just sprained my ankle once… or twice."

"Aya-chan!" An old man, different from the one Aomine had seen earlier, greeted her with a smile.

"Chiba-san." She nodded in greeting. "I didn't see you around for the past two weeks. Did something happen?"

"I took a vacation." He smiled and his wrinkles were more visible. The man was in his sixties, but his eyes were sharp and humorous. Unlike the one that had been there before him. "I went on a hiking trip in New Zealand." He said to Aya with a proud smirk.

"Good for you! You'll tell me the stories when I come back, okay?" She said enthusiastically, with a curious sparkle in her eyes. "This is Aomine Daiki, my friend. I believe he didn't introduce when he came in."

"Oh?" The man stared at Aomine for a moment. The boy was tall, muscular, with a distant almost annoyed look on his face. But if he was here with Aya-chan, he couldn't have been bad. "I've started my shift ten minutes ago… Tsubaki-san was here before me."

"Don't you change shifts around 7 in the morning?" She asked confusedly, but then shrugged. "Never mind. Oh. I have something for you!" She handed him the cake.

"Aya-chan! Do you know how hard it is to keep in shape at my age? If I get fat, it's on you."

She laughed. "On Taiga, actually."

"That's admirable! He'll be a good husband to someone one day." He teased and laughed, which made Taiga sneeze, wherever he was. The sound of his laughter was rich and bubbly. But when his eyes fell on something Aya couldn't see, it died out. "Aya-chan…" He said almost sheepishly.

She tilted her head in question. "Yes?"

"…Your father called us fifteen minutes back." He said hesitantly, he didn't want to disturb Aya's happy smile, but it was better if she knew.

She froze for a moment. Then she refused this information to foul her mood, "Interesting. I believe everything is fine." But her voice was suddenly void of any warmth.

"You can't be angry with him for checking up on you, Aya-chan. And everything is fine, we have your back." He referred to all of the receptionists, who were very fond of Kagamis ever since they had first moved in, mainly the two little rascals. "We told him you behave. You know… coming back by ten, no strange or too often visitors, only Harasawa-san at times… The usual. We didn't mention… Aomine-kun, we thought it was better that way."

She exhaled through her nose, and smiled again. "Thank you for that. I'm not angry. It's just… I called with him three hours ago." She wasn't angry, right? Just disappointed for the lack of trust. _What was I expecting?_

The man blinked at her. "You get up so soon on weekends?" He asked, glad she unconsciously offered him such a good out.

"Huh? No? I go to sleep then!"

Chiba-san had a totally baffled expression, blinking at Aya, then at his watch, and back at her. "You should sleep properly! When my daughter was a teenager, she slept for at least 9 hours a day! It's not healthy, Aya-chan, and you know it."

She just shrugged. "I have weird sleeping habits and lots of energy, don't worry 'bout me." Then she glanced at her wristwatch. "And we need to go if we want to find some good spots. See you later." She turned around, grabbed Aomine's forearm and dragged him out.

They could hear the old man grumble something like "Let's hope your energy won't run out one day…"

 _What was that about?_ He wanted to ask, but he wasn't stupid, Aya's family situation was probably complicated. They weren't dating, and they weren't good enough friends for her to confide in him. Yet. So instead… "So you feed them sweets?" He asked with a raised eyebrow and aligned his step with hers, she already let go of him.

"Occasionally." She nodded; happy he didn't question her father. "Do you know how's Sakurai's ankle doing?"

"Why would I care?"

"Aren't you two friends?"

He gave her incredulous look. "He brings me lunch sometimes. ' doesn't make us friends."

Aya sighed exasperatedly and bit her tongue to not say anything biting. Then she lured Aomine into a random conversation about school. Though it was mostly Aya speaking, she got some reactions out of him at least.

He wanted to know what had she been discussing with Harasawa the previous evening, but he didn't know how to ask. Satsuki probably didn't have a problem interrogating Aya, and for a moment he regretted not involving the pinkette into this.

When they entered the gym and headed upstairs to the spectators' area, he could hear gasps around him.

 _'Aomine Daiki.'_

 _'What's he doing here?'_

 _'Does it mean those teams are good?' '_

 _'s that his girlfriend? – Nah, I don't think so, he has a pink haired girl always hanging around him, no? – Are you sure? She looks hot.'_

There were other bits and pieces of surprised murmurs and whispers as they passed around people to find good spots to watch the match from. He frowned and unapproachable aura emanated from him. That's why he hated this small scale matches of preliminaries. He ignored it all. But did people really think he was dating Satsuki? Brrr… He shuddered at the idea.

"Hee? Someone's pretty famous around here." She commented with a smirk.

It was only natural that the generation of miracles was well known in a high school basketball sphere, mostly in those prefectures where they attended their high schools. Of course there were those who didn't know them or didn't care, but the five were interviewed in basketball monthly twice or thrice. All five of them, not just Kise, were relatively famous.

"Tch. I ain't a goddamn Kise." He grumbled in low voice.

"Certainly not. It's not girls flocking around you after all." She chuckled. " **But it gets annoying when people who don't know you and don't have the guts to come and talk to you make up ridiculous gossips!** " She said out loud enough for those around them to hear.

Then her reddish eyes found, and glared at the two particular boys who had been discussing whether she was or wasn't his girlfriend, and what she did with him, to have such a bruised knee. It annoyed her to no ends.

Aomine had heard it too, and he had been ready to snap at them, but once again, she managed to handle it gracefully. He looked at the boys too, just to see them avert their eyes and sheepishly fidget with embarrassed blushes on their faces. _Serves them right…_

"You really take no shit from others, eh?" He asked so only she could hear, when they found a good spot to watch the match which was about to start in a few minutes.

Instead of answering, she shrugged. "I hate when people whisper about you when you are right there! It's friggin' annoying. Like… don't they have their own business to deal with?"

He snorted in agreement. "So? What do you want me to see here?" He asked, knowing nothing about the two teams which were about to play.

"Seiho. The team with the black jerseys. There is something about the way they move. When I watched them play I was thinking they might cause problems for Touou, shall we face them in the future." She said. Noticing his raised eyebrow, she added: "…well, maybe not for you, but for the rest definitely. And maybe even for you, at least during the first minutes of a game."

"Hmmmm…" He leaned against the railing lazily and decided to pay attention to the match. Kagami's judgement was usually spot on and she wasn't underestimating anyone.

The Seiho team didn't look nervous at all. They were patiently waiting for the game to start; confidence radiating from them. Aomine narrowed his eyes at this, _he_ was this confident, his former teammates were this confident… and apparently Seiho's entire team too. He couldn't help a smirk.

"Told you they are interesting." Aya said and leaned against the railing next to him.

"We'll see about that."

The tip off went to the other team, but they didn't score right off the bat. Seiho stopped them, playing their usual defensive game of whole court man-to-man defence.

Aomine was carefully observing them. Kagami was right; their movements were strange, but not unknown to him. He just never saw it integrated in basketball. He knew he would win against their best player, who seemed to be the number 10, yet, deep down he wanted to try it out. Playing against Seiho. Maybe they could entertain him for several minutes until he could find a way to defeat them.

In this match, Seiho seemed to be the absolute winner. The other team couldn't break free from Seiho's defence.

"It's martial arts…" He said, during the 10 minute break in the middle of the match, when he was absolutely sure about it.

"Huh?" Aya turned her reddish eyes at him.

"They are using martial arts." He repeated. "Their stamina seems good, and they don't make any unnecessary movements, they keep their calm and don't overexert."

"To think you would praise someone…"

He shrugged. "Decent is decent." He realised that Touou would indeed have trouble facing a team like Seiho, but on the other hand, it was exactly a team like Touou that could find an easy way to defeat them. It would simply turn into five consecutive one-on-one matches.

"How long do you think it would take you to learn how to get past that number 10?"

He frowned, thinking about her question. "Considering I faced him before… 3 minutes, top. Depending on my mood."

"You faced him before?"

"In the middle school. He gave Kise some real trouble, but I wasn't matched up against him then."

 _Oh… that's why…_ She smiled, noting the sparkle deep inside Aomine's stormy eyes. He was surprisingly calm and talkative that day. "Can you tell me the patterns they use? I know there are some, I just can't see them. If it were dancing…" She bit her thumb's nail, thinking.

"Why d' y' wanna know?"

"Curiosity. And Seirin will definitely face them in the semi-finals next week. I'm probably gonna help them with the research." She explained. There was nothing wrong with her wanting to help her brother and his team.

The second half of the match started.

"Let's see…"

Aomine ended up explaining her all the little nuances taken from martial arts. He wasn't sure he noticed all the 'patterns', he wasn't an expert in martial arts after all, but he was surprised by how many there were. Habits that were hard to form, but once learned, a person didn't need to think about them at all. Knowing about it was one thing, getting used to it and reacting to it in time was another. Someone of his level wouldn't have a problem reacting through sheer instincts, because he was skilled in both, basketball _and_ martial arts, but anyone else...

"That must be some rigorous training regime." She mused, and admired Aomine's ability to pick those tiny differences and explain them to her. Well, sometimes he struggled with words, and looked away in embarrassment, but it was all more entertaining for Aya.

He nodded. "I can imagine."

"… But isn't it also their weakness?"

"Hm?"

"I mean… Once you crack their system of movements and get used to it… You can read them like an open book and predict everything, because well… If a habit is hard to learn, it's just as hard to get rid of."

He tilted his head and stared at Kagami in amusement. She was as scary as Satsuki, if not scarier. Turning someone's strength into their weakness… "Imayoshi would be proud of ya." He teased, the captain's face popping up in his mind.

"He sure would." Aya laughed. "I'm seriously interested in how Seirin will cope with this." She added more seriously, just when the buzzer went off, and the match was finished; Seiho winning 98 – 36.

"They'd rather win, they have Tetsu after all. And with your help… If they lose than they are just a bunch of weaklings."

"Wanna come and watch with me? If we don't have our match at the same time, that is…"

"Wanna spend your free time with me, Sweetheart?" He teased. "That's unusual."

"Why? I like your company." She blurted out without really thinking about it. Then she suddenly blushed and turned away, glad he did the same and couldn't see her reaction. She had a problem keeping her guard up around this guy. _You sound like you are chasing him, dammit!_ She bit the inside of her cheek.

He shrugged as an answer.

This straightforwardness of hers was killing him, and he didn't know what to think of it. She didn't want to date him, right? Heck, he didn't know if **_he_** wanted to date her! Touching her all over, that he definitely wanted, but a real commitment? He wasn't sure. Yes, he liked spending time with her. It was oddly soothing when they weren't bickering, and even that bickering was refreshing. She wasn't preaching, she wasn't whining, she could actually talk with him normally, like a person, and not in a way those screechy fangirls he saw gathering around Kise did… _Is this more than a crush?_

He cleared his throat, and asked: "What did the coach need to talk with you about?"

They were walking down the stairs to vacant the spectators' area. Aya froze in a middle of her step. A person behind her bumped into her, and she staggered. Her hand shot up to grab onto the railing, but other people were already pushing her, and she panicked for a second; almost stumbling down the stairs.

Aomine's hand instinctively grabbed her elbow to stabilize her and he pulled her in front of him. "Careful, Sweetheart, or I'll start thinking y're a klutz in disguise."

"Very funny." She rolled her eyes, and started to continue in her descend.

"You still haven't answered my question." He reminded her when they were safely out of the crowd, and away from the stairs.

"We discussed Tatsuya. The guy I had mentioned to you during the training camp, remember?"

 _So it was her ex… What d' ya know? Satsuki's instincts were right again…_ But officially he shouldn't have known anything about the guy. He opened his mouth to answer, but…

"You know." She said. His answering time was too long, so he must have known about her former relationship.

"Know what?" His eyebrow quirked up and he managed to play indifference and boredom. Inwardly, his stomach tightened uncomfortably. Those reddish eyes were so intense.

She gave him a _'don't-play-dumb-with-me'_ look, and then she shrugged. "That I dated him. Well whatever, that's not important anymore. We discussed his transfer to Yosen… Katsunori wasn't thrilled about it."

"Why?"

"Because Tatsuya is that good. Katsu thinks that I should've persuaded him to come to Touou, or some not as strong school as Yosen, and that I definitely gave a very skilled player to Araki-sensei on a silver platter." She explained. "I think that giving him to **_Araki-sensei_** is the real problem, but the truth is that Yosen has quite an unfair advantage now, as they have two aces. If we consider Murasakibara-kun as an ace."

"Harasawa wanted Touou to have two aces?"

"With your late arrivals and ditching practises, you aren't that reliable, right?"

"One. One late arrival." He reminded her.

"I don't think it was the first and the last…"

"So why didn't you?"

"Didn't what?" She understood his question, but she wasn't sure she wanted to answer, so she tried to get away.

Aomine already knew her ways. It was surprising that he picked it up in only two months. "Persuade the guy to come to Touou."

"If you wanna know, buy me a juice."

His eyebrows went up, and he smirked. "Bribing?"

 _More like buying time…_ "If you want to call it that." She shrugged and headed towards the park close to her home.

Their short walk was silent. Aomine didn't want to talk about anything else, because he was aware that Kagami would make him forget his original question. And she was thinking how she was going to explain her reasoning, without needing to explain her past relationship's background.

He sat next to her on a bench and handed her the mango juice she wanted. "So?" He asked and opened up his tea.

"So… Touou isn't a team for Tatsuya."

"Is this about the team play again?" He grunted and leaned against the bench, spreading his arms.

"No. Not at all. It's not about the team play." She sigh, she should probably explain Tatsuya's abilities. "Tatsuya is a shooting guard. Top notch shooting guard. If you ask me, he is ten times better than Sakurai-kun. Maybe on par with you five. He can't shoot the freaking high-arc three's like Midorima, but in one-on-one against Midorima… Maybe he would even win."

Aomine's eyes widened. "Oh?" He didn't want to believe it, but… Was there a guy like that?

"You don't believe me."

"There is no one better than us."

She rolled her eyes. _Seriously?_ Then she took out her phone and searched for something. "In Japan, probably not… But… Here. The black-haired one is Tatsuya." She handed him the phone, to watch the video she had sent to Araki-sensei

"Heee… interesting." He said with something close to respect and determination shining in his eyes, as he watched the video.

This Tatsuya guy was indeed decent. Very decent. Interesting. _A shooting guard?_ He wondered, because this guy could very well be a power forward as well, a bit shorter, but… Tatsuya's style was a complete opposite of his own, orthodox basketball polished to perfection. Not something Aomine would do. "Midorima would definitely have a problem with this one…"

"I know." Aya said with a smirk.

"Why not Touou? Maybe I would come to practises more often if there was someone like this." He said arrogantly, but he was really considering it an option. _If there was someone like this in Touou's team… Not that I would lose…_

"We'd destroy him, Aomine." She raised her hand to shut him up, when he was about to question her. "Be it just you, or just me, he would manage. He isn't that weak. But the two of us… I've known him for seven years, I know how he thinks. He always compares himself."

"Self-esteem problems?"

Aya nodded seriously. "He acquired skills purely through hard work, because he loves basketball, but he doesn't have the talent the five of you possess. Maybe he does, but he never believed it. And he is limiting himself. Plus injuries… If he tried to keep up with you, which I guarantee he would, he would over train." She shrugged. "I don't want to see him crumble again, he's been hurt enough."

He blinked at her, and then looked away. The tone she used and the face she made – a mixture of nostalgia, protectiveness and something soft, he couldn't quite grasp – were enough to shut up any mocking comments he might've had. He had no idea what had happened there, and even if he'd known, there was no way he could relate, not to a relationship drama.

"And anyways, I think it's for the best to be apart, at least for the time being."

"A bad break up?"

She shrugged. Tatsuya wasn't the only one who had ended up hurt. "Could've been worse. I don't want to repeat it and being it one team together for three years… I don't know how I'd behave, we know each other all too well and it's not easy to keep up the boundaries which were once erased. Mainly if you don't hate the person." She said honestly, staring at the ground.

Aomine wouldn't say that he was good at reading people, or good at handling those who played with words like Kagami. But for some reason, he could read her. Or it was her who was forgetting to keep her walls up around him. He couldn't be sure.

 _It's not easy to keep up the boundaries which were once erased…_ He frowned. _She's playing with the words._ "You've slept with him." It was the only explanation he could come up with, and he blurted it out before thinking about it. Almost immediately he blushed and look away, not able to face her reddish eyes. _Awesome topic to discuss with a girl… Your crush… Just awesome._ He rubbed his face in embarrassment.

She spluttered out the juice she was about to gulp down. She was staring at Aomine in disbelief for a moment, but she shouldn't have been surprised… Though, his reaction was way too cute. _Who would've thought that the Aomine Daiki is so innocent…_

And then, to his surprise she laughed.

"That's one way to interpret it, indeed." Her tone was humorous, and he just had to look at her.

What a mistake. Her cheeks were flushed, her smile was slightly crooked, but she wasn't feeling ashamed; he could tell that much from her eyes. God, this girl could make so many faces, and he wanted to see every single one of them…

"But no, I haven't." This was definitely not something she wanted to discuss with Aomine. Not that it was any of his business… But he was someone she liked, right? So she definitely didn't want **_him_** to have the wrong idea. And he was talking with **_her_** , not Satsuki, or anyone else. She appreciated this.

She looked at her feet and frowned. "Well, we did stuff, yes, but I've never had sex with him." She said explicitly, just to avoid any misunderstanding (because she had shared a bed with Tatsuya, but they had both been sleeping). "It's inevitable that there were gossips and rumours. Not at all nice, and with my personality and choose of friends… let's say not many people believe me on this." She sounded bitter, her eyes darkened, and the cute blush disappeared. When it was Aomine, she wasn't trying to hide her emotions. Why so? He could figure her out anyways.

 _She's been hurt_. 'Basketball team's whore.' – said one of the bullying letters she had once received. She'd made fun of it then. Even though no one in the team had believed it, maybe it'd gotten to her more than she was willing to admit. And when Aomine thought about it, then yes, Aya's personality could play against her and her choice of friends… close friends… Satsuki and Kiku and the boys – lots of them. He knew she kept them at arm's length, so he had no reason _not_ to believe her. But still…

"Not that I care." She added, unnecessarily.

"Sure. That's why you're explainin' yourself to me…" He blurted out sarcastically, without thinking. Not really knowing what outcome it could have.

His remark served like a whiplash.

And there she was, trying to open up a little. _You're an idiot, Aya. Idiot._ "Sorry, thought you were asking." She said coldly, her mood making a 180° twist, and she shot him a burning angry glare, trying very hard to hide the hurt. But she couldn't hide all of it.

"I –" He tried to save it somehow, but she didn't let him.

"I need to go, I have other things to do." She crumpled a juice pack she was holding and stood up. With a smooth flick of her wrist she threw the pack to a litter bin. "Thank you've come, and sorry for bothering you with my personal drama."

She turned on her heel and left. With her head held high and her back straight, she didn't look back.

This scene was all too familiar.

Aomine stared after her with wide eyes. Things had been going quite well. It wasn't a date, at least not officially, but… To think it could twist this way in basically a few seconds… No, that his stupid mouth could twist it this way. She'd explained herself, because he'd asked – maybe not directly, but he'd had. She'd trusted him enough to explain herself. To open up. Even before, she'd been trying to reach out to him… At least that was the feeling he had. They were friends, for god's sake. And what had he done? Mocked her for it. He hadn't wanted to, but…

"Tch. Fuck!" He swore and punched the poor bench, which earned him a nasty glare from an old lady walking her small dog.

#######

Aya felt so stupid. _What the hell was I thinking? What was I expecting? It's Aomine. I've just tried to open up to **Aomine**. _She laughed inwardly. _I'm a stupid idiot._ She though in disbelief, cursing herself for doing it.

Her feet led her home.

"Aya-chan. Okaerinasai. How was your date?" Chiba-san greeted her enthusiastically. He wasn't sure if it'd been a date, but he could as well call it that.

She immediately smiled widely. Chiba-san didn't need to know that she was feeling down. "Tadaima. Aomine is just my friend. And it was good. We've seen the match, talked some. You know." Her voice was warm and cheerful. Or she hoped it was, but Chiba-san seemed content, so she assumed she was convincing enough. "But you talk! How was your vacation?"

He didn't need more encouragement to start talking. "You see…"

She sat down next to him, behind the reception desk and listened carefully. At least she would come to different thoughts.

######

"Date went wrong?" Daisuke looked at his son over a book he was reading. He had a free day, unfortunately, his lovely wife had a shift in a hospital, even though they usually planned their shifts so that they could spend their free days together.

"It wasn't a date." He grumbled and threw himself on a couch.

Shiro immediately buried her head against Daiki's stomach, signalling him to scratch her. When he complied, she made sounds awfully similar to purring. Daiki closed his eyes and sighed. This time, he had realised his mistake. _I'm such an idiot._

"Are you going to talk to me or not?" Daisuke asked with a raised eyebrow.

He opened his eyes to look at his father. Facing those icy blue eyes required a lot of courage, mostly when his father stared at him so intensely. "Do I have to?"

Daisuke thought for a moment, and then he said: "No, but I might help you."

"I don't think so."

He shook his head and sigh. "A-ah, you're at the age when you think you know everything the best…"

"Tch. I don't! I'm clueless when it comes to Kagami! I messed up! I did! I just don't think y' can help me!" He threw his arms up, losing his temper.

Shiro huffed, offended by the sudden anger of her master.

To think that his son would admit his mistake… _He's maturing._ "What did you do?" He asked carefully. Knowing his son and his temper, he couldn't fully exclude the option that Daiki pushed the girl against a wall somewhere… Though he believed Daiki would never do that.

Oh, he knew that look… "Nothin', if y're asking whether I pushed her against a wall." He said irritably. He wasn't some unsettled douchebag to do that.

Daisuke sighed in relief. "Sorry. I know we've taught you better, but one can never be too sure." He shrugged apologetically.

Daiki grit his teeth to withhold the retort he wanted to spout, and rubbed his face. He was angry, angry that his father had doubted him, and most of all, he was so angry with himself. "I said something stupid… When she was finally talking with me."

Daisuke understood that whatever the girl had been telling his son, it'd been important to her. That she'd shown him trust and his son had, in a way typical for him, crumpled it. He hoped they'd get over it, because he really wanted to meet this girl, who made his son come out of his shell. But for now, he needed to find a way for Daiki to let out his anger. And there was one very effective way to do that.

"Wanna spar?"

"Huh?" Daiki blinked at him and then his lips curled up into a dark smirk. "I ain't gonna lose this time."

"If you say so…"

######

After the two matches he'd had, Taiga was totally drained, nevertheless he helped Aya with grocery shopping, and even planning the little party for that Daiki-boy, who admired Kuroko so much. When they were done, he went straight to bed, falling asleep the moment his head hit a pillow. So what if it was only 7PM?

Aya, who slept only for a few hours, couldn't seem to go to bed. She was restless, shuffling around the house, practising some ballet, reading a book. But she couldn't focus, nor go to sleep. She hadn't talked with Taiga about Aomine; she'd avoided the topic like a plague and Taiga knew better than to push her. She finally decided to take a bath before midnight.

She stared at a box of cigarettes in one of the kitchen drawers for a moment, before grabbing it, and heading out to the balcony. She knew she shouldn't smoke. It tasted terrible. She knew it was bad for her health, all the more so considering her age. And yet, she couldn't think of any other way to calm down. _Tch… for a few stupid words…_

She was sitting on a pillow on the ground, leaning against the wall with her knees bent. She was staring at the smoke going up and disappearing in the night's air. The red tip of the cigarette was glowing in the dark and she stared at it as she tapped the ash from it into an ash tray.

"You know, you shouldn't smoke, right?" Taiga's sleepy voice snapped her out of her thoughts, but he didn't startle her.

She didn't answer; she simply looked at him, and patted the ground at her side.

He yawned and slumped down next to her, bumping his knee against hers. "I can't sleep when you're like this, you know…"

"Don't tell me, my vibes woke you up."

He shrugged. "I have no idea how this twin bond works, but the fact is I can't sleep, while you're restless and getting yourself a lung cancer."

She rolled her eyes. "I'm not. It shouldn't kill me to smoke once in a while..."

Well, she wasn't smoking regularly, and she was indeed avoiding it as much as possible… and yet. Coffee and cigarettes. He could imagine that would be Aya's death one day. And he feared the idea. "Don't you dare kick a bucket before me, you understand, stubborn mule?"

"Hai, hai... I'm not planning to."

Taiga sighed and looked into the night. "What's eating you up this time?"

"Who, would be more fitting."

 _So Aomine again._ It'd been some time since his sister fretted over a guy. "What has he done then?"

Aya deeply inhaled tobacco fumes, letting it out through her nose – in stung all the way down and back up – and started explaining. Unbiased opinion of someone who wasn't involved always helped. Then again…

"He is an idiot!" Taiga said fiercely, throwing his arms up – accidentally hitting Aya's shoulder – when she finished her story. "Why did he even come up here?! I mean… Why'd you let him in? And your _'I don't really care…'_ or whatever. It wasn't really needed. Urgh. For fucks sake! Of course you care! Every normal girl would care, in one way or another. You act as if it doesn't affect you, but I bet it'd take a lot of courage to actually have sex with someone. Even for you." Then he corrected himself, "Especially for you."

His reaction made her laugh. Their topic was serious, but the way he said it, with all the feelings involved… "I love you. You know it, right?"

"Eh? Yeah? Why d' you need to say it?" He asked confused, because he expected some retaliation.

"Just because." She bumped into his shoulder. Taiga's insight always made her problems or worries seem easier to deal with and handle. She was so lucky to have him. "So what now?"

"How 'bout writing him a message? Something like _'I'm smoking because of your stupid remark, take it back!'_ and an emoji, or punch him next time. Yeah, that might be more enjoyable."

"Very funny, Taiga."

"You _are_ laughing." He said with a proud smirk. "It'll be okay. If he doesn't apologise, I'll make him do it. It's not like you to talk so openly with just anyone."

"I'm still not sure if the two of you don't start fighting the moment you spot each other." She sighed. "You can be awfully similar."

"Brrr… Heck no. Don't even joke about it."

"Well you are a thickhead! And I believe you'll mess up hundred times while chasing a girl of your liking."

"Ooooh? Is he chasing you then?"

She burst out laughing again. "No? Why would he? We're _friends._ And anyways, guys don't like self-confident women. Generally speaking." But sometimes… Sometimes she thought that maybe he was… in a way typical for Aomine.

"We do. Self-confidence is sexy! But sometimes we just lack the guts to handle you or we don't have enough confidence in ourselves. Tatsuya is a good example of that."

"Right." She spat out, Tatsuya was indeed a good example of that, and she took out another cigarette.

Taiga snatched it away from her. "U-uh. No more. You've already had two. That's enough for the next 2 months at least."

"I won't promise that." She said and sighed, staring at the sky. "It's so bad we can't see the stars."

"When we go to grandma, you can watch them all you want."

She nodded and leaned against Taiga's shoulder. They stared at the black sky in a silence for couple of minutes. "Ne Tai?"

"Mhm?" He was slowly falling asleep there.

"Can I sleep with you tonight?"

"Ugh… Why?" He didn't really mind, but she tended to kick in her sleep, or slap him.

"I don't want to be alone?" She made a puppy eyes. "Pretty pleaaaase! I won't kick. I promise."

"Whatever. But go brush your teeth and either wash your hair, or use some perfume. I don't want to sleep next to a cigarette."

She rolled her eyes, but complied. Smelling like a cigarette wasn't something she liked either.

* * *

The sound of their doorbell woke them up. Aya rubbed her eyes and glanced at Taiga's alarm clock resting on his night table. It was 10AM.

"Shit! We've overslept!" She crawled over Taiga, and got out of the bed.

"Yeah, so? It's probably the girls, right? Kiku and Satsuki…"

"But I'm in my PJs!"

Taiga rolled his sleepy eyes. "Aomine saw you yesterday, don't fret over it. Go and let them in. Or should I go?" He asked teasingly, as he wasn't wearing a pyjama's top.

"Hell no. Kiku'd probably faint." She laughed. "And put the t-shirt on if you're to greet them in PJs too."

He saluted and shoved her towards the opened door of his room.

She shuffled to the entrance to let the girls in; they were supposed to bake cupcakes for Kano Daiki's birthday, and since the party was taking place in the park it was the best to use Aya's apartment.

"Welcome!" She greeted them with a wide smile. "Sorry, we've overslept." She apologised for her sleepy appearance.

"Hello!" Both, Kiku and Satsuki, greeted her with flushed cheeks. "Why don't you have a lift here?" Satsuki asked with a pout. "Conquering fourteen floors is harder than it sounds."

Aya chuckled. "Let's hope you'll have to repeat the ascent just one more time… Come on in."

"Sorry for the intrusion." Kiku said in a quiet voice, as she took off her shoes.

The girls, just like Aomine, were looking all around them. Aya-chan's apartment was huge. They followed after her, curiously looking at the photos in the hall.

"Is that you?!" Satsuki asked staring at one particular picture. Two little red-haired kids, not older than four, were standing in the middle of the former national basketball team of Japan. Satsuki could recognise Harasawa-sensei – he looked so young, and she could also recognise other coaches, she already knew. The current coach of Teiko was on the picture too. And the famous twins of the former team. Now when she saw Aya and Taiga there (and they looked exactly the same at the age) it clicked in her head, but she needed a confirmation.

"Hmm?" Aya followed Satsuki's gaze and nodded. "Yes."

Satsuki whipped towards Aya with wide eyes. "Holy crap! Your father is **_the Kagami_**?! The former member of the national team? The ace?! Wait… Which one is your father?" She couldn't distinguish between the identical twin brothers. And she'd read that they'd used to swap and tease others.

"Kagami Haruka. The power forward. Katsu was his substitute and took the position when father retired from the team." Taiga's voice reached them from the kitchen. "Kagami Kyou, the center, is our uncle. Shouldn't you be the research specialist?"

Satsuki huffed at his jab, it sounded like something Dai-chan would say. "How should I know? I thought it was just the same name! And Aya-chan didn't say anything!" She pouted.

The girls came out of the hall and into the huge open space. Taiga was standing behind the counter, preparing breakfast. "Did you have breakfast?" He asked the two girls.

They nodded. Taiga shrugged; the more food for him and Aya then.

"And why would she say anything? It's not like many people remember the former team; even among those playing basketball. My team doesn't know either."

Aya nodded. "Essentially, he said it right." _That is the success of our father, not ours to boast about._

Aya could see the displeasedness on Satsuki's face, but the pinkette didn't have any good argument; she could've put two and two together, the Kagami twins she knew looked so much like the original Kagami twins…

Satsuki felt she should've known… _Heck, Dai-chan should've known! Wait… Has he not realised this?!_

"Uhm…" Kiku peeped, she didn't know of this either, but she could understand the twins' reasoning. Maybe she should change the topic, so the pinkette wouldn't overreact. She'd been dragged towards the bookcase, like any proper bookworm would be. "Do you only read in foreign languages?" She asked going through the books.

Aya joined Taiga in preparing their meal. "Most of the time… I still have slight problems with kanji. Anyways, the top two shelves are in Japanese, and there is another shelf of purely Japanese books in my room."

"Do you think I could handle a book in English?" Kiku knew her English wasn't perfect, but she was hoping to improve.

"I suppose. With a good vocabulary… You are improving a lot." Aya praised her. It wasn't only Aomine she was helping with English.

After the breakfast, when they talked about school and the afternoon party, Aya showed the two to her room, where they would stay the night. Taiga went to take a quick shower and started preparing ingredients for cupcakes they were planning to bake. It was the first time he would help with making cupcakes, so he was interested and wanted to start with it already. When Satsuki offered her help to him, he refused – he had been warned – and so he gave her a task to call everyone involved, to be sure everyone knew what was going on.

Aya, Kiku and Taiga were all skilled in the kitchen. Kiku quickly adapted to the twins' rhythm and admired their sync. Satsuki was enviously watching them, she so wanted to help, but she knew she was useless. She could barely prepare tea right.

Aya's private phone rang.

"Who is it?" She asked Satsuki. Her hands were covered with flour, and she didn't want to dirty the phone.

"It says Takao Kazunari." _Eh? Shuutoku's point guard?_

"Oh!" Aya quickly dusted of her hands and grabbed the phone. "Takao-kun, hello." She greeted him, and then quickly went over the plan with him. "You can join us too. Daiki might freak out a bit, but… If you have to keep an eye on Airi, it can't be helped."

 _"I won't bite his head off."_ Takao chuckled. _"And we have a gift for him, so no worries."_

"And you are interested in the other players as well, right?"

 _"Ahahaha… Yeah. You read people well. Shin-chan wants to know too, but he refused to join us."_

"It's Daiki's party… Too many unknown people and it would be strange, even if there were gifts."

 _"True, true. We'll be there on time. Bye bye."_ He hung up.

"They'll be there." She said happily. Only these two, or rather, only Airi was an uncertain guest. Takao had promised to let Aya know in time whether they would arrive or not.

Taiga smirked. He was already aware of the boy's crush on Takao Airi. "Good for Daiki."

Satsuki stared at Aya until the redhead cleared the situation for her. Then she squealed in surprise and happiness. She was involved in someone's drama and she could help! And she would get to see Tetsu-kun! She was so looking forward to this party. She wanted it to begin already.

######

"Hide-nii?" Daiki asked, sitting on his bed and watching his brother getting ready. "What's going on anyways? You are acting all weird." He had no idea that there was a party they had been preparing for him.

He'd never had a birthday party before, simply because he never had any close friends. As usual, they went to eat out with their parents, and then spent the rest of the day lazing around, eating sweets and watching movies. But today, Hideki decided they had to go out and play some basket. With everyone. For Daiki it meant he'd see Ishii and Naito, and he'd have to watch over little Kenta, as they took the young ones too.

"Am I now?" He laughed nervously. The entire surprise depended on his ability to keep his mouth shut. "Could you check on Kenta?"

"Why? Mom's getting him ready."

"Because –"

"Shima! You bastard! Give it back!" Aki's angry voice reached them.

In a second the door to their room flung open and Shima ran in, to look for a refuge in the room of his older brothers. "Please hide me!"

The two exchanged exasperated looks and shrugged. "Do what you want." Daiki muttered, and did nothing to help. If they wanted to fight, he didn't care.

Shima jumped under Daiki's bed right on time.

"Where is he?!" Aki ran into the room, her face was red from anger. "He snatched and hid Usagi-san again!" She cried out. Whenever Shima took her favourite plushie, there was mayhem.

Hideki shrugged, and remained quiet. He didn't like being involved in fights of his younger siblings.

"I know you are hiding him! Where is he!" She stomped her foot. "Where is Usagi-san!" She yelled and tears filled her eyes.

"Urgh… This again?" Daiki rolled his eyes in annoyance. As per usual, he was the judge. "Shima, why do you keep hiding her plushie?"

"Because it's atrocious! A pink rabbit, blergh." He said from under the bed.

"It's Usagi-san! It's mine!" Aki was now crying.

He sighed. "Aki is right; it's none of your business, Shima. So? Where is it?"

"Won't tell!"

"I hate you! MOOOOOM!" Aki yelled her lungs out.

Daiki face palmed. "Urgh. My head is so gonna hurt. You sure you wanna take 'em out?" He glanced at his brother who was rolling his eyes as well, both ignoring their crying sister.

"I asked Aya-chan to join us too. She should handle them well enough."

"Aya-san?" He asked suspiciously.

 _Oh crap…_ Hideki thought.

Fortunately for him, their mother barged in, to scold the young ones, well, she scolded everyone in the process, even Daiki and Hideki for not dealing with the problem. Then she saved Usagi-san from the freezer and handed him back to Aki. Only then did the girl stop crying, but she swore she would get back at Shima, which was highly dangerous as they shared a room.

######

"Teeeetsu-kuuuun!" Satsuki ran towards Kuroko and hugged him immediately. She didn't care he was talking with Naito about something.

"Momoi-san, I didn't know you'd be here." He said surprised, but didn't snake out from her hug. He was too baffled by her presence to do that. "Ah, hello everyone."

The three nodded to him. Taiga was holding a big box with cupcakes, Aya was carrying a gift and Kiku was taking care of a basketball.

"I helped with organizing this. And baking cupcakes!" Satsuki exclaimed proudly. In the end, the three had let Satsuki help with decorating the cupcakes. They were carefully watching over her, and there wasn't much she could mess up.

Kuroko, not knowing all this, paled and shot a terrified glance at Aya. He'd seen Satsuki's attempts at cooking several times…

Aya laughed. "Don't worry, Kuroko-kun. We've kept an eye on her."

Satsuki huffed.

"So your kitchen didn't blow up?" Naito asked dryly checking his nails.

"Naito-kuun!" Satsuki groaned. "Of course not!"

"I see you're having fun~" Takao's voice joined in. He arrived with a small girl, half hidden behind his back. She'd been so stressed about all this. She wanted to see Daiki-kun, but meeting all the people involved was scary.

"Hello!" Ishii arrived right after them. "Hideki and the lot will be a bit late. Some Usagi-san drama." He shrugged; he was familiar with the Kano family dynamics.

A necessary round of introductions took place. Airi was a cute girl, short, timid and very polite. She had shoulder length black hair, and the same metallic blue eyes as her brother. She was shy, not as shy as Kiku had been, but when the redhead confronted her with a wide smile and the friendliness typical for her, Airi was very surprised.

Kiku talked with Airi easily as they were similar. They were shy around each other, but as fellow bookworms, they had a lot to talk about.

Takao started chatting with Naito and Ishii. There was quite a high probability they'd face Touou at some point, so it wasn't bad to check them out, though it disappointed him that neither of the boys was a regular.

Kuroko kept close to Taiga, Aya and Satsuki, who didn't want to let go of him. Either way…

"Kagami-kun."

"Hm?" Taiga asked.

"If we happen to play… I don't want to play against Takao-kun." He said. The boy was friendly, but he made Kuroko feel uneasy. "We should play with him."

"And you don't want him to observe you, right?" Aya asked.

Kuroko nodded.

"I think he shouldn't observe Taiga-kun either." Satsuki peeped. "And everything I'll see, I'll use." She reminded both Seirin boys.

"This party sure turned out to be dangerous." Aya chuckled. "Don't worry, I'll keep you occupied, so you won't have the time for any analysis."

"Oi, Hide-nii!" They could hear Daiki's grunt as he fell. "Be careful!"

They all turned to face the Kano siblings as they were dragging blindfolded Daiki towards the court. Takao was fighting laughter, this was amusing.

"Sorry, sorry." Hideki laughed, and winked at the others.

Aya rolled her eyes and took the box filled with cupcakes from Taiga. She fished out two candles depicting the numbers 1 and 4 to make up Daiki's age. It was stuck into the two prettiest cupcakes, decorated as basketballs, and lit.

"Aya-neee-tan!" Kenta jumped and hugged Aya's thigh.

She wavered, almost dropping the cupcakes. "Hey, little one." She smiled at the boy, and started walking towards Daiki with Kenta glued to her leg.

"Pfffft!" Takao couldn't hold it in anymore. "This is hilarious!"

Hideki took off his brother's blindfold.

Daiki's blinked couple of times, and when his eyes adjusted to the light, he was greeted with smiling faces, and the two cupcakes with lit candles.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAIKI!" They all wished him in unison and it made him wonder whether they rehearsed it, or not. Even Aki and Shima were grinning. _The little devils!_ Daiki thought and a wide happy grin settled on his face, as he blew the candles.

They all clapped. It was only then when he noticed Airi-chan, and he blushed. But he didn't have a time to analyse his feelings…

"Me too! Mee too!" Kenta shouted and stretched towards his older brother.

Daiki tilted his head and sighed, picking Kenta up. "Could we?" He asked and pointed at the candles.

Taiga chuckled. "Sure." He took out a lighter to light the candles again.

"Uhm… take out just those two cupcakes." Daiki said, shifting his hold of the little munchkin, staring at the cupcakes in delight. "He might accidentally spit on it…"

Satsuki took out a small paper tray, so she wouldn't hold it in her hands, and placed cupcakes there. Taiga put the box on a bench.

"Should we wish you 'happy birthday' too?" Aya asked.

The little boy stared at her with his green eyes. He thought about it in a way only a three years old could. Then he nodded seriously. "Yesh!"

"Okay." She held the cupcakes high enough so Kenta could blow the candles.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

Kenta tried to blow the candles spluttering some in the process. When the small fires died out, Kenta clapped his small hands, delighted with his success. Everyone joined him in his childish glee. It was so cute.

Those who didn't know each other were introduced, gifts were given and Daiki decided to open them up at home.

The teams for the first match were decided. Daiki, Takao and Ishii, against Hideki, Naito and Taiga. Shima was a referee, with Aya's help in case of fouls.

"He is improving…" Kuroko mused, when he noticed Daiki's improved passes. "He can avoid holding the ball now."

"Takao seems to be surprised by this." Aya noticed. "He's probably never played with a player of this type. But he is adjusting quickly." _Very quickly…_

Airi was watching the boys with interest. So far, she's never seen Daiki play, because he wasn't a regular, and his team didn't let him play in any matches. It made her angry. She couldn't understand why his own team would leave him out, when these senpais respected him and enjoyed playing with him. She was happy for him.

Satsuki tried to watch. However, it was difficult, with little Kenta in her arms. The little boy was very interested in her pink hair colour, and so he kept playing with it and tangling it. Satsuki tried to persuade him not to do it, but she wasn't that good with children.

As the afternoon progressed, they rotated the teams and played in different formations, though Kuroko always avoided going against Takao. When he played, he played with Takao on one team. And Taiga was holding back.

All the cupcakes were eaten. For some reason Aki started chasing Shima around the park. No one really understood the reason, but Hideki and Daiki ignored them, so the rest assumed it was nothing serious.

Kenta circulated between Aya, Satsuki and Kiku, who kept playing with him. When he asked for Daiki, he was taken from Satsuki.

It didn't take long for the girls to join the small basketball games and they were trying to teach Kiku how not to trip over her feet, which was more difficult than it seemed.

"Daiki!" Takao called out to him. "Come teach Airi, we can't seem to speak the same language!" He huffed and approached the boy. "I'll keep the little one occupied."

"Dai-nii, noooo!" Kenta cried out and held onto his brother like a leech.

Takao made a pained expression. "I'm so saaad…"

"Why?" Kenta asked curiously.

"Because you don't want to be with meeee…" He whined.

Kenta was blinking at the seemingly sad Takao. Then, reluctantly, he patted Takao's cheek. "Don' be shad!" He said.

"Will you play with me then?"

He thought about it, and then reached for Takao, nodding seriously. "Kenta will!"

"Good boy, I'm so glad!" Takao grinned and winked at Daiki. _Good luck._

######

"Tetsu-kun!" Satsuki found the ghostly boy slightly away from the others.

When they took out fireworks and sparkles, Kuroko drifted away – he wasn't in the mood to be surrounded by the group. Aya-san was enjoying it, as it was her first time trying it, and Kuroko admired how she could be 100% present in a moment. The same for Taiga. He was sure that the twins had their problems, they just didn't talk about it, yet they could be like this. And there he was, still worrying over his former teammates, not really able to fully enjoy this.

"Ah, Momoi-san." He expected her to hug him again, but she didn't. Instead she handed him one small sparkly firework and sat next to him.

He lit it from hers, and stared at the sparkles.

"Why aren't you with the others?" She asked curiously, though she could guess the answer.

"I could ask the same." He said, and then he sighed. "How is Aomine-kun doing?"

"You know how he was when he'd changed. It's something like that, except when Aya-chan is close by. Then he tends to shift to his former self."

Kuroko chuckled. "She is exactly someone who could do that."

"Yeah, she is really awesome, though I feel left out sometimes. Not because of Aomine-kun, but she just gets along so well with everyone." _Maybe not everyone but…_ She shook her head. "So… Is Taiga-kun your new light?"

"Mhm. He reminds me of Aomine-kun a lot. But you already know that."

"You like your new team, right?"

"They are all great players." He said with a smile. "Did you really help with the cupcakes?" He asked to change the topic. He didn't want to talk about the upcoming matches; he didn't want to hear they had no chance from Satsuki, because he believed Seirin would win.

"Yes!" She said proudly, and then added: "Only with the decorations though…" _And mine were not the prettiest._

"They all looked very nice." He praised her.

Satsuki felt like flying. Kuroko's praise felt the best. "Thank you!" She squeezed him into another hug, her boobs pressing against his arm. "You know, it's not as easy as it looks!" She said cheerfully and started describing the whole process of baking and decorating cupcakes.

And Kuroko was patiently listening to her. Satsuki had always been like this and he'd never opposed her. Maybe he didn't really mind it.

"Ah…" She chuckled nervously. "Sorry. I must be boring you." _I'm doing it again…_

His firework died out. "Not at all, Momoi-san. It's interesting. I've never baked in my life."

"Neither have I! But you know I can barely prepare a tea."

######

"Do you think she'll ask him out?" Taiga asked his sister when he noticed Satsuki and Kuroko chatting on the bench.

"I doubt it." Aya frowned. "She thinks she is overly pushy."

"Kuroko definitely won't make a move himself." He hadn't known Kuroko for that long, but he was sure it was like this.

"Yeah, I think so too…" She agreed. "Wait… You think they should be a couple?"

"You don't? He is probably the only one who really listens to her rants."

Aya stared at her brother for a moment. _How do **you** know that?_

"What are you discussing~?" Takao asked, and followed their line of sight. "Oh, those two as well?"

"As well?" Aya tilted her head to look at him.

"Airi and Daiki." He shrugged and pointed to a side with his head, where Airi and Daiki were laughing and staring at the fireworks. "I give it 10 more minutes and they'll be kissing."

"They suit each other." Aya shrugged. "Or are you worried for your sister?" She teased.

"Who wouldn't? I know exactly what those youngsters are thinking."

"Not everyone has to be like you~."

"Aya-chan!"

She laughed, and picked up the ball. "Come on, Takao-kun. Let's play some more."

######

"I couldn't do it!" Satsuki groaned into her pillow after they were done discussing the successful party. "I'm such a coward!"

"What happened?" Kiku asked almost frightened by Satsuki's reaction.

The girls were all lying on top of Aya's huge bed, though Aya'd said she'd go to sleep to Taiga, as she was kicking and tossing a lot in her sleep. They were all in PJs, and talking.

"Ask Kuroko-kun out!" She whined. "Who knows when am I going to meet him again…"

There was nothing to say to make Satsuki feel better.

"If it'll make you feel better, than I ran away from Aomine again." Aya said with a shrug.

"What?! What happened? What did he do?" Satsuki had known about the plans they'd had. But she had no idea it could go wrong somewhere. It was just watching a match! _Well, it's Dai-chan…_ "Tell us everything!"

When Aya was done with recapitulating the events of the previous day Satsuki facepalmed. "He's an idiot! I swear I'm gonna kill him one day!"

Kiku was blinking at both, and blushing. To think that Aya-san would discuss such topics with Aomine-san was unbelievable. She had problems discussing it with girls, let alone someone she had a crush on. Why the hell did Wakamatsu's face appeared in her mind? And why was she thinking about him, when the girls started talking about their crushes? No… what Aya and Satsuki were discussing were more than just some crushes. She hid her face in her palms. Was she really in love with the huge and loud Wakamatsu-senpai?!

"Kiku?" Aya asked carefully. "Are you okay?"

Kiku nodded.

Satsuki turned questioning eyes towards Aya. She didn't interact with Kiku enough to know about the inward processes going on in Kiku's head.

"Do you not want to talk about this?"

"I-i-i… It should be fine, but… I…" She peeped.

"Thinking about Wakamatsu-senpai?" Aya asked teasingly.

Kiku immediately raised her head and shot a glare at Aya. It was the first time Satsuki saw a reaction like that coming from Kiku.

"No!" She exclaimed. "I'm not… It's not like I… No!"

"Eeeeeeh?!" Satsuki understood. "You like Wakamatsu-senpai?!"

Kiku grumbled something incoherent and hid her face again.

Satsuki was blinking at Aya. 'Really?!', she was wordlessly asking.

Aya nodded. 'Really. Just don't butt in.'

Satsuki pouted, but nodded in agreement. "But Dai-chan sure didn't mean it." She continued in their previous topic. "He probably blurted out whatever he thought at the moment. Sometimes his mouth works before his brain, Aya-chan."

"I don't know if I should care about it, Satsuki. I really don't know."

"But you do like him, right? Why don't you start dating him then? I believe he would behave differently!"

"I have my reasons, for now anyways… Besides, we decided on being friends, I don't think he would want to date someone like me. And _dating_ would not work like a magic spell to erase the attitude. Not on Aomine."

* * *

 **A/N:** A lot of things happened in there, a lot of new info came to light, but I hope you liked it.

Let me know what you think and remember, reviews are appreciated but never necessary.

 _-S._


	22. Chapter 22: Facing the kings part I

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone who followed, favourited and reviewed! It makes me very happy.

Answer (x3) to the **Guest** : I'm not sure if you're the same person, but I'm happy you like the story. I'd be nice if you could create some sort of a signature or something so I know. :) I usually update once every two weeks, I like to keep some advance in writing, as I'm trying to juggle school, job, master thesis and ff and social life. (Which isn't going that well)

Enjoy!

* * *

 _He can run faster than Severus Snape confronted with shampoo. **― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows**_

 _The team that is going to win is the one that does its homework the best by studying its opponents. – **Imran Khan**_

 _The team which handles the pressure best, carries the day. – **Imran Khan**_

 _Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake. **― Napoleon Bonaparte**_

 _True love comes quietly, without banners or flashing lights. If you hear bells, get your ears checked **. ― Erich Segal**_

 _Love is a bonfire. It's every kind word. It's every sincere apology. It's every compromise. **― Nessie Q., Snippets of Imagery**_

 _Know your enemy, know his sword. ― **Miyamoto Musashi, A Book of Five Rings: The Classic Guide to Strategy**_

* * *

Aya and Kiku arrived at the classroom a few seconds before the bell rang. Having three girls fight for the bathroom on a Monday morning was something Aya hadn't considered. Thankfully, Taiga had a morning practise so he'd been out before they woke up.

They sat down right when the English teacher walked into the classroom. Suzuki-sensei, who had replaced Irihata-sensei, was calm and good at explaining. It wasn't his intention to embarrass anyone, and he was glad there was someone like Kagami Aya in his class to help out the others, when he didn't have enough time. And he kept more attention to speaking and written assignments, which was a better teaching method than just mechanically teaching grammar.

"So a sleepover with Satsuki?" Aomine asked when they were supposed to work in the pairs on an English assignment. Satsuki had talked how excited she'd been to go to Aya-chan the other day that he got interested.

"Well yeah. But why would you care anyways?" She narrowed her eyes, clearly signalling that even if she was behaving like usual and explaining him the lesson, she hadn't forgotten his words.

"Tch." Should he apologise, shouldn't he? He felt guilty. But apologising? It the classroom, with the others there? Not a chance. "I don't."

"Good then. Back to the assignment."

######

By the end of the day, he figured out, that even if her behaviour hadn't changed, she suddenly felt distant, cold, out of reach. As if they were back to the square one or even worse. And it was then when Aomine understood what an impact could a few words have, even if they weren't meant that way, even if he spat them out before thinking. The worst thing about this entire situation was that he knew he'd do it some time again, because his mouth worked before his brain at times and he didn't think he could change that.

"The race we've talked about is still valid. Be at the morning practise tomorrow." She told him by the shoe lockers, when she was on her leave. She couldn't be angry at him for long, not after the discussion she'd had with Taiga and Satsuki.

 _At least she isn't avoiding me._ "I won't lose."

"We'll see about that."

* * *

"Aomine-kun? Are you coming to the morning practise?" Satsuki asked, surprised that he was waiting for her at a corner of a street.

He shrugged and yawned. He had to wake up super early, considering he'd had to go out with the dogs. "Kagami asked for a race."

 _She really has a huge impact on him…_ Satsuki smiled. "At least she talks with you." She muttered, and stared at him.

He braced himself for the scolding that was inevitably coming his way. When Satsuki remained quiet he looked at her suspiciously.

"What? Do you want me to scold you?"

"No." _But…_

The pinkette sighed. "Look, I believe you do realise that what you said was wrong and you should apologise. I talked with Aya-chan. I told her you tend to speak before thinking. Honestly, I believe she'd been already aware of it… She is tough, Aomine-kun, but that doesn't mean **_your_** words can't hurt her." _Since she has a crush on you too…_ "So don't rely on the fact that she is your _friend_ and don't expect she will forgive you for everything without any effort from your side."

He knew that. But: **_My_** _words?_ "Should I let her win?" He was sure he was about to win this time.

"She'd kill you for that."

"Right…"

"Just apologise. And maybe try not spouting nonsense the next time."

 _Easier said than done, Satsuki…._ "What about the sleepover?" He asked after a moment.

And Satsuki started her comprehensive description of the Sunday and the birthday party and he was actually listening to her this time. However, she decided to omit, for the time being, what she'd learned about Aya-chan's father. Even despite that, there were a lot of things Aomine hadn't known about. He had no idea that there could be someone interested in Kuroko, or that Kuroko was actually in contact with Aya, or that Kagami Taiga was Kuroko's new light. He wanted to see and test that _light_ right away.

Then she described the cupcakes, and how much she'd enjoyed helping with them.

He raised an eyebrow at that. "You sure no one got poisoned?"

"Aomine-kun!"

######

"Mornin'." Aya waved to Satsuki and Aomine when they met by the school gate. She was munching on an apple and carrying an additional bag.

"Good morning Aya-chan. Are you going straight for the dancing practise in the afternoon?"

"Yeah, there is something I want to try out with Senri, and Taiga asked me not to stay over-practise this week, so I need to be there sooner. We need to discuss the Kirisaki Daiichi problem today too." She reminded Satsuki.

"Oh, you're right. We only have to come with a plan how to shut them down."

Aomine was staring at both of them. Usually he didn't care about other teams, but the girls sounded gravely serious. "What are you talking about?"

"We'll explain later on."

They headed towards the changing rooms, where they split up.

"What brings _you_ here?" Wakamatsu asked bitingly the moment he spotted Aomine.

"Tch, go to hell, Bakamatsu." He grumbled and shuffled towards his locker.

A vein popped on Wakamatsu's forehead, but Imayoshi shot him a sharp glare. Aomine was obviously not in the mood for banters, and the last thing Imayoshi needed was a physical dispute between the two.

They gathered on the outside running track once again. Wakamatsu led a quick warm-up, and then he let the coach to explain the practice.

"Every one of you will run 25 laps. Two laps sprint and then three laps recovery run at a leisure pace of your choosing – this will be repeated 5 times, so 25 laps altogether. You will run in quadruples. The second quadruple will start running 15 seconds after the first one, and so on. Momoi-san and I will measure your timing. Understood?" Everyone was nodding, so he concluded he had been clear enough. He noticed the challenging glares Aomine and Aya exchanged.

He pulled at his fringe and barely withheld an eye-roll. "Especially for the two of you." He said, and waited until Aomine and Aya looked at him. He gave them one long stare. "Don't you dare sprint for the whole 25 laps. Do you understand? The last thing I need is two injured idiots."

"Don't worry. It's better to have 5 races than 1, don't you agree?" She looked at Aomine.

He nodded. "You'll lose."

"When hell freezes over~"

"And they are at it again…" Naito sighed.

"How can Aya-san keep up with him at all?" Arai still had problems keeping up with anyone, he could only dream of ever keeping up with one of the two.

"She has the same crazy blood in her veins." Yamaoka grumbled, surprising the first years in the process, as he rarely ever talked with them.

"They are different blood types, Yamaoka-kun. You should keep to the facts, if you want to talk big." Imayoshi corrected him.

"It's not about a blood type and you know it, Imayoshi. Stop quibbling about such things."

"The precision, Yamaoka-kun, the precision~" He sang and went to take his place in the first running line.

Yamaoka muttered something under his breath, but no one really cared anymore.

The first runners were Imayoshi, Susa, and Aomine and Aya. Katsunori didn't know when to let the two idiots compete, but if they were in the last group, they'd cause a bigger ruckus.

"It's not really a race." Susa reminded them.

"I think it should be." Aya smiled at him. "Because… It motivates you better if you can outrun someone, doesn't it?"

"Not really. Just don't hurt yourselves."

"Tche, we aren't amateurs _senpai._ "

"Do you always have to be rude, Honey-bun?" Aya glared at him, he was probably the only one who could use 'senpai' as an insult. Susa-senpai was only being nice to all of them ever since the beginning of the school year.

Imayoshi snickered at the face Aomine made.

"Are you ready?!" Satsuki asked with a stopwatch in her hand.

"Ossu!" All four shouted in unison, all banters forgotten.

"GO!"

The four of them sprang forward. It took only four of five steps for Aya and Aomine to take a lead.

With the spring in her step, Aya could make her strides longer than usual and it wasn't much of a problem to keep up with Aomine. She decided to hold on to him, using his speed as an anchor, and then accelerate in the last 20 meters of the run.

Susa and Imayoshi watched the two, who'd left them in dust. They could only dream of running in such a speed for two whole laps. Mother Nature sure wasn't fair in allocation of natural talent and abilities.

Accelerating in the last meters wasn't only Aya's idea. Aomine too, didn't want to burn up all of his energy at once, because repeating this five times would be taxing even for him. He just hoped that Kagami's energy reserves weren't larger than his own. If so, then it could be a problem.

They both accelerated, if it was even possible, in the finishing line. Katsunori carefully observed which one would be the first, because he thought that Satsuki alone wouldn't be able to tell with 100% accuracy. That's how equalled the two seemed. Whoever of them won, it would be only by millimetres.

Aya didn't care about where Aomine was anymore. She wanted to win.

All he could peripherally see was a red blur to his right. This time, he wasn't underestimating her, he'd learnt his lesson. But he couldn't let her win. Not again. _The only one who can beat me, is me, dammit!_

They both dashed past Satsuki and came to an abrupt halt, whipping around to hear who'd won.

"Errr… Uhm…" She glanced at the coach. "I saw Aomine-kun. His time is 0.08 second better?" She peeped, not really sure.

Katsunori nodded. "I've seen the same. So the first win goes to Aomine."

Aya nodded in understanding. She hated to lose, but she also knew how to admit defeat. In this round, she'd had the feeling he'd been slightly better. But nothing was lost yet. There were four more opportunities to win.

"Three leisure laps, understood?"

"Haaai."

They both started jogging, to ease their strained muscles. They kept to a side of the track, to not get into anyone's way, as the others were still sprinting. Keeping the same steady speed wasn't a problem for either when they weren't racing.

"Heh, I thought you are a sore loser." He snickered.

"I don't make scenes, Honey-bun." She winked at him. "And besides… when it comes to speed, we are about equal. But when it comes to stamina, I win. There are four more races."

Then she eased her pace a bit, falling behind Aomine. She didn't want to talk anymore. Running was helping her to clear her head, and she could use these three laps to think whether to forgive him completely or not (she wouldn't tell him of course).

After the fourth round the score equalled. Two wins for Aomine, and two wins for Aya. Aomine had won the first and the third race, while Aya had won the second and the fourth. In terms of timing, all wins and losses were separated by less than 1 second.

They were indeed equal when it came to speed. But Aomine was already starting to feel a fatigue creeping up on him. No matter… The fifth race was the last; he decided to squeeze out the necessary energy even if it killed him.

"GO!"

They sprang forward for the last race. The only focus of both was to reach the finishing line as the victor. Their breathing was heavy, and their legs' muscles were burning.

Aya knew that this was her critical point and once she'd get past it, she could keep on running for eternity – at least that's the feeling she had. A familiar feeling, when the body wanted to give up and rest, and yet, once overcome… _Go. Keep runnin'. GO!_ She let out a grunt, ignoring her burning lungs and accelerated to her maximum.

She got one step ahead.

 _Oh no, you don't, Sweetheart._ He thought his thighs and calves would burst, but he forced them to move nonetheless. There was no way he'd lose, but he had to admit, the redhead was amazing. To think that someone would push him to exceed his limits…

"They are unbelievable!" Satsuki squealed. "I don't even know who to cheer." This was the first time; she saw Aya's max speed. Or at least she thought it was Aya's max speed.

"They are pulling one another." Katsunori mused. "None of them wants to loose and admit defeat, but once this is over I believe they'll sleep during classes."

The last meters.

They hurtled past Satsuki and Katsunori. This time, they didn't manage to stop immediately, their momentums were too strong. When they managed to slow, they turned around and came to the judges.

"S-so?" Aya asked, catching her breath. She'd be so dead during the two afternoon practices.

Katsunori glanced at Satsuki's timer. They'd decided that he'd measure Aya's time and Satsuki Aomine's.

"It's a tie." He said in surprise. He'd swear Aya was the winner, but apparently not.

"A tie? You sure you measured it right?" Aomine asked incredulously and slumped to the ground. He was done for.

"So a tie, huh." Aya started laughing with hands on her hips. This was hilarious.

"Look at it yourself." Katsunori shrugged. "I believe this is your personal record. For both of you."

She shook her head. "I don't really care about the timing. Oh well… Now the recovery laps."

"A tie…" Aomine repeated and a dangerous grin spread across his face. Kagami Aya was truly amazing.

She stared at Aomine for a moment, but he didn't seem to be getting up any time soon, despite the wild expression he had on his face. "Come on, let's go." She grabbed the front of his t-shirt and yanked him to his feet again. _So heavy!_ "If you remain sitting, you'll die tomorrow. I bet you haven't put this much effort into exercise in some time." One lap was, after all, 500m and this exercise was a killer one.

 _She can still go on?_ He let her drag him for a moment, until he regained some leisure pace.

"I can't believe it's a tie." He mumbled as they ran some more.

"Sounds believable to me." She shrugged. Suddenly, she fumbled, falling out of her pace with a hiss and she glanced at her feet. _Shit, not now…_

Aomine got ahead. "You okay?" He asked and looked over his shoulder.

Aya caught up. "Yeah, fine." She ignored the pain of a freshly torn blister. Or maybe she just hadn't noticed it sooner, she wasn't sure.

They ended this exercise first and waited for everyone to finish with their running, expecting some more power training, but Katsunori cleared his throat, getting everyone's attention.

"On Friday afternoon we have the semi-finals, which shouldn't pose a problem for any of you. And yes, you'll attend classes normally." He was met with disappointed grunts and eye-rolls, and he had to fight an eye-roll of his own. "However, on Saturday, we'll be facing Kirisaki Daiichi." He said seriously. He'd watched the matches Aya'd asked him to, and he too, was worried for this bunch of the boys he called his team. Satsuki was meanwhile handing the research papers to everyone, which surprised those who weren't regulars. "Read it during the classes, we'll watch a video of Kirisaki Daiichi's last match in the afternoon, so no practise. It's going to be a strategy meeting."

Aomine yawned, and crumpled the research; he didn't want to read it. Why should he be bothered? There was certainly no one to beat him in basketball.

Katsunori noticed it and shot a glare in the boy's direction. "It goes for you as well, Aomine. You don't have to play on Friday, if you so choose, but you'll be necessary on Saturday. And I expect to see you in the afternoon as well."

He stared at Katsunori for a moment. The lax man could indeed have a fiery look in his grey eyes. _He is the former ace of the national team after all…_ "Tch. Hai, hai. I'll be here."

######

They've finished watching the footage of a Kirisaki Daiichi's match, and then the video of their fouling Aya had made and went through Satsuki's research.

"So that's what we needed to see." Imayoshi exclaimed, he was surprised to see his junior, Hanamiya Makoto leading the Kirisaki Daiichi team as the captain and also the coach – he was only in his second year, and already a captain. "This is going to be dangerous." He said with half smirk.

"Do you know them?" Susa asked their captain.

"I know their captain and coach, Hanamiya Makoto." He said, sounding almost proud. "We went to the same junior high and we were on one team. He is incredibly smart, though his personality is wretched and don't be fooled, what you've just seen is not even a half of what he can do on court."

Aomine yawned, not at all impressed by this style of basketball. He wasn't fond of team plays, he mocked and insulted his opponents too, but he'd never physically hurt them during a game, at least not intentionally. But he had to admit that Kirisaki Daiichi was decent at least.

"I thought so." Satsuki said, going through her research. "Why do they play this way, Imayoshi-san?"

"Hanamiya loves misfortune of others. He likes to see them suffer. He's been discreetly fouling ever since the junior high, but that time, he couldn't do it in this scale."

Katsunori was pulling at his fringe, thinking about what he heard. "Have they played like this the last year too?" He asked and looked at Satsuki.

"Well… From what I've gathered, the fouling started last year, when Hanamiya became the captain. I couldn't see any obvious fouls on videos, but there were injuries; aces mostly, or players who stood out. For example Seirin's center, Kiyoshi Teppei, ended up with a severe ACL damage during the last inter-high, and is currently still rehabilitating. Whether he'll return or not, is unknown." She used Seirin as an example, because they'd been a new and very small team at the time, and still hadn't escaped the foul play, plus Tetsu-kun and Taiga-kun were there.

Imayoshi nodded. "That definitely sounds like Hanamiya's plot."

"Kiyoshi Teppei, huh? Mabo' tried to recruit him into Shuutoku's team, but the boy refused for some reason…" _So he went to Seirin?_

Aya blinked at Katsunori. "Eh? Taiga's never mentioned him."

Satsuki shrugged. "Maybe he doesn't know? His senpais might not be talking about it; their defeat was indeed terrible that time."

"Hmmm…" Katsunori rubbed his chin. Kiyoshi had been a star player at the time, he'd been thinking of recruiting him as well. "Touou shouldn't be affected by the spider web. But we can be affected by the foul plays… That makes me think about the starting line up."

"You're not thinking of forcing me to come and then making me a bench warmer, right?" Aomine grumbled with narrowed eyes. He didn't like the direction this conversation was taking, and he felt that coach might've been thinking of preserving his 'ace players', to prevent injuries.

"That's what I've been thinking indeed. You and Wakamatsu should probably sit this one out."

"What?!" Wakamatsu shouted. "Why me too?! I ain't a _star player_." The blonde protested loudly. This wasn't fair.

Before Katsunori could answer, Imayoshi came to support his vice-captain.

"But there is one detail coach." Imayoshi butted in; he was the captain after all. "We don't have anyone suitable enough to play Wakamatsu's position now. We need a skilled center. Hanamiya's team is strong even without fouls."

"How strong?" Satsuki asked, because she could only analyse what she could see, and if Hanamiya showed only a small portion of his skills…

"He is one of the uncrowned kings; almost on par with the generation of miracles. I haven't seen him play seriously in years, and we've never faced Kirisaki Daiichi in any prelims so far, but I wouldn't take them lightly. Especially if Hanamiya's become the coach."

Katsunori sighed; Imayoshi had a point in this. "Fine." Then he turned to face his two functional shooting guards. "How's your ankle, Sakurai?" _He was running this morning…_

"Ah, sorry. I think it's much better. Sorry for causing you trouble."

"Hmmm… Tada will be a starter; Yamazaki is quite tall for a shooting guard." When he noticed Sakurai's dejected face, he had a need to cheer the boy up. "It's not a punishment for your injured ankle, understood? I need an efficient team to win."

"Sorry, I didn't think that…" Sakurai started to freak out, when he noticed Aya's pointed stare. He gulped, no, he didn't want to do any more push ups.

Katsunori nodded. "Fine. As for a power forward –"

"I'll play it." Aomine said, before the coach could finish.

"Yes you will, but not from the beginning. You'll substitute Yamaoka, or step in, if it's necessary to create a point gap. Understood?"

"I agree with the coach." Imayoshi nodded. Aomine was the best, but handling Kirisaki Daiichi from the start might end up with Aomine broken. He didn't want to risk that, even though he didn't doubt Aomine's ability to cope with fouls.

"Ossu." Yamaoka nodded immediately. He was strangely happy, that he was chosen to be a starter.

"Tche." Aomine snorted. "If you want that useless bum to play…" He was insulted by this decision. It was his position; he was the best in the team, so why the hell would they make him sit out in a match where he could possibly have some fun? He could handle fouls.

"What did you say, Ahomine?!" Yamaoka shouted at him in defence.

"Want me to repeat it, _useless bum?_ " He asked with a mocking grin.

"Stop it. Both of you." Imayoshi ordered in a strict voice. If Aomine wasn't obedient, Yamaoka was, he respected and feared their captain.

"So." Katsunori cleared his throat, unfazed by the starting dispute. "For the strategy… Just play like you usually do. Force them into one-on-one games; don't let them cooperate on those fouls. They can't break a teamwork which doesn't exist."

Aya frowned at this, but she couldn't oppose. Katsunori was essentially right. She would probably advice the same thing too; abandon the teamwork and work on your own. Still, the idea tugged at her heart, this wasn't what a team was supposed to be.

* * *

The next three days and the Friday's match went by in a blur. Everyone in Touou, maybe except Aomine who was prickly, was nervous and excited about facing Kirisaki Daiichi, which had one of the 'uncrowned kings'. And Aya had to deal with Taiga's excitement about facing the other kings: Seiho and Shuutoku.

When the day of the matches arrived, Aya was disappointed she couldn't see both of the Seirin's matches. The preliminaries' semi-finals and finals were held at a one huge complex with four gymnasiums. The matches went on consecutively in two gyms, where each gym was divided into two courts. The spectators' area was huge, dark, and those on the court could barely see who was sitting up there.

She frowned at an announcement board.

"Disappointed about somethin', Sweetheart?" Aomine's voice rumbled behind her. He slacked off during the semi-finals, but he wanted to be there for this match. He was interested in this Hanamiya Makoto, who was claimed to be on par with them.

Aya ignored the nickname; she was already used to it. "We are in the same gym with the block D." She sighed. "I hoped to see both of Taiga's matches today."

"You sure they can win against Seiho?"

"They did their research well. And if they can get used Seiho's movements during the match, I think they won't have a problem to win. When it comes to offence, they're better than Seiho. And I really want to see them play against Midorima and Takao."

Something dark flashed in Aomine's eyes. And Aya didn't quite like it. If both teams, Seirin and Touou, won, they'd inevitably clash later on. She didn't know the whole history, or rather, she knew only Satsuki's impression and hers point of view, not Aomine's or anyone else's; simply because Aomine had refused to talk about it. She had no idea what facing his former teammates could do with the ace. If she were to face Ray, her former partner, she wasn't sure how she would behave either. And knowing Aomine, she worried he might close up again.

"Tetsu should be able to get away from a defence." But with Seiho's man-to-man defence, he doubted Seirin's ability to win. If there was no one free to receive Tetsu's passes…

And Aya echoed his thoughts. "If he is the only one who can do that though… Well. I can imagine the struggle." _Which is not that bad; it might force Taiga to grow…_

The people who wanted to watch the matches were starting to gather up.

"We should go." He said and pulled Aya's elbow to get her away from the announcement board in the hallway. The last thing he wanted was to bump into someone familiar.

"Hai, hai. You don't have to drag me, gee'."

One corner of his lips turned up into a half-smile, she couldn't see, and he didn't let go. The coldness he'd felt from her at the beginning of the week was slowly easing up, but he wasn't sure he could consider it 'okay' just yet. And he actually feared the possibility of Seirin winning both matches, and hoped they would win at the same time. He didn't really want to face Tetsu, and yet he wanted to face Tetsu the most. He was conflicted; he didn't know what he really wanted anymore.

He changed into his jersey and threw a jacked over his shoulders. He wasn't a starter. No matter what he'd said, Harasawa refused to let him play from the beginning.

Aya, Satsuki and the coach were standing next to the door, watching over the 12 boys, chosen to be either players or bench warmers. The others and Kiku were already in the spectators' area holding a seat for Aya.

The atmosphere was rather heavy compared to the previous matches. Even Wakamatsu was eerily quiet and it made Aya worry a bit. She'd never thought she'd see Touou quiet like this.

"Let me tape your ankle." She approached Sakurai when she noticed he was fighting with a tape, not quite sure how to wrap it around his still slightly frail ankle.

"Sorry. I thought I could do it on my own." He flushed and looked away from her reddish eyes.

She sighed. There was probably nothing she could do about this apologising habit of his. "It's fine, I'll teach you properly later, 'kay?" She undid whatever he'd tried to do and started over.

"What are you afraid of, ha? Couple of bruises?" She asked suddenly, everyone's head snapping in her direction. Touou wasn't a team of scaredy-cats. "Kirisaki Daiichi can't compare to you in terms of offensive strength. There are players to sub you out any time necessary. Hell, **_I_** will sub you out if necessary. We've researched them and we have Aomine. So… What are you afraid of?!" She repeated her question in almost a shout.

Her reddish eyes were staring at them. She didn't doubt their ability to win; sure she worried for injuries, but she believed in them. They were her team after all. _'Sorry for using you._ ' – She conveyed to Aomine when their eyes met. She didn't know why, but sometimes they could understand each other without using words.

He responded with one of his typical arrogant grins. She just soothed his ego.

"AAAARGH!" Wakamatsu roared in response. "Nothing at all! We will WIN!" He yelled; cheering up everyone in the process.

Imayoshi subtly sighed in relief. Silent Wakamatsu worried him too, but he didn't know what to say to liven them up. And he noticed that confidence returned to all of the boys. Once again, Aomine being an exception, but that was normal for someone of his calibre.

"Don't you dare think you'll lose. Not even for an instant." She added when she got up from Sakurai's ankle.

######

"Imayoshi-senpai. Long time no see." Hanamiya smiled slimily when they shook hands. "I've been wondering when we were going to face each other."

Imayoshi didn't let his kouhai to shade him and flashed a sly smile of his own. "Same here, Hanamiya-kun. But the winner is already set."

"Oho? I wouldn't say that." His eyes travelled to Aomine, who was wearing a jacket, obviously not starting in the game. "Your star seems to be benched, senpai. Trying to conserve him? Or is he injured already?"

The wording he used didn't slip Imayoshi's attention. _Already, huh?_ He was right, Hanamiya _was_ after Aomine. "Being you, I wouldn't worry about him~" Imayoshi smirked, swallowing the bad aftertaste that Hanamiya's words left. "He'll join the game soon enough."

Imayoshi had to admit, they could've been labelled as friends during the junior high days. Both with similar personalities, both calculating, both enjoying teasing others, sometimes to the point of bullying… But Hanamiya had changed, he still had that friendly fake expression that had fooled so many people, but something made Imayoshi's skin crawl. He had no idea what in particular it was though; he just hoped he'd figure it out during the match. Reading people had always been his forte and he didn't doubt he would see through Hanamiya eventually.

Hanamiya chuckled. "It's good to hear he's in the top shape, senpai. Let's hope nothing happens~" He saluted to Imayoshi and went to warm up.

"That was weird." Susa commented, when he stopped by.

"I just can't wait for this match to start." Imayoshi said, with a frown and eyes opened a bit more than his usual slits. _Let's not give Hanamiya the pleasure…_ He decided and turned to return to his team.

"Kazuya!" Hanamiya called out to his PF. "You'll take care of their no. 8. We want to get Aomine-kun out after all~" _I want to see the ace of the generation of miracles in tatters._

"Shouldn't be a problem, captain."

"You sure, you want the monster to come out?" Furuhashi asked as he usually tended to be the one brave enough to question their captain's decisions. The others usually complained under their noses, never talking back to Hanamiya.

"Mhah!" A dangerous evil grin appeared on Hanamiya's face. He was aware that his team probably stood no chance against Touou, they had Imayoshi as the captain, Aomine as their ace, and also their center was skilled. Though Hanamiya had never seen them play in this line up. _So many outstanding players. It's hard to choose just one…_ "What do I always tell you, hah? Whether it's a genius or a prodigy, it doesn't matter; once it's broken it's just garbage. We'll start with their no. 8, he shouldn't be standing on the court, don't you think?"

Furuhashi nodded. "I'll help Kazuya then."

"Eeeh? Not needed, but thank you, Furuhashi- _kun_ ~" He said and made a chewing-gum bubble, which burst onto his face.

 _It'd be nice if we could break Aomine._ Hanamiya though as they went to line up. But he couldn't be so sure about it, he didn't know Aomine's full strength after all and he doubted that the ace showed his true colours in any of the matches so far; if the ace played at all.

The tip-off went to Touou, as per usual. Wakamatsu had the explosive power needed to take the first ball for his team.

Tada grabbed it, trying to get the first points for Touou.

 _Tch._ He frowned when the ball bounced out of the hoop.

Wakamatsu and Yamaoka were both under the basket already, trying to get the rebound. But only Wakamatsu managed to jump. Yamaoka's foot was pinned down by Kazuya, making it unable for the PF to jump. Then Kazuya leaped up, using Yamaoka's trapped foot as a stepping stone. He didn't really want to get the ball, it was already destined to be caught by Wakamatsu, but the no. 8 was his target, so he would inflict as much damage as possible.

"Bastard." Yamaoka muttered through gritted teeth. It hurt. But referees didn't notice a thing.

The first points were scored by Wakamatsu.

"Right from the start, huh?" Aomine muttered, as he watched the foul. _To think they want me to play that badly._ He smirked. These cheap tricks wouldn't work on him.

"You're playing as dirty as always~" Imayoshi hummed, while facing Hanamiya. He made sure, he kept enough space to see and possibly avoid any underhanded tactics. He'd played with Hanamiya on one team for some time after all.

Hanamiya smirked. "Good to see you don't care for them." It was refreshing to see a team which wasn't overly sweet with the teamwork crap.

"They are not children~" _Now, should I pass? Where? Should I shoot? Indeed, I have enough space to do so…_ A sudden movement of Hanamiya's eyes made Imayoshi send the ball to Tada, who shoot immediately, scoring points. It was an instinct; a fleeting feeling of danger. _Phew, just in time._ He mused when Furuhashi appeared in his field of vision, clearly screening referee's field of vision.

The pass made Furuhashi change his direction as well.

Hanamiya's face twisted into a grimace. He hadn't expected Imayoshi to dodge a bullet like this. "You haven't changed in the slightest, senpai." _That mind reading of his…_ "Too bad. I probably won't be able to crush _you_."

"Oh? Am I a threat to you?" Imayoshi's eyes opened to look at his kouhai. _You are this open about fouling now, huh?_

"Not at all." He said, stuck out his tongue and ran off to contribute to other points for Kirisaki.

The next victim was Wakamatsu who got hit into his stomach while trying to get another rebound. They'd tried stepping on his foot several times – unsuccessfully, so now this? He growled in annoyance and tapped the ball out of the court. Touou could afford letting the ball go to Kirisaki.

"Out of bounds!" One of the refs' shouted. "Kirisaki's ball!"

"What was that for?!" He yelled at Matsumoto, the Kirisaki Daiichi's center.

"Eh?" He looked at Wakamatsu with blank expression. "Did something happen?" He asked calmly, playing innocence. He didn't need the loud center to shout out he was hit. Too bad he didn't know Wakamatsu's short fuse.

"You hit me!" Wakamatsu shouted. It got a ref's attention and he shuffled closer, to see if there was any problem.

"I haven't heard the whistle." Matsumoto shrugged, and turned around as if nothing ever happened. _I should be careful with this one._

Hanamiya took care of a throw in. As he was passing Matsumoto he gave him a message. "Leave the no. 6. Focus on the no. 8."

"Ossu." He nodded.

"You okay?" Tada asked his friend, when he came to rein in on Wakamatsu, in case he decided to return the favour.

"Yeah, you?"

"I rather don't count the rough screens…" He sighed.

"What's wrong with them?" Wakamatsu shook his head. This wasn't a game he was enjoying. In only 5 minutes, Kirisaki Daiichi had managed to cause several bruises, and all of his teammates were getting frustrated, mainly because they couldn't repay the favour.

The score was on Touou's side, but not by much; 18 to 13, certainly wasn't to Touou's tastes.

The ball was in. Furuhashi managed to force another points for Kirisaki Daiichi.

Imayoshi glanced at the coach. So far, he was the only one without a bruise. He wasn't sure if it was a part of Hanamiya's plan or not.

Harasawa nodded. The next out of bounds would be Touou's time out.

With Aomine out, Touou seemed to struggle to keep their lead. Even if they had read the research, and could predict some of the Kirisaki Daiichi attacks, the violence was something they weren't used to. An angry and frustrated player could never put up a decent fight. They knew. They knew all too well, but _damn!_

"Let me out." Aomine said when they gathered for a time-out. He didn't feel for his teammates, no. He wanted to prove to Kirisaki Daiichi that they couldn't touch him even if they wanted to. He wanted to break them in his own way. "I'll widen the point gap."

Yamaoka involuntarily felt a surge of relief. To think there would be a day when he'd be glad for Aomine... They were ganging up on him the most. He knew they wanted to get him off the court, but he was willing to protect his own position, he wasn't that weak. He'd remain there as long as necessary, but his ribs, feet and elbows hurt. He just wanted to sit down and rest for a while.

"Aomine-kun –" Satsuki started to scold him, but Katsunori shut her up with a wave of his hand.

"You have time until the end of the quarter."

"Hai, hai. I'll stay there 'till the end." He eyed Yamaoka. "This one seems to be done."

"What did you say, Ahomine?"

"Hah?!" A vein popped on Aomine's forehead. He didn't care what happened to this idiot but letting an injured player out was a shame.

"We'll see according to the situation. Are the others fine?" Katsunori turned his eyes to the other four.

Aomine took off his jacket and stretched. An arrogant smirk formed on his face, he'd savour defeating them.

"Look who's come out~" Hanamiya smirked. "Let's see what is going to happen." He'd thought it would take much longer to get Aomine out. But taming the monster might not be easy during the whole remaining 33 minutes.

"Let's see, _senpai_." Aomine spat out.

Kirisaki Daiichi soon found out, that breaking the prodigy, Aomine Daiki, was equal to impossible for them. He was simply too quick to catch. When they managed to shield a ref's field of vision, Aomine was already gone. When they tried to hit him, he avoided. Double teaming him didn't work either; he just slipped past, as if they weren't even there. And that unbelievable agility and change of pace he had. They didn't know his engines were still not fully on.

In the mere three minutes, he boosted Touou's score from 23 – 19 (as it was when he joined the game) to 37 – 21. His skills weren't to be trifled with.

Aya sighed in relief when the first break started and Aomine wasn't injured. She wouldn't admit it, but she worried for him more than for the others. Those feelings probably weren't something to be happy about, it was unfair. Yes, she hated seeing her team getting bruised up, but Aomine… If they inflicted some serious injury, he could lose his possible professional future. However, none of this was a reason enough to keep him benched and she wouldn't do that, more so if he wanted to play. Her eyes narrowed at Hanamiya.

"It's hard to watch." Kiku peeped. She couldn't watch Wakamatsu getting punched into stomach repeatedly.

"Then don't." Aya said.

Kiku's eyes snapped at the redhead, who rarely used such an icy voice. But it wasn't directed at Kiku, no. Aya wasn't paying much attention to her this time.

Ishii gave Kiku an apologetic smile. "Let her be, she worries for them."

Kiku nodded and looked back at the two teams discussing their next strategies.

"Tche!" Hanamiya was getting angry. He felt like kicking the bench.

Firstly, he couldn't use the spider web on Touou; there were no patterns to their passes he could read and Imayoshi was a terrible opponent. He could never guess what was going through the senpai's head. Secondly, Aomine was more perilous than he'd expected. The rough play didn't seem to have any influence on the ace. And then there was the 16 point gap.

"Calm down, captain." Furuhashi said and gulped down his water. "We still have three quarters."

"Let's just focus on breaking Aomine." As long as he could see Aomine crumble, he didn't need to win. "Look for any opportunity."

"Haaai." Kazuya blew another chewing-gum bubble and lazily scratched his head.

Aomine wiped the sweat off his face and took a water bottle from Satsuki. Even he couldn't afford to ease up against Kirisaki Daiichi too much. They weren't _that_ good when it came to basketball, but the fouls were nasty. They were waiting for any opening he would offer like vultures. He could take a punch, but his body would most likely react in a defensive way, which had been enrooted into him since he was a child through the martial arts. He inwardly snickered at the thought he'd suddenly throw some Kirisaki Daiichi dude over his shoulder. But he couldn't cause a fight. And he needed to watch his back.

"You're staying on the court?" Katsunori asked him, because it the mere three minutes he'd sweated more than usual.

Aomine turned his stormy eyes at the coach and raised an eyebrow. "'f course I'm."

The second quarter started in an unbelievably quick pace, thanks to Aomine. His teammates could barely keep up, but he didn't care. There were several opportunities for the others to score as well. Kirisaki Daiichi was barely hanging in.

"You said you wanted Aomine to play~?" Imayoshi smiled slyly at Hanamiya when they faced each other again.

"I'll find a way to crush him. But the others might want to watch their backs too." He smirked. "One never knows…"

 _Who are you focusing on now?_ Imayoshi took in the entire court and all of his players. None of them seemed too bruised up or too tired. But Hanamiya was right. Aomine was stealing the spotlight from the others. The refs were focused on Aomine more than on the others.

That sure was one good opportunity to hurt the less outstanding players. _Tada?_ The boy kept landing the threes in quite well. _Or Susa?_

Susa got almost hit by Matsumoto's elbow as the latter swung down with a clear intention to hit him, but the loud center managed to jump in between and stop it.

"What are you trying to do, you bastard?" Wakamatsu growled at him, but he didn't get another chance to cause a scene.

"Nothing. I'm just playing." He shrugged and passed to Yamazaki, who made the shot. Tada wasn't quick enough to stop it this time.

"Or maybe you." Hanamiya's voice sounded awfully close to Imayoshi's ear and he felt a sudden jolt of pain shot through his lower ribs. When he turned, Hanamiya was already several steps away, handling the ball he stole from Tada.

 _Crap, he played me._ Imayoshi rubbed the sore spot.

The second quarter ended with Touou leading 58 – 36. For the mid-game 10 minute break they all went to the changing rooms.

######

 ** _Touou's changing room:_**

"I-I b-b-brought you some honey soaked lemons." Kiku peeped as she presented them the treat, stuttering again. The atmosphere was so heavy, she couldn't help herself.

Aya was leaning against a wall with her arms crossed. Then she pushed off. "Shirts off. All of you." She said strictly.

"Eh?"

"Come on, we don't have the whole day."

Reluctantly, they all took off their jersey. Everyone except Aomine had some sort of a bruise, either on their sides, ribcages, or stomachs (and she didn't count the elbow and knee bruises). Or all three places, in Yamaoka's and Susa's case. Susa-senpai had seemed to be coping well and she hadn't noticed when he got so bruised up.

She frowned at seeing the darkening bruises. "Cool it down with ice for about two minutes, and then I'll apply a cream on your bruises to ease the pain and fasten the healing."

"Can I dress back…?" Aomine asked with a teasing sparkle in his eyes. _'Or do you want to stare some more?'_

Aya understood his hidden question and rolled her eyes. This was not the time to neither stare nor flirt. She grabbed his sweat-drenched jersey and threw it into his face. "Don't forget the jacked. We don't need the ace to catch a cold, do we, Honey-bun~?"

The boys snickered at the nickname. At least the two didn't lose their teasing demeanour.

"Tch. You witch." He rumbled under his nose, but couldn't resist a smirk.

"By the way, you should watch your back, Aomine."

"Hm?" He looked at her while he was pulling the jersey over his head.

"They are starting to gather around behind your back whenever you jump to shoot. I bet they're studying, looking for a time when you're the most vulnerable."

"Really?" Katsunori asked with a frown. There were indeed things one could only see from above.

"Tch." His instincts had warned him the last couple of times he'd jumped. He couldn't see them, but he could feel them there. _So I wasn't paranoid._

Kiku's lemons travelled around the room as the players thanked her and took a bite. They were holding ice packets wrapped in towels as Aya had ordered. And they listened, or quietly discussed their own observations. Satsuki's data was perfect, but Kirisaki Daiichi's plots couldn't be predicted.

"I don't know how you're gonna cope, but don't let them sweep you off your feet. There are still two more quarters." Aya reminded him.

She approached the others with the pain relieving cream which fastened the healing process. She started with Susa, whose bruises looked just as bad as Yamaoka's. Yamaoka had been benched already. He could wait.

"Kiku, would you mind taking care of Wakamatsu-senpai and Tada-senpai?" Aya asked her. She wanted to quicken the process and also she didn't want to make Kiku jealous that she'd be the one applying the cream on Wakamatsu's stomach. She just didn't think of what her calm demand would cause.

 ** _Kirisaki Daiichi's changing room:_**

They were sitting in a circle, drinking and eating honey-soaked lemons. "So?" Hanamiya asked. "How does it look?"

"He is the most vulnerable in the moment he lands on his feet." Furuhashi said. "But that's only a moment."

"You think you could sweep him off his feet then?"

"Hmmm… I'd need help. Aomine seems to notice us, somehow."

"Kazuya and I will help you get him down. But wait until the end of the third quarter. I want to see their faces when they'll lose their ace just before the last quarter." He snickered.

 _He is a psychopath…_ Furuhashi thought, but shrugged it off. Whatever, he didn't care.

######

The third quarter started more carefully. Imayoshi and the others decided to cooperate more than usual, leaving Aomine to cope on his own. The refs paid more attention to the ace than the rest, so the rest had to keep an eye out for each other. Bruises were nothing serious, but Imayoshi couldn't afford any grave injury amongst the best core of his team. He refused to give Hanamiya the pleasure of breaking any of them.

But Kirisaki Daiichi seemed awfully sincere during this quarter. They kept the rough play to a minimum, playing almost earnestly. They wanted Touou to start feeling safe, to ease up.

Hanamiya changed positions with Kazuya.

"Oi, oi," Aomine smirked as he noticed the Hanamiya himself facing him. "You sure that's a good idea?" Hanamiya was shorter than Kazuya and probably weaker when it came to physical strength.

"That arrogance will be your end one day, Aomine-kun~"

The voice which Hanamiya used made Aomine think of a slippery eel. "Oh? Threatening me?"

"Not at all." He smirked and received the ball.

Several steps away, Imayoshi frowned at Kazuya. "You sure you want to try that?"

He chuckled lazily. "Hanamiya isn't that weak."

And really, Aomine had to admit that once the eel got the ball, he knew what to do with it. Hanamiya's basketball skills weren't cheap, not as good as his, but definitely decent. And then he shot a floater.

"A tear drop, huh? Haven't seen that coming." Aomine muttered. It wasn't that high, he could've easily jumped high enough to catch it, but he hadn't expected the eel to have such a technique in his arsenal.

"I don't just use the dirty tricks." Hanamiya stuck out his tongue. "I can score whenever I want."

Aomine's eyebrow went up and he sneered. "Really? Let's try it out."

The next couple of shots Hanamiya tried were all fully blocked. He couldn't shake Aomine off at all. _So this is the monster._ But it wasn't like Hanamiya hadn't expected this. On the contrary, it was according to his plan that Aomine focused most of his attention on him.

"Scoring whenever you want? Don't make me laugh." Aomine snorted. And threw the ball in. Just like that. Without even jumping. "But you were more entertaining than the others so far. Should I show you? What scoring whenever you want to looks like?" _Well… In the next quarter._ He added inwardly after checking the clock.

 _Eh?_ Hanamiya blinked. _Was he holding back until now? Or is there more to his skills?_ He had to begrudgingly admit that Aomine Daiki was amazing; though it didn't change the fact that he wanted to break him.

"Please do so~" He hummed, provoking Aomine.

 _Hm?_ His eyes narrowed. Some warning light flared in the back of his mind. Whatever they'd plotted, he'd manage.

There was the last 30 seconds of the third quarter. Hanamiya exchanged glances with the others. It was time. Their scores were beyond catching up with, 94 – 58 for Touou, but…

Hanamiya got the ball again. He went for the shot, expecting Aomine to jump for a block.

The ace responded instinctively and jumped. He noticed Kazuya and Furuhashi sneaking up from the sides and he knew that something was coming. He could feel a fight when it was coming. His adrenaline peaked and everything seemed to slow down.

When he was landing, Kazuya's foot swept his left foot, before he could fully land on it. Like this, he couldn't really keep his balance; no matter how talented he was, he couldn't defy physics. And he could see that Hanamiya 'bumped' into Furuhashi 'by accident', making him 'fall' backwards, with elbow conveniently stuck out.

"Aomine-kun!" Satsuki shouted in panic.

When Aya saw what was happening, the blood froze in her veins. If Furuhashi landed his elbow on Aomine's face… It could cause a severe concussion and a broken nose at least…

"Daiki!" He could hear Kagami's voice from the spectators' area.

"Keh." Aomine snickered, as he hooked Kazuya's foot with his right ankle, making it unable for Kazuya to disengage and dragging him down as well. In the meanwhile, Aomine stuck his chin to his chest, to avoid hitting his head; both of his arms went slightly backwards as he'd learned in jiu-jitsu, to ease the fall – and at the same time hit Kazuya – and he twisted slightly to avoid Furuhashi's elbow.

The Aomine's reaction was automatic and instinctive, he didn't think about a possible damage he could inflict. He was simply protecting himself.

When they landed, Furuhashi slammed his elbow against the wooden floor of the court, yelping in pain. And Aomine landed partly on top of Kazuya, his left elbow bore into Kazuya's solar plexus, though not as hard as it could've been.

The both referees blew their whistles to stop the game. It wasn't necessary, as the timer went off signalling the end of the third quarter.

The referees and the other players surrounded the bunch on the ground.

Furuhashi sat up squeezing his elbow, which was starting to swell. The pain was jolting into his entire arm in waves.

Aomine sat up, discreetly letting go of Kazuya's leg, which didn't seem to be as okay as before. _Definitely a twisted ankle._ Aomine thought. _Serves him right._ But Kazuya seemed to be choking. Well, the inability to breath was one of the side effects of such a hit, but something was wrong.

 _The chewing gum!_ Aomine remembered and immediately pulled Kazuya up, it didn't matter that it was an enemy; he hit him between the shoulder blades, making the boy spat out the stuff he'd had stuck in his throat.

Kazuya took in a raspy breath and started to cough. He calmed down after a while but he was still breathing with some difficulty. And then he retched.

 _He probably hit his head._ Aomine couldn't feel sorry for neither of them. They got caught up in their own game.

The refs hadn't seen what exactly had happened until the three were on the ground. Two of them injured. But they couldn't blame Aomine, he was just lucky to end up in between – and that in between was suspicious. They looked at Furuhashi, while Hanamiya was trying to get Kazuya up.

"What happened?"

With a frown Furuhashi looked away. "Things got rough." He shrugged. "I don't really remember it."

They frowned, but there was no time to deal with this. "Take those two to the infirmary. Immediately." One of them barked at Hanamiya.

Two benched boys from Kirisaki Daiichi came to take Kazuya and Furuhashi away. By the glare Hanamiya gave the two injured ones, they could expect some serious scolding later.

"You okay?" A ref asked Aomine.

The boy smirked. "Nothing's broken or twisted. I can continue the game."

"We'll continue as well." Hanamiya barked at the ref.

"Gather up in two minutes." He nodded to both captains and Aomine.

Aomine came to the benches and slumped down.

"Aomine-kun! Are you okay? You aren't hurt, are you? It looked so nasty! Are you really okay?" Satsuki flooded him with questions. Her voice was panicky, and she was freaking out.

Aomine covered the ear closer to Satsuki. "Gee', quit yappin'. I'm fine." Despite how dangerous it might've looked, he wasn't hurt, probably not even bruised up. He grabbed a water bottle and drank its contents."No. 10 was a good cushion and no. 7 hurt himself, when he missed my face." He shrugged. "I told y' I could take care of myself."

When he looked up, he could see Aya gripping the railing, staring down at them. He couldn't see her face clearly, but he'd recognize that red hair of hers anywhere. He smirked and gave a quick nod in her direction. After a few more seconds her tense posture visibly relaxed and she slumped back down into her seat in the front row.

"He almost caused me a heart attack." She sighed heavily, rubbing her face.

All the boys were staring at her in surprise. They were shocked by the situation too, but to think it'd have such an impact on Aya.

"You sure you're not dating?" Kano asked with a teasing grin.

She shot him a glare. "Don't go there. Just don't." She said irritably.

"Yes ma'am!"

Aya huffed and turned back to stare at the court. Loose locks of her hair left to frame her face that day covered a blush which appeared on her face. She knew that people here used their family names unless the relationship was of the very close friends, family or a couple. She was trying to do the same, but right now… It just slipped out of her mouth before she could think about it. _Get a grip Aya._ She growled at herself inwardly. _He wouldn't want of you. And you're **friends**._

"Seto!" Hanamiya roughly kicked a sleeping boy. "You're playing."

"Huh?" He asked sleepily. "You told me you wouldn't need me."

"Circumstances changed." He barked. "Warm up." No one dared to oppose their captain when he was this furious.

"Gee', give me my hair gel and I'll go."

The fourth quarter started with two new players of Kirisaki Daiichi's side. Seto was the usual part of the team, but no.6. wasn't. They couldn't cooperate that well with the boy.

Aomine demanded to face Hanamiya directly. "I've promised something, right? Or have you given up already, _senpai_?" He was smirking at him, his stormy blue eyes staring down at Hanamiya with a deep scorn.

Hanamiya didn't care about the brat in front of him anymore. He was furious. He could burst out from the rage he was feeling. Not only had he failed in destroying Aomine, but his own fucking teammates ended up in the infirmary.

"Hmph." Aomine snorted and grabbed a pass from Tada.

Yes, he did show to Hanamiya what it meant to score whenever one wanted.

The rough play was shut down completely, allowing the other Touou players to move with more ease. Despite the fact that Hanamiya gave no such order, the others could feel the gap created by their two teammates hurt by their own tactics. They weren't calm enough to continue with that strategy, not in this game.

In the end, Touou won. By doubling Kirisaki's score. 150 – 74.

They lined up to shake hands.

"How does it feel to get beaten in your own game?~" Imayoshi was grinning at Hanamiya. _Probably similarly to when I lost in poker…_ He hadn't thought that Aomine would take out two of the Kirisaki's players, but it was a lucky miscalculation.

"I'll destroy you the next time." He growled through gritted teeth. It was pointless to try playing friendly and nice when Imayoshi knew his nature.

"Good luck in the winter cup then~"

######

"Come on, slowpoke. I can't wait for you for eternity." Aya complained, when she was the last one to stay in the changing room waiting for Aomine to pack up. "I want to go to Seirin already."

There were still around four hours until Seirin's match against Shuutoku, but she wanted to be with Taiga already. The rest of the Touou's team went out to eat, to celebrate the pass to the Interhigh. Aya couldn't go, and Aomine didn't want to go. So they were left behind. Satsuki took it as her personal task to protect Kiku if the boys said something dirty to her, though Wakamatsu would most likely do a decent job on his own.

He raised an eyebrow at her, stuffing his sweat-drenched jersey into his bag. After the match was over and the adrenaline from the fall dissipated, he felt unbelievably tired. He just wanted to lay into his bed and sleep. But there was nowhere to hurry.

"You're still here, y' know?"

"Because I need to lock up and return the key!"

"I can do it myself."

"You'd forget, or you wouldn't do it at all, 'cause it's _too much trouble._ " She imitated his lazy tone.

He shook his head at the imitation. "That's not how I sound."

She shrugged. "I don't have your vocal cords." She retorted.

"Hai, hai." He picked up his stuff and slowly shuffled towards the door. He was moving intentionally slow, to annoy Aya even more.

She sighed in exasperation, but she didn't really mind it. It meant more time spent with him. "Don't do that to me." She said quietly, when he was passing by her.

"Hm?" He stopped at his stride and turned to stare down at her.

She huffed and raised her head to stare into his eyes. "Don't scare me like that ever again, stupid!" She said louder and her eyes were burning with suppressed worry and care and anger. Aya hadn't been on the court; she couldn't have run down there. The powerlessness she'd felt when she'd watched him almost getting crushed had been a terrible feeling.

"Hah?!" His eyes widened. "I'm completely fine! I had in under control. I don't do jiu-jitsu for nothin'." He retorted, but the intensity of the feelings swirling in her eyes took his breath away. Yeah, Satsuki worried for him too, but this felt different.

He heard her voice then.

 _'Daiki!'_ She called out to him. Suddenly he felt self-conscious. She hadn't used his family name; she hadn't used the nickname she'd given him. On instinct, or emotion, or whatever it was, she called out just his name. The name she'd never used before. ' _Daiki.'_ A blush creeped onto his face and he turned away from her.

She turned her face down as well. Similar thoughts running through her head, but it didn't matter anymore. He was fine. Nothing had happened. Not to him at least. "I know you can handle yourself." She breathed out. "I know, but still…"

His huge palm landed gently on top her head and he ruffled her hair. "Don't worry 'bout me, silly." His voice sounded a bit deeper than usual. "Ain't worth it."

She blinked. She didn't understand. "Huh?" She wanted to look up at him, but his hand stopped her from doing so.

He didn't want her to see his face now. And he didn't want to look at her right now. He didn't think he could refrain himself from hugging her, from showing her that he truly was okay; not if those reddish eyes of hers looked at him like that. Heck, he needed to persuade _himself_ that he was truly okay. The girl had probably no idea what effect she had on him.

 _Think carefully what you want, boy…_ Hikaru's voice was haunting him. _Tch_.

There was one more thing weighting on his mind, for which he felt guilty. "Sorry for the other day. I shouldn't've said _that._ "

Her jaw almost hit the ground and she was left speechless. Aomine Daiki apologising on his own accord… "Mhm." She nodded in acceptance. "It's okay. You spoke before thinking."

The guilt was lifted off of him. She was so quick to forgive him for his missteps, and that stupid mouth of his. He nodded to himself as well. Then a low, almost desperate chuckle escaped his lips before he turned his back to her and started walking away.

Aya remained frozen on her spot. _What the hell is the meaning of this?! Ain't worth it? As in you? Or what?_ And that chuckle, in wasn't meant for her, she could tell that much… _What is going through his head?_

Her hand patted the spot where Aomine's palm had rested just seconds ago. She blushed at the thought of him ruffling her hair. He wasn't fair. He should've known what effect he had on her.

"Don't forget to hand in the key, Sweetheart." He called out to her, not turning to look at her. A smirk could be heard in his voice, though it was probably a fake one.

His voice snapped her out of her thoughts. "Don't worry, Honey-bun! I can do my job properly!" She called out after him, hoping her voice sounded just like usual. She checked the changing room one last time and then she hastily slammed the door and locked it

######

After threatening the two injured idiots, who were out of practises for a good month, for their incompetence, Hanamiya wandered around the complex. He sent his team home, locking the changing room and returning the key. He didn't feel like looking at those idiots for quite some time or he'd kill them. He thought of going to watch the games of the other teams.

There was still a time before that, so he headed towards an outside vending machine, hoping he'd find a black coffee there.

When he reached the vending machine, there was a girl tucked in her jacket, smoking a cigarette. He'd never seen such a vivid red hair colour before. He could tell she didn't notice him. She had a blank expression on her face, but she kept on chewing her lower lip. She was probably around his age, but without a uniform, he couldn't pinpoint her to any school.

"Problems?" He asked in a pleasant voice and tossed coins into the vending machine.

"Hm?" She turned around, slightly startled. It was rare that someone managed to sneak up on her. _Hanamiya Makoto?_ "Don't you have your own?" She asked levelly. This man had been hurting her team during the match. She didn't want to talk with him.

Two drinks came out and he leaned forward to take them out.

"Did you watch the matches?" He asked with a polite smile and offered her a black coffee. The same he chose for himself. If she was smoking, she'd probably drink coffee too. He had no idea why he was doing it. Maybe he just needed to occupy his mind with something else besides the injured idiots.

She took it reluctantly. Was this really the bastard she'd seen on the court? Well whatever, she might as talk with him. He had no idea she was a Touou's manager. And getting to know one's enemy was never pointless. Wouldn't hurt anyone… unless she decided to strangle him in the middle of their chat.

"Yes." She nodded. "How are your teammates? That fall looked nasty." Her voice sounded neutral.

A dark light glimmered in his eyes. Did she have to bring them up? "They'll be fine."

A chill ran down Aya's spine. He was dangerous and she needed to be careful with her words, or he might even lash out at her. It _was_ the bastard she'd seen. "Want one?" She asked and offered him a cigarette. She decided to avoid talking about basketball.

He stared at it for a moment. "I've never smoked in my life." He admitted, with a half-smile, quickly reining in on his dark emotions.

Aya shrugged. "Tastes terrible, but it helps me to calm down."

After a small thought he reached for a cigarette from a nearly full pack. "Let's give it a try." He shrugged. He was in such a foul mood that this couldn't have made it any worse.

"Kagami Aya, by the way." She said when she lit the tip of his cigarette.

"Oh, how rude of me. I'm Hanamiya Makoto." He inhaled the tobacco fumes and started coughing. Tears appeared in the corners of his eyes.

Aya laughed. "The usual first-time reaction."

He glared at the cigarette. "How can you smoke?"

"Dunno. I can handle the stinging feeling?" She shrugged. "But if my brother knew he'd kill me." She'd promised to refrain from cigarettes for couple of months.

"A secret smoker?" He asked and took another draw. He'd finish this one. _The first and the last._

"Not really, I just don't smoke regularly."

"Only when you're stressed?" He guessed. The redhead had something that was putting him on edge. She didn't seem wary of him, a random stranger; she wasn't trying to get away. He hated strong and confident girls. They annoyed him to no ends. He wanted to hurt them, make them cry, break them. And this one had confidence written all over her. And yet, for some reason, he continued to talk with her.

"Something like that." She opened up the packet and took another one out. She tilted it so he could see inside. "I've bought this in December. And it's more than half full."

The wind got stronger, chasing dark clouds in the sky. Aya tucked her jacket closer and struggled with a lighter. She needed to shield it with her hand. "Tch. I hate this weather."

"A storm is coming." He pointed out. "Are you going to watch some other matches?"

"I'm interested in Shuutoku vs. Seirin."

"Oh? So they won against Seiho…" A devious smirk appeared on his face. He could remember how well he'd crushed Seirin the last year. "Maybe I'll watch that one too."

"Ayacchi?!" Kise's voice reached her.

She turned around. "Ah, Model-kun? Haven't expected to see you here. Have you watched the Seirin's first match?"

 _Another annoying one._ Hanamiya growled inwardly, noticing the familiarity between the two.

Kise eyed the remnant of Aya's cigarette and Hanamiya with a surprise and a scold, but he didn't comment on it. "Yeah. I figured Aominecchi wouldn't play." He said ignoring Hanamiya. He didn't know the boy, but he'd ask her later.

"Touou would've had some sever injury without him. No doubt about it. Though he almost got injured himself." She said and shot a pointy glare at Hanamiya.

"Eh?" Kise's eyes widened at the news. _Aominecchi played?_ But Aya wasn't paying attention to him at the moment and the atmosphere suddenly tensed.

Hanamiya's eyes narrowed at her and she smirked, unzipping her jacket, so he could see the Touou's insignia on the left side of her chest. "It seems we're enemies, Hanamiya- _senpai_."

"Mhahaha." Hanamiya laughed upon seeing this, it was a kind of laugh that made your blood freeze. His greyish eyes shining with something close to madness. If he'd figured it out sooner, he could take his anger out on her. She'd suffice. Now there was a witness. "What a cunning little bitch you are, Kagami Aya."

Kise bristled and wanted to speak up to defend her, but Ayacchi's malicious smirk stopped him from doing so.

"Know your enemies~" She sang, and turned to join Kise. Suddenly she was so glad he'd appeared there. "It was nice talking to you. And oh. Thanks for the coffee, _senpai_." She threw the cigarette butt into the can and threw it into a bin next to the vending machine.

* * *

 **A/N:** So, Kirisaki Daiichi! As they didn't appear in the Interhigh they must've been defeated in the prelims, and to be honest who's better fitted for that role than Aomine? Personally I feel very content with this chapter, so I really hope you liked it as much as I do.

Let me know what you think and remember, reviews are appreciated but never necessary.

-S.


	23. Chapter 23: Facing the kings part II

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone who followed, favourited and reviewed. It makes me happy.

Here's the part II. Enjoy. :)

* * *

 _I am a human being, with feelings and emotions and scars and flaws, just like anyone else. **– Josh Gordon**_

 _Acquaintances we meet, enjoy, and can easily leave behind; but friendship grows deep roots. **– H. Jackson Brown, Jr.**_

 _The strongest principle of growth lies in the human choice. – **George Eliot**_

 _We need the whole squad, every player of the team, if we are to be successful. **– Pep Guardiola**_

 _We all fly. Once you leave the ground, you fly. Some people fly longer than others. **– Michael Jordan**_

 _Success is where preparation and opportunity meet. **– Bobby Unser**_

 _If you want to see the sunshine, you have to weather the storm. **– Frank Lane**_

* * *

Aomine came home. The dogs greeted him enthusiastically, but otherwise, it was empty. Both of his parents were working, his mom pulling a 24 hour long shift at the emergency department in a local hospital and his father at a local police station.

He sighed and climbed the stairs to his room. He threw his bag into a corner, thinking he probably should take the jersey out, but not doing it. He took a shower and spread on top of his bed.

Shiro and Kurome were both standing near his bed watching him expectantly. They wanted to play, or at least cuddle. But they were trained not to jump onto beds. Well, Shiro sometimes broke the rule, but only when her master was sleeping, and she wanted to wake him up.

He was staring at the ceiling, ignoring the dogs' eyes staring at him. He'd take them out later in the evening. Kagami's face was flashing in front of his eyes, mixed up with images of the match and the fall. Because nothing sever had happened, it'd been taken lightly. But Daiki knew it could've had grave consequences for Kazuya. He'd been taught just how fragile a human body could be. A stronger hit, a different angle of the fall or that damn chewing gum stuck deeper in his throat could've caused Kazuya's death.

 _Sweet ignorance…_ He thought.

And he was sure that Kagami was, if unconsciously, aware of this as well. She just prioritised _his_ safety.

Daiki had pushed it to the back of his mind then, but after the match it'd come crashing down on him. He'd never been in such a situation. Some minor fights, yes, but this had been just a stupid accident, though he'd intentionally dragged Kazuya down. He could've accidentally ended someone else's life. He had no idea what he'd do if the boy hadn't gotten up.

So… worrying about him wasn't worth it. He tended to break things, unintentionally in most cases. He'd broken Tetsu at some point, but now he couldn't even remember when exactly had it happened. He'd drifted away out of his own choice, but…

Damn, he felt so empty and drained. And he could still see those reddish eyes staring right at him, with worry and caring anger. A groan escaped him and he turned to his side. This wasn't like him at all. Overthinking things. Maybe sleeping would make the stupid thoughts go away.

######

"Kasamacchi! Look who I found!" Kise enthusiastically waved at the boy waiting for him.

"K-Ka-Kag-Kagami-san?!" Kasamatsu stuttered, upon seeing Aya, his face turning red. That he managed to squeeze out her name was a great success.

"Long time no see, Kasamatsu-senpai. Model-kun invited me to join you for lunch. Is it okay? I want to know how the Seirin's match was, but it seems that Taiga is sleeping and the others have already gone out to buy their lunches."

"A-ah. Uuuhm…." He nodded looking at his feet. He truly couldn't handle girls at all.

Kise and Aya found a small nearby restaurant, Kasamatsu didn't argue. They placed their orders and Aya crossed her arms in front of her.

"So, come on." She encouraged the duo, smiling at them. "Tell me the story."

Kise's yellow eyes stared at her for a moment, dissecting her expression. Then he smiled brightly and started explaining the Seiho vs. Seirin match to the smallest details. Aya was nodding, feeling proud and happy for Taiga. The lunches arrived, Kasamatsu and Aya were eating, while Kise kept talking, and then he suddenly inhaled his food, before it would go totally cold.

"Woah. I didn't know you were a quick eater." She mused staring at Kise's empty plate.

"Ah well." He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Sometimes I don't have much time to eat, so I learned to wolf it down as quickly as possible."

"I'm surprised you haven't choked so far." Kasamatsu commented, looking at Kise with disapproval. He'd believed that Kise was gentlemanly around girls, not that he would hoover the food like a hungry beast. Or was Kagami-san an exception?

Aya laughed. "You should have an eating contest with Taiga someday."

He chuckled, and then his golden orbs pierced her again. "So? Tell me about your match. What happened to Aominecchi? Or between the two of you…" He adjusted the question, because he believed there must've been something more than just some fall during the match.

Kasamatsu shot Kise a questioning look. Since when had the model known this girl that well? Or at least it looked like he knew her well.

Aya bit her lower lip. "Well… I'm not sure. He seemed… out of it. He told me not to worry about him, but... It somehow makes me worry even more." She sighed and looked out of the window. She knew she could trust Kise. But then her head snapped back and she shot him a glare. "And don't you dare gossiping or you'll be pushing daisies in no time. I haven't forgotten the video."

"Ahahaha…" He laughed guiltily. "I meant no harm, I swear."

"I know that, but you should've told me. Anyways, Aomine seemed to have forgotten… But I can't promise there won't be _some_ payback."

He sighed. "I've been warned. Why don't you start from the beginning? What happened?"

And so, she told them from how the match proceeded, through what the fall looked like, to what she talked with Aomine, or rather… She didn't mind Kasamatsu listening, he wasn't involved and from what she knew, he was a serious senpai, who didn't stick his nose into anyone's business as long as it hadn't involved him and who couldn't handle girls at all.

Kise's face was serious. "He could've killed that Kazuya guy. Accidentally, but he could've." He said emotionlessly. "…mostly if he had a chewing gum during the match."

Aya's eyes widened. She hadn't realized this, not until Kise mentioned it. How could he know? He wasn't even there. And judging by Kasamatsu's wide eyes, he usually didn't see Kise serious like this.

Kise could see the question written on Aya's face – she wasn't bothered by keeping up a front around him – and he didn't feel like answering. So he continued talking, to divert her attention elsewhere. "And Aominecchi realizes this very well, Ayacchi. He might've pushed it aside for a while, made light of it, but it probably came crashing back after the match. He isn't that… How to put it? … He isn't a heartless bastard, who doesn't care. He acts like that and he is mean and mocking and disrespectful at times…"

"But it's a front." She added staring at Kise and nodded. "I've kind of noticed."

"I'm not sure to what extent though. I can usually read him well, but… Because of the crap, we weren't exactly close _friends_ in the last… year?" He wasn't sure about the time anymore. "And he's changed so much that he probably isn't acting it up anymore. He tended to have such a nature even before, but you know…"

"Stuff happens. It changes you…" She gave him a crooked smile. "I know that better than most." _So he's fighting his demons too, huh?_

"He doesn't dwell on things much, so... He'll be over it after a good night's sleep and a run with his dogs or a talk with his father, probably." Kise shrugged.

Aya sighed and sipped from her tea. "Thank you. Would it be too much if I asked you what had happened in Teiko? To change all of you so much? Well… you seem more… Hmmm… Happier now?"

"Eh?! You've noticed?"

A soft smile appeared on her lips, which made Kasamatsu turn away with a feverish blush. "I've noticed during the Goukon, somehow…" She noticed the questioning sparkle in Kise's eyes and she stopped him before he could voice it. "Don't ask me how, I don't get it myself."

"I've started enjoying playing _with_ Kaijo. After Kurokocchi and Kagamicchi had beaten me… Let's say I've started practising more and all…" He smiled widely as well. It was nice having a team that would back you up anytime necessary.

"That's good to hear." _So Kaijo is growing stronger…_

"And, as for your question, I don't really know. Aominecchi's never talked with me about it, he just suddenly stopped coming to practises and drifted apart, becoming the person you've met at the beginning of the school year. But he's slowly changing back, Ayacchi. _You_ are slowly changing him."

"Hah? What nonsense are you spouting?" Her eyes almost fell out on the table. "I don't have such magic."

Kise just shrugged and gave her a knowing look. _These two are idiots._

A slight blush creeped onto her cheeks and she looked away. She had it bad. But she couldn't break Aomine; she dreaded the thought of hurting him with all those rumours about her and with all the stuff that kept haunting her. No one could handle that. No one sane would choose her. And her father wouldn't accept Aomine fondly, she knew that. It was too much.

######

"Oh." Takao blinked at a mirror in a bathroom. "Yo, Kuroko-kun. It's been some time."

"… Hello, Takao-kun." Kuroko nodded in greeting.

"Oh? A senpai too?" Takao blinked in surprise, when he noticed Koganei tagging behind Kuroko. "Group trip to the bathroom?" He teased and headed out. "Good luck for the next match."

"Good luck to you too." Kuroko wished him back.

"Hm?... Hmmm?" _Wait… Isn't it weird? This guy noticed Kuroko passing by behind him… Has that ever happened?_ Koganei thought.

"What is it? Do you feel sick?" Kuroko asked his senpai.

Koganei jumped startled, _he_ lost the sight of Kuroko, and he knew he was there. "It's nothin'…"

######

"Do you think Seirin will create a miracle and defeat two kings in a row? Or will Shuutoku defend its position as the king?" Kasamatsu was musing, while watching the warm up of the two teams.

Kise took a strategic position in between Kasamacchi and Ayacchi, so the captain would be more at ease.

"I don't know about Shuutoku, but Taiga looks fired up."

Kise nodded. "Sure does, but I can't imagine Midorimacchi losing."

"We'll see. But I bet 20 bucks on Seirin."

"Ohoo?" Kise smirked. "Fine then." He shook hand with her. "Errr… How much is that in Yen?"

She laughed. "Around 2 300 Yen."

"Oh, fine then. Kasamacchi! Wanna join the bet?" He asked enthusiastically.

Kasamatsu gave him a long scolding look. "No, thank you."

Kise shrugged. "As you wish. 1 000 Yen that tip off will go to Shuutoku." He whispered to Aya.

She grinned. This was exactly what could cheer her up. "Start preparing your wallet."

The tip off went to Seirin, Taiga stealing it.

"I knew it~" Aya smiled and took the money.

"But Shuutoku will score first." Kise whined.

"Might as well. 1 000 again?"

"O-ssu."

But neither team seemed to score anytime soon. Seirin's first attack got stopped by Midorima, and Shuutoku's first attack was stopped by Hyuuga. They kept circling the ball, waiting for the right moment to score. Aya knew that whoever got the first points would rule the flow of the entire first quarter. Those first points were always important.

"Hmmm…" Aya was watching the match sitting on the edge of her seat. It was a thrilling performance and she wasn't sure for which team to cheer. Of course, she wanted Taiga to win, but Shuutoku was just as strong, if not stronger, and she came to like Takao-kun's leisure demeanour.

"Anything interesting?" Kise asked curiously.

"Takao-kun doesn't seem to watch his passes much. Or he passes seconds before the receiving party gets to the position." _Even if he shouldn't be able to see it well…_

"Oh! Midorimacchi has the ball! This bet is mine."

Truly, those high arc threes made the hair at the back of her neck stand up. It was amazing; high arc, long distance and scary accuracy. She shook her head and handed money back to Kise. She was expecting this one thousand going back and forth between them, but it was fun.

"What's Kuroko-kun doing?" She asked and leaned forward. Taiga was already running to the opposite basket.

"Oh…" Before Kise could explain, Kuroko spun around and sent a powerful, long distance pass through the entire court to Taiga, who dunked immediately.

"Woah! I've never seen that!" Aya was blinking at the small ghostly boy. "That's amazing!"

"Well… T-this seems to be an even match." Kasamatsu grumbled, trying very hard to ignore the fact that Aya was a girl.

The next time Midorima got the ball, he passed, which stunned Aya. In the one match she'd seen, Midorima hadn't passed either, but… "Don't you like… not pass?" She asked Kise in surprise.

"Midorimacchi is slightly different. He won't shoot if he thinks there is a probability of a miss. But… That was a nice opportunity he had there."

"But he can't…" Kasamatsu explained the timing difference and how exactly could Kuroko's pass seal Midorima. "He might look like that, but he was still in Teiko with you. He's a veteran." He concluded about Kuroko.

"Yeah, right?" Kise said with a goofy grin. "You finally understand what I'm always telling you?! Kurokocchi is amazing!"

"Hai, hai." Kasamatsu grumbled fed up with this topic already.

Soon enough, Takao started marking Kuroko, and Aya had a bad feeling about this. There was probably a reason, why Kuroko hadn't wanted to play against Takao that time. After he stopped several Kuroko's passes, Aya knew. "It's a hawk's eye."

"Hah?!" Kise turned to her.

"Takao-kun can change the point of his view in his head. Plus he his field vision is much better. It's like he's looking on the court from above or other angles. He sees and knows the positions of all the players on the court. That way, he can predicted a pass course and steal it. It's indeed a peculiar ability." She explained. "And if Kuroko-kun won't figure out what to do, they'll be in trouble soon.

"Kagamicchi got better too." Kise pointed out after Taiga's one-man alley oop.

But at the end of the first quarter, it wasn't enough. Midorima presented his long-distance three pointer from across the entire court. _So he was able to do that?_ Aya just stared at it in disbelief. She'd never seen anything like that. And Shuutoku was gaining three points at a time. The first quarter ended up with Shuutoku leading 21 – 14.

The second quarter was one sided for Shuutoku. Midorima was getting passes and shooting a three after three. Taiga couldn't jump high enough to stop him, but his jumps were getting higher. Seirin managed to score some, but the quarter belonged to Shuutoku. Aya could tell that Mabo', or Masaaki Nakatani – the coach of Shuutoku wasn't exactly content about the score. Despite Midorima's shots, they weren't getting ahead enough. And the long-range shots took too long until they landed. Because Aya played mainly the PG or SG positions, she was pretty skilled at shooting three pointers, but she knew she'd never be able to handle such high-arc shots. Her coordination was great, but her senses wouldn't work well in a long-distance trajectory evaluation… Midorima Shintarou was indeed an incredibly skilled man, and she could feel that behind his skills wasn't only talent, but also hours and hours of hard work and relentless practice. Without the confidence which rooted in continuous practise, he wouldn't have been able to do what he was doing.

The second quarter ended with Shuutoku widening the point gap to 45 – 27 for Shuutoku. Compared to Touou's matches, this development was tiny. Touou would usually have over 60 points, if Aomine decided to play, or at least over 50, if he didn't.

"Uhm… Isn't that strange…" Kise thought out loud, staring at Taiga, who seemed ready to tear someone to shreds.

"Hm?"

"Look at Kagamicchi…"

"I don't have to." Aya chuckled. "I know. He is fired up like he's never been before. He's facing someone strong… This is how we are in situations like these." She shrugged. "It runs in a family I guess."

"He's like a beast now… He hasn't found his limits yet, has he?"

Aya smiled at Kise, "and have you?"

"Eh?"

"Do you know the exact limits of _your_ abilities, Model-kun?"

Her question surprised him. Had he known his own limits? "I-I guess." _I can't copy them…_

"You sure 'bout that?" She raised an eyebrow at him and he felt like she was reading his mind. "Taiga doesn't know his full abilities. He wasn't practising for couple of months and has started again around March. I'd say… He'll fully block one of Midorima-kun's shots today. He can jump much higher, than what he's showing."

Kise blinked at her in disbelief. "Is he holding back right now?"

"Not intentionally. When you do several sports, you can't always connect all of your abilities and skills. Taiga tends to separate it. His potential is not smaller than yours, but he just hasn't had his moment yet." She said biting her thumb nail. "Plus… He hates to lose. It's possible he'll get better as the match progresses. I think he'll get better once Kuroko-kun comes off court…"

"But Kurokocchi is his shadow now. They are better together."

"Yes and no." She said staring at the players as they were leaving for the ten minutes break to their respective changing rooms to discuss the further strategies. Aya didn't feel like leaving, she dreaded the thought of running into Hanamiya again.

"What do you mean exactly?" Kise asked with his eyes focused solely on the problem they were discussing. Unconsciously, he could understand what she meant, but he needed to hear it put into words.

Kasamatsu in the meanwhile, decided to go and buy them all some drinks from a vending machine. He was curious about the discussion, but the two didn't seem willing to leave and he was thirsty. Kise would tell him everything anyways; the blond could be annoyingly talkative at times.

"Well think about it… If you always have your reliable shadow, do you need to improve that much? Or is it easier to rely on that shadow? Of course it's easier to rely on someone else. I think Kuroko-kun made a mistake when he promised Taiga he'd made him the number 1. Taiga now relies on Kuroko-kun more than he relies on himself. That worries me." _Though he has started practising on his own way more than before, lately…_ "When he figures out that Kuroko-kun can't do everything, that he has limits and that there are ways to shut him down – as we've just seen – there's bound to be a conflict." She sighed. "I just hope it won't happen today."

The blonde thought about it and it made a perfect sense. He'd relied on Kurokocchi too, at some point. It'd been awesome to have him as a backup, but Kise felt more at ease when he could rely on himself. It was better to have Kurokocchi as an option, but not a necessity. "So you think Kagamicchi needs to be left to himself?"

"To get better individually, yes, he needs to be left on his own." Aya shrugged, talking with almost a cold logic. She didn't talk with Taiga about this yet; she simply didn't want to butt into his relationships. And as long as they kept winning, who was she to plant doubts? "I believe Kuroko-kun will be benched during the third quarter, right?"

Kise nodded. "At least he should be. He can't play the whole match, after all."

A chill ran down her spine, making her look over her shoulder, just to meet Hanamiya's greyish wild eyes. He smirked at her sitting several rows higher. There were several people in her life who made her skin crawl, who scared the hell out of her and she decided to include Hanamiya into that group. Because there were people similar to Hanamiya she'd faced before; she could put up a brave front.

It wasn't enough to fool Kise. He discreetly turned to see, who she was looking at and he frowned. _She is a good pretender… But…_ He had no idea how he could decipher the very subtle indications of uneasiness she was giving out, but he could, just like she could when it came to him and Aominecchi and possibly others.

"Just keep close to us, Ayacchi." He murmured. "He won't do anything as long as you're not alone."

"I'm… I'm not scared of him or anything." She said, sticking her chin out.

Kise raised an eyebrow at her, he was smiling, but his eyes were serious. "Ayacchi, let's admit it, we're good at reading others. At picking up the small details. And that guy creeps the hell out of me too, so…"

######

 _With one look in their eyes I can tell they haven't given up._ Midorima thought as he stepped onto the court at the beginning of the third quarter. The gap he'd created wasn't big enough and he was well aware that a comeback was possible for Seirin. _As long as they haven't given up… Hn… Not only has he not given up, but… Kagami Taiga feels… strange. Almost dangerous._

The first ball of the third quarter went to Seirin, but Hyuuga had it stolen.

It was Midorima's shot. For the super long-distance shot he needed more time, but now he was close enough.

And yet… _Since when was he here…? On top of that…_

Taiga leaped up, almost touching the ball.

The shot made it, Shuutoku got three more points, but it wasn't the usual clean shot Midorima was used to. He could hear the ball scratching the rim.

"Damn…" Hyuuga muttered. _One lapse of our concentration and he'll score!_

Taiga's face was unbelievably focused. "Higher… higher…" He was muttering under his breath. _I can't lose dammit! I swear she made a bet again!_ He could literally feel Aya's burning, focused gaze on his back. However, it didn't put him off, instead, it reassured him, calmed him. She was there.

Another two points were scored by Koganei and added to Seirin's score, but then the ball found its way to Midorima again.

He took on his usual shooting position.

Taiga wasn't close enough, but…

 _I always think I want to win, but I've never thought about whether I'd be capable of winning. Isn't that what you've trying to tell me, Aya? You, just like Kuroko will never give up until the very end… But if you try your best and still lose, you just have to accept your fate!_ The face of 7-year old Aya crying flashed in his mind. He felt oddly concentrated and at the same time fired up as never before, aggressive even.

 _I enjoy playing against extremely formidable opponents like you. And I can't back off until I win!_ The only person he could see now was Midorima jumping to shoot. He had to make it.

"Higher, jump higher…" He muttered again, as he ducked to jump higher than seconds ago. _This game has no meaning, unless I win!_

Taiga leapt up with wide grin on his face.

Midorima's eyes widened when Taiga's finger tipped the ball. _How can he? Impossible! He can jump higher and higher as the match goes on?!_

The ball kept bouncing around the rim, before it finally settled and went in.

"Phew… So close!" Takao muttered

"It's my first time seeing Midorima barely able to score." Kimura commented, exchanging confused looks with the other Shuutoku players.

Midorima frowned. This was indeed not normal in any way. He glared at Taiga. "You… What's your horoscope?" _..._

 _'Our lucky star of today, Cancer, enjoys the greatest of fortunes! If you bring along your Shigarake ware racoon dog statue, your lucky item for today, no one can beat you! BUT! Watch out for Leos you may meet! They're incompatible with your fortune today…!'_ The oha-asa horoscope had predicted for Midorima in the morning. He just had to know. He knew he should avoid Kagami Aya, but…

"?" Taiga gave him an unimpressed, but slightly confused glare. He had no idea why Midorima would want to know that. _No matter…_ "I'm Leo."

"Damn. The daily horoscope is always right."

######

"Ohooo! It's the first time I see Midorimacchi's shot going in that way!" Kise mused with a laugh. "Maybe you'll win our bet Ayacchi."

She smiled foxily. "But of course I'll win the bet, Model-kun."

Seirin was 19 points behind. Given it was just the beginning of the third quarter, it wasn't a grave point gap and Seirin could catch up. Another Midorima's shot was tapped by Taiga, despite Takao's screen and the distance Taiga had to cross to catch up with Midorima, it was made to miss. However, Midorima wasn't the only strong player in Shuutoku and his miss was covered by the captain Ootsubo. Seirin then made a decision; double teaming Ootsubo, while leaving Kagami to deal with Midorima and Takao.

Taiga wasn't supposed to catch up.

 _Hmmm…_ Kise could feel what was going to happen. _He really has a power comparable to the generation of miracles. A power that can be called the greatest weapon in basketball… His talent is… an extremely gifted jumping power._

Taiga completely smacked down Midorima's attempt to shoot.

"Yes! Finally!" Aya clapped with a happy smile spreading on her face. The point gap shrunk to 16 points.

"Huh?" Kise turned his face to Aya with a surprised expression. "You knew he could jump that high?"

"I'm his sister, Model-kun, of course I did. We used to play beach volley too, he was jumping really high then. I was wondering when he'd start _flying_ while playing basketball…" Her voice trailed off as she focused on the game going on bellow.

Taiga fouled Ootsubo, while stopping his dunk. And suddenly, he was pressuring Shuutoku on his own.

Aya frowned at that. She knew he needed to be left alone to get better, but she didn't quite think of _this_. " ** _I'll win even if I'm alone_** – I bet he's thinking something like that." She said and bit her thumb nail. "What an idiot."

"But he is proving he can." Kise pointed out.

Taiga kept jumping around, stopping Shuutoku's attempts to score, while scoring some points for Seirin along the way. The more he kept jumping around, the more Aya was frowning.

"He won't hold up." She said ominously knowing Taiga's energy reserves more than anyone else. He was about to reach his limit.

It was like she called it. After shrinking the point gap to only 9 points, Taiga couldn't stop another Midorima's shot. His legs gave out. He couldn't leap up anymore.

"Eeeeh?! Exhaustion?!" Kise blinked at him, and then at his captain.

Kasamatsu nodded. "He probably can't make sustained jumps like that. Just now he tried to fight this all alone; furthermore, it's his second competition of the day." He explained to his kouhai, momentarily forgetting about the girl sitting on Kise's other side.

Taiga's faltering and his next rash attack led to Shuutoku scoring twice in a row.

"What a bad timing…" The blonde sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "But Ayacchi… you are like a psychic." He whistled.

"We are twins; I've known the dork my whole life, Model-kun. I can read him like an open book."

######

"Damn!" Taiga swore as he sat on the bench during the last two minute break.

"Kagami, don't get worked up like that! Cool down." Izuki tried to pacify their PF, who apparently couldn't see the uneasiness the entire team was feeling.

"Yeah. You should've seen that wasn't the time to attack! You should've turned the ball back and –" Hyuuga tried to help Izuki out, but he was interrupted by the ignorant first year.

"So what if I don't pass?!"

"Huh?!" Hyuuga was too shocked by the ferocity in Kagami's voice to smack the back of his head for such behaviour.

"Look, right now I'm the only one on par with Shuutoku. What we need right now isn't teamwork. It's me scoring!"

"What's that?"

"There's no time for you to get self-centred here!"

Taiga didn't react to his teammates. Until a certain blue haired ghost appeared in front of him.

When Taiga raised his eyes to look at Kuroko, the boy's fist landed painfully on his cheek. It wasn't strong enough to make him topple backwards from the bench, but it was strong enough to make his head snap to a side.

"Kuroko-kun?!" Riko shouted in surprise.

 _EH?!_ Taiga blinked in an utmost shock. He'd never expect Kuroko to punch him. Shock was quickly replaced by anger. He grabbed the smaller boy by his collar and stood up, lifting Kuroko up from the ground. "Kuroko you –!"

"Basketball is not a one-man sport!" Kuroko interrupted him, raising his voice slightly.

"You mean you'll let it rest if you lose as long as everyone enjoys playing?! THERE'S NO MEANING UNLESS WE WIN!" Taiga shouted into his face.

"But there's no meaning if you win alone." Kuroko replied in his usual monotone, but his eyes were burning with cold anger. "You said you wanted to defeat the generation of miracles, but you think just like them! And even if we defeat Shuutoku 'your way' no one will be happy!"

That ticked Taiga off. Getting punched, he could understand that, but getting talked down to in this Aya-ish manner… "Don't talk all high and mighty!" He shouted and returned the punch, making Kuroko fall down under its force. "If we lose here, that'll just be some feel-good trash!"

Kuroko took the punch levelly. "In that case, what's 'victory?" He asked quietly, not trying to get up. "Even if you have a higher score than the opponent when the final whistle blows… If there's no one happy, is it a 'victory'?"

"Eh?" Taiga eyes widened. _Play to win, win for the team and don't forget to have fun…_ Aya's words, no, father's and uncle's words rang in his mind. _What was I thinking?_

"Not that we want to lose! But basketball is not a sport that can be played alone." Koganei joined Kuroko.

"You have anything more to say?" Hyuuga asked with a smile, but Taiga could feel something was off.

He was lucky to have a team like this. "Well… Not… No. I'm sorry. It'll be much better if we win this together." He could see the exasperated looks on their faces, but he knew they meant well, they cared. For the team, and for him. This team had his back.

He stretched out his arm to pull Kuroko up. They discussed further strategy and Kuroko's higher level of passes.

Before they'd enter the court again, he needed to talk with the captain for a moment. "Just now… well…" He started rubbing the back of his neck in a sheepish gesture, not looking into captain's eyes at all. "I'm sorry."

"Hmmm…" Hyuuga hummed with a crooked smile. "It's okay… was what I wanted to say, but" his expression turned into really scary one, "it's hard to swallow that from a freshman… Yeah, punishments later." He glared at Taiga, suddenly looking taller than him.

A shiver ran down Taiga's spine. "Uh…" _I knew something was off…_ Then he felt another chill, and dared to look up into the spectators' area, where he met a pair of burning reddish eyes. _Crap!_

"Whoaaah! Kurokocchi really punched him! I've never seen that happen!"

"Hmph, I wonder what he said." Aya snorted. "But I can pretty much imagine. He's a lucky guy I'm not down there."

"You're scary Ayacchi." Kise whined, and leaned away from her, as if her currently menacing aura could hurt him.

She turned her face to him and smiled brightly. "Not at all~ I'm usually harmless~"

That made Kise retreat even further. He was playing it, but he was enjoying it. Well, until Kasamatsu smacked the back of his head with 'Don't lean on me.' growl.

At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Taiga stopped Midorima's first shot and Seirin scored, bringing score back to only 10 point difference. That was meant to keep Midorima in check because he didn't shoot as long as he wasn't 100% sure he'd score.

And Kuroko was back. His passes were to help Seirin the most. Despite Takao's hawk's eyes, he now knew what to do to work around it; it would just take a little more time. After the entire match, Takao's eyes were tired, and more than that, his view narrowed, to the point when he focused solely on Kuroko. Diverting attention like this was a piece of cake for Kuroko. Even if Takao tried to get in between the ball and Kagami, he wouldn't steal it nor stop it. Not this time. Not this type of pass.

The ball flew past Takao as if it was shot from cannon.

"Did he just punch the ball?!" Aya stared at the court with wide eyes. Kuroko was one surprise after another.

"Punching the ball is forbidden. He uses his palm to _punch_ and accelerate it. But to think Kagamicchi could catch something like that."

"Why?" She asked and watched Taiga getting past Midorima and dunking, with one of his super jumps. Though once he landed, she knew it had probably been his last jump. _If he forces one more, he'll make it, but he'll injure himself…_

Kise was smiling excitedly. "That pass has never been caught by anyone else other than the generation of miracles. And Kagamicchi surprised Midorimacchi! I'm probably losing my bet here." He admitted. "But hey! He's out of steam! How's he going to hang on till the end?!"

"Well…" Kasamatsu joined in once again, with only a feint blush, as he was trying to ignore Aya as much as he could. "That dunk had a good timing and managed to boost morale of Seirin. Though it wasn't necessary to force a dunk in the first place."

"He likes to do flashy things!" The blonde said cheerfully. He could understand.

"You're just the same as him." Kasamatsu sighed. "… but if we say it had no meaning, it'll be wrong. Even with same score, that's the best crowd-pleasing play this game provides. And he gave Midorima a shock."

"Plus the dunk brings energy to the whole team's play." Aya added, and leaned forward to look at Kasamatsu (Kise was shielding his captain pretty well) who turned red as a tomato and made some weird sound, which made Aya chuckle. "That's a fine play that score alone can't bring. Don't you think, captain?"

The bright smile she had almost made Kasamatsu faint.

Kise leaned forward as well, to offer a refuge and hide his captain once again. "Don't tease Kasamacchi too much, 'kay? You know he can't handle girls."

It made Aya laugh. "Hai hai. You warned me. But he seemed fine when he couldn't see me."

Kise shook his head with a smile. This was so like Ayacchi.

In the last three minutes, Seirin was only 4 points behind.

######

On her way home, Satsuki was passing by Aomine's house. It looked like it would start raining cats and dogs anytime and she wanted to go home. But something kept bothering her. Dai-chan was acting strange. Sure, he'd bickered with Aya-chan like usual, and yet, she could tell something was off. With both of them.

Her legs automatically turned towards Aomine's house. She knew he was at home, given the weather and all, he was most likely sleeping.

She found the key at the usual hiding spot: hanging on one branch of a bonsai tree standing next to the front door. It was invisible for anyone who hadn't known the key was there.

The dogs, which were dozed off on the floor of Daiki's room, suddenly got up and ran down the stairs with noisy stomping. He had relatively light sleep and this woke him up. He sat up and listened to what was going on. Someone came into his house and he knew it weren't his parents. But it had to be someone familiar, because the dogs weren't barking or making a ruckus. Besides his family, only Kise and Satsuki knew about the hidden key and he doubted Kise would be stupid enough to come now.

He smirked and slumped back to his previous position. He would scare Satsuki.

He could hear her footsteps, followed by the dogs. They tolerated Satsuki but she wasn't someone they liked to play with or cuddle with. He had no idea why, but maybe she was still slightly scared of them.

"Uhm…" She rapped at the open door lightly. "Dai-chan?"

He pretended to be sleeping.

Satsuki sighed and invited herself in. When she spotted his sport's bag, still unopened, she frowned. "You really haven't unpacked your stuff after the match? Urgh… What were you thinking?" She mumbled to herself and sat on his desk chair, spinning around for a moment.

Daiki had his back towards Satsuki so she couldn't see his face. And she didn't particularly care. She worried, but she knew that he wouldn't talk with her.

"Tetsu-kun vs. Midorin match will be over soon. I think… It'll be Tetsu-kun. The winner!" She said with a smile and spun around again. "Aya-chan stayed to watch, maaan, I should've stayed too…" Talking to a sleeping person was weird, but she thought it would be rude to wake Dai-chan up after their match.

Daiki smirked. "Then you should've stayed."

"Kyaaaah!" She jumped and toppled over the chair. "Dai-chan!" She squealed accusingly from the ground. "You were up this whole time?!"

"Well, you sneaked into my house." He sat up and stared at her. "You okay?"

Her butt hurt, and she hit her elbow, but otherwise she was fine. She started to laugh at the situation.

He shook his head and chuckled too. Thoughts about Kazuya were gone. The good sleep and Satsuki's silly fall had made him feel better.

"Are polka dots your favourite?" He asked pointing at her panties, exposed thanks to the fall. If it were Kagami, he probably wouldn't have been so fine with it. Then again, Kagami would probably have shorts underneath her skirt, or she'd wear pants and not the uniform skirt.

"Hiii!" She immediately scrambled up to her feet and fixed the skirt. "Stupid Dai-chan!"

He just smirked at her. "So? Why are y' here?"

Satsuki shrugged. "It's Tetsu-kun's match. It'll be over soon. I can't wait for the results."

 _She hasn't really answered my question._ "You said its Tetsu's win."

"Because he is the man I love!"

"Hmmm… We won't know until it's over. Both are strong during a crunch time. We didn't take that national championship three times for nothing."

######

In the last three minutes, Shuutoku got one time-out, to interrupt the flow of the game, which had been on Seirin's side. The decision was made – all attacks will be focused on Midorima's threes. However, it didn't mean the seniors would do nothing. The decision made it easier for Seirin to steal, because Kuroko knew where the ball would be passed to, but at the same time, Shuutoku's defence went up, as the remaining four players focused solely on that one task.

Midorima managed to score, but Seirin almost immediately scored back. There was only a two point difference now and Seirin needed to score one more, if they wanted to win.

Aya was sitting on the edge of her seat. She could feel the pressure all the way up to her seat. She rooted for Seirin now. They had 10 more seconds to score.

"Do it Hyuuga!" She shouted when she saw Hyuuga breaking free from Ootsubo's defence, thanks to Taiga's screen, but that wasn't important.

 _Tch, of course I will!_ Hyuuga thought. He was further from the basket than was pleasant, but he'd make it. He knew he would. He had to.

The last five seconds, score: 82 – 81 for Seirin.

Everyone in Seirin cheered.

But there were those last five seconds.

"You haven't won yet." Takao smirked and passed the ball to Midorima.

Taiga, exhausted but refusing to give up, was defending Midorima right away. If it was necessary, he'd force the jump. He knew he could.

Midorima ducked, "I'll tell you why I excelled in shooting from the furthest possible distance – not only because it gives three points… In basketball, teams of close strength often have a reversal in fortune in the last seconds, and any misstep in shooting may cause major regrets. I'll never let this happen to me! So I trained myself to excel as the buzzer beater! That's what I mean by _man proposes, God disposes._ "

"OH NO!" Riko shouted as Midorima leaped up.

 _NO WAY! We've gotta win!_ _JUMP!_ Taiga was exhausted, he felt his muscles protesting, stretching painfully, but he jumped. With a roar of pain and determination, he jumped. He couldn't burden his team. They had to win!

"?!"

Midorima was ducked down; he faked the shot!

"I'm right. Just like I guessed. No matter how tired you are you'll make this jump somehow."

 _OH NO!_

Even Hyuuga was staring at the play with wide eyes. _What's his heart made of?! He fakes at the last seconds?! This… this is generation of miracles…_

"GO MIDORIMAAAAA?!" Roars of his teammates could be heard.

Aya was leaning forward, biting her thumb nail. From above, she could see Kuroko charging after the ball, which Midorima lowered once more. _Please! Please make it in time Kuroko!_

He did! "I believed in you too! That Kagami-kun would make it, and, Midorima-kun would predict this and hold on to the ball." He said as he smacked the ball out of Midorima's grip in the very last second of the match.

Midorima grit his teeth. This was not real. It couldn't be happening… Him losing?! No way!

A referee blew a whistle. "End of the match!"

Seirin was roaring in happiness of the victors, Aya and some others joining them from the spectators' area. Kasamatsu and Kise were staring at the court in mild disbelief. Shuutoku was gritting its teeth in defeat. Another king got defeated by this small fry called Seirin.

"Let's gather." Takao called out to Midorima. "Sometimes the daily horoscope can be wrong!" He teased good-heartily. The defeat was bitter, and he felt down, but teasing Midorima always helped.

"Just shut up." Midorima frowned at him as they lined up.

"82 points to 81 points – the winner of this game is Seirin high!" A referee announced.

"THANK YOU!" All the players shouted in unison and bowed. Then they proceeded with handshakes.

"Yes!" Aya jumped up, feeling so happy for her brother. "They won! I need to go to congratulate them!" She turned around to leave, but when she caught a glimpse of Hanamiya's eerie grin, she froze. "Uhm…"

Kise hadn't forgotten the snake-like senpai sitting behind them. "Just stay with us. I'm hungry; I want to eat some okonomiyaki. There is a small family restaurant nearby, so why don't we head there? You can call Kagamicchi or something. I'm sure they'll come to join you." He proposed with a smile.

Aya nodded. "Sounds good. Are you coming too senpai?" She asked Kasamatsu.

He turned red under the direct question and Aya's gaze. He couldn't handle girls in his class, who he had known for three years, there was no way he'd be able to handle Aya just after one or two meetings. Nevertheless he managed to nod in agreement.

"So _yes_ and _no_ questions are okay! Good to know." She smiled and turned around to leave the gym, Kise and Kasamatsu following close behind her.

 _Next match will be the final league. They'll have to face Aominecchi soon… Seem like it'll be a fateful match. If Kagamicchi is Kurokocchi's light in the present, then Aominecchi was his light back in the generation of miracles._ Kise thought, but didn't want to bring it up, as he watched Aya's loose braid swinging from side to side as she walked with the usual spring in her step. He chuckled at the bouncy, joyful mood the girl was in. It was a nice change from the worrisome mood she'd been in during the lunch and he didn't want to ruin it. He stared at Midorimacchi's back as the greenette was leaving the court with his team.

Shuutoku headed towards their changing room. Half of the guys were crying bitter tears of defeat, even those who didn't get to play.

"Excuse me. I'll go out for a while." Midorima said and without waiting for permission he left the team.

"Huh? He doesn't even feel anything?!" Someone protested, staring after the tall leaving figure.

Takao almost rolled his eyes. "No… There's no way for anybody not to get sad over a defeat like this." He defended his friend and teammate.

Coach Nakatani looked at Takao with a half-smile, completely approving his behaviour. "There's no time for you to be sitting here brooding!" He clapped to get everyone's attention. "Let today's defeat be an experience for you to achieve greater heights – even if it feels painful right now!"

Midorima was glad for the heavy rain which broke outside. It would hide his own tears. He leaned against a wall and let the rain wash his face and cool him down.

His phone rang.

With a frown he picked up – _" **AH! MIDORIN!** Haven't seen you for a long time!"_ – and almost gone deaf as Satsuki's loud and high pitched voice shouted at him from the other side. _"How was your match?! **WON?! LOST?!** Well, here we…" _He hung up. Without saying a word to her, he hung up.

"What's wrong with her?! Enough already…" He grumbled when his phone rang again and continued ringing.

With a sigh he picked up again, bracing himself for another loud exchange. But to his surprise it was Aomine's husky voice greeting him this time.

 _"Hey, you sound depressed. You lost, right?"_

"Aomine? … Yeah. Be careful at the final league."

 _"Huh? What are you talking about? The only one who can beat me, is me!"_

"You haven't changed one bit, Aomine." _Kise must have hit his head!_ "You know what's coming right? Your next opponent is Kuroko."

 _"… Don't get me wrong Midorima. Regardless of our past… now… he's just another opponent."_ Was there a hesitation in Aomine's voice? Midorima wasn't sure, but he decided to come and watch that match no matter what. _"I'm hanging up. Bye."_

"Bye." He said. " _Midorin! Sorry to call you when you're down! Cheer up! – Just shut up, Satsuki!"_ He could still hear the two bickering and probably fighting for the phone.

 ** _Seirin's changing room:_**

"Let's go home!" Riko said enthusiastically, almost flying with pride she felt when looking at her victorious team. Well… _They look like zombies!_ She corrected herself, when she saw the shaky boys, reaching out to her.

"We just played two matches. Against the kings no less." Hyuuga said in shaky voice.

"Like we could go back immediately." Izuki joined their captain.

 _Definitely zombies!_ "Fine, sorry for asking." She smiled at them with a funny expression on her face.

"We'll be fine in a bit." Hyuuga said with hands on his hips. "Kagami though… He went too far." He gave the ace a pitiful look.

"Oooow owowowow… Leaving?!" The redhead asked incredulously. "I can't even stand!" His legs hurt like hell, as if his calves were set aflame. It the best case scenario, he just overexerted himself and had a muscle fever, in the worst case scenario, which was more probable, he pulled a muscle or two. Aya would know what to do… _Where the hell is she when I need her?!_ He reached into his bag to get his phone.

"But we can't stay here forever. Let's go to the nearest restaurant." Riko ordered in a general-like voice, which didn't take any complaints.

"Aya's in an okonomiyaki restaurant nearby." Taiga said reading a message from Aya. "She says she had a reason called _Hanamiya_ for which she couldn't come to meet us here." He rubbed his chin in thought. The text said Aya'd explain everything to him later on. "What is _Hanamiya?_ " He asked.

Faces of the senpais went stiff in a second. _Hanamiya…_ They'd known the name very well and if Aya-san ran into him she might've had some trouble.

"That's…" Hyuuga started, but then he shook his head. "… She'll explain herself to you later, I believe."

Taiga's brown knitted in a deep thought, but he wasn't the one to probe much, so he just shrugged it off. Aya would tell him later.

"Now!" Hyuuga clapped. "Get to the main question! Who'll carry Kagami?"

"What?! I'm not getting a piggyback ride. I'll walk on my own!" He protested.

"Ohoo?" Riko's eyebrow went up. "Then stand up!"

He tried, and failed. His legs giving out under his weight. With a desperate face, he gave up. Someone would have to give him a piggyback ride. _How embarrassing._

"Okay! Let's decide by rock-paper-scissors!"

Of course it had to be Kuroko, the shortest and probably the weakest of them all who had to carry him. The entire ten minutes Taiga anxiously waited for a moment when the ghostly boy would fall down under his weight and drop both of them into a puddle of water. On top of his misery, he had to hold up an umbrella. _To hell with this rain._ He swore inwardly. He would've been happier if it were Aya carrying him. His sister had the strength, the coordination and even if she'd complain all the time, she wouldn't drop him. With Kuroko, he couldn't be so sure. And the chuckles and snickers he could hear from their teammates, made his blood boil.

When he spotted the restaurant, Kuroko tripped, but managed to stay on feet.

"Oi, Kuroko, are you okay?" Taiga asked.

"Sorry, I' m going to drop you now."

"WAIT! Kuroko, we're right here…. ARGH!" He fell flat on the ground and into a muddy puddle before he could finish his protests. As they walked into the restaurant, he was soaked and dirty, his white jacket completely ruined.

"Welcome!" The restaurant's staff greeted them and eyed him up and down, but no one said a thing

"I won't forget this Kuroko!" Taiga muttered under his breath, shrugging off his jacket, so he wouldn't look too ridiculous.

"I'm sorry, but you're just too heavy for me…" Kuroko replied emotionlessly.

"Tai!" Aya waved at him from the table which she occupied with someone.

"Oh! Hey!" Then his eyes zoomed in on the two people with her. "Hm?"

Kise was stuffing his cheeks, but he smiled at the incomers and Kasamatsu uttered an unimpressed 'Hey.'

"Kise and Kasamatsu?!"

"Hi!" Kise greeted him cheerfully.

"Call me senpai!" Kasamatsu demanded with a vein popping on his forehead.

"Show some respect, Kagami." Hyuuga scolded him and then turned towards Kasamatsu. "Why are you here?"

"We came for your match of course! Congratulations on getting to the final league."

"Ussu. Congrats!" Kise joined his captain. "And Ayacchi wanted to wait for you. We couldn't possibly leave her alone, right?"

Izuki went to discuss the table arrangement for the entire Seirin's team. After a small, inevitable commotion caused by arranging the seating, Taiga and Kuroko ended up sitting with Kise, Kasamatsu. Aya vacated her seat for Taiga so he could sit and eat comfortably. After a quick chat with a waitress, she was offered a chair from a backroom, which she dragged and added to the table.

The atmosphere between Kise and Taiga was slightly tense; they were former and current enemies after all.

"What's with this seating plan?" Kise asked whiningly, trying to break the sudden tension. "And what's with you Kagamicchi?!" He pointed at the dirty jacket and pants. "What's with that mood?!"

"I was carried here – just don't ask!" He stopped any possible questions the blonde was about to shoot. "And don't call me 'cchi'!"

"The food's getting burnt." Kasamatsu reminded Kise.

"Ah!" He immediately started eating it. Nearly choking on it.

"Pulled muscle?" Aya asked her brother. She knew that the last jump had inflicted some damage. Taiga's body wasn't used to such an excessive jumping, he lacked the endurance necessary.

"Seems like it." He scowled at his legs. This wasn't good at all.

"Then you'll take it easy until the next match."

"It's match against your team! Aomine. No way can I take **_that_** easy!"

Kuroko stared at Taiga with perplexed expression. He hadn't known that Aya-san talked about Aomine-kun with Kagami-kun. For some reason he'd thought she hadn't.

With a sigh she slapped the menu into his face. "Order a drink now, we'll discuss this later."

He could hear several of his teammates ordering drinks as well. Taiga went with an orange juice, the first item on the list and then he started reading the food offer. He was hungry as a wolf.

The drinks were distributed and one wine bottle was taken back into the kitchen after Hyuuga's serious scolding.

"Yes, let's just… CHEERS!"

The team shouted and everyone else eating in restaurant was just staring at the happy, exhausted, loud and hungry bunch with a smile. The group certainly deserved a treat, so no one complained, and even if, the owners were there to drop a nice word for the boys – 10 hungry teenage boys meant a nice profit for the evening. And given the terrible storm outside, there weren't many more customers coming.

"Excuse us!" Takao, followed by Midorima walked into the restaurant. "Do you have a table for two?"

"Where… hmmm?" Midorima was following Takao like a lost puppy, not really watching the world around him. Until he spotted the entire Seirin's team, Kise, Kagami and Kasamatsu. He froze. Just like everyone else.

"WHAT ARE **_YOU_** DOING HERE?! AND JUST THE TWO OF YOU?!" Several Seirin players shouted in unison.

"Ahaha. Well, our senpais left when Shin-chan went off crying! So I'm eating with him!" Takao explained sheepishly, ignoring Midorima's protesting 'HEY!'.

"Let's go elsewhere, Takao." Midorima turned on his heel and walked out.

"Hey!" Takao followed after him, until the ferocious wind turned his umbrella inside out and he saw a cat being carried by the wind.

"No!" He decided, and grabbed Midorima's elbow. "We are going back in. I'm not getting myself killed in this typhoon." _Swallow your pride, man._

"Eh?!" The second time they walked in, Takao noticed someone familiar. "You're…" He pointed his finger at Kasamatsu, "Kaijou's Kasamatsu-san?!"

Kasamatsu blinked at the boy in surprise. "You know me?"

"I saw you in basketball monthly! You're a nationally reputed point guard!" Takao was excited about this encounter. There weren't many chances for him to meet someone like Kasamatsu! "Wait… WOW! It'd be awesome to talk to a famous senpai who plays the same position as me! Let's have a dinner together!"

"Huh?" That sounded like a date invitation, and to Kasamatsu's misfortune he noticed Aya's amused grin. He quickly looked away before he'd get all red and flustered. "… But Seirin's in celebration mood, is that okay for you two?"

Takao just waved his hand at it. "I don't mind! Come, Kasamatsu-senpai! Here!" He sat to a free spots at Riko's and Tsuchida's table, patting the seat next to him, for Kasamatsu to come over.

Given the cast around his table, Kasamatsu was quite happy to leave it. "Yeah, that'll be nice." He got up and vacated the seat for Midorima, who had nowhere else to sit.

Taiga and Kise both sweat-dropped, when Midorima slumped to the seat and crossed his arms over his chest.

 _WHAT A CAST!_ Almost everyone who knew them thought. Aya was discreetly laughing her head off, her shoulders shaking, until Taiga kicked her leg under the table.

"Anyway, let's order. I'm hungry." Kuroko opened up the menu again, going through the list.

"I'm almost full; just let me finish what I have here." Kise said while quickly scraping the last bits of his food.

"You just love food that looks like vomit." Midorima jabbed with a sigh.

"Must you take every opportunity to insult me?!" Kise teared up and defended himself.

Taiga was more than happy to see a waiter ready to take his order. "Squid eggs scrambled eggs octopus with eggs kimchi pork…" He named several more dishes.

"What spell are you chanting?!" Kise asked with wide eyes.

"You ordered too much!" Izuki yelled at him across the room, he was pale just imagining the bill. He shouldn't have taken the role of the team's accountant.

"It's okay, Kagami-kun will finish it all."

"Are you human?!" _He eats as much as Aominecchi!_ Kise mused.

An incredible amount of food was brought to their table and Aya was waiting for her moment to snatch something from Taiga. She just loved stealing his food whenever she could.

"Midorimacchi, your food's burning!"

"I don't feel like eating."

"I know you feel bad but… Hey! You'll get another chance someday!"

A vein popped on Midorima's forehead. "We were beaten just a second ago!" Then he calmed down. "In fact, I find that you are difficult to understand. Hanging around and joking with them like that. They're the ones who defeated you."

Kise chewed on the last bit of his food. "Well… It's because I'm gonna get revenge! At the Inter-high competition of course!" He stared at both Taiga, and Kuroko stuffing their faces. "I won't lose next time!"

With a slight difficulty Taiga gulp down his mouthful. "Ha! Bring it on!"

Midorima's eyes narrowed at the blonde, who got along with both the Kagamis and Kuroko too well. "Kise, you seem different."

"Really?" _Why do I feel like I had this conversation earlier this day?_

"Your eyes… look weird…"

"WEIRD?!"

Kise noticed Seirin members playing with the food, throwing it into the air and testing their culinary skills on a poor okonomiyaki and he couldn't help a smile. "After the match with them, I went back to practise more. Recently I've started to think… It's fun playing basketball with everyone in Kaijou."

"Hn. I was wrong." Midorima took a bite of his half-burnt food. "You haven't changed a bit. You just went back to your old self, before we were the triple champions."

"Isn't it a good thing, Shin-chan? To enjoy the sport you do?" Aya asked with a smile.

Kise laughed at the nickname Takao had used, Taiga almost spluttered his food, and a small chuckle escaped Kuroko. Midorima frowned at her, obviously annoyed by it.

"I don't play basketball for fun." Midorima frowned.

"You're all thinking too much!" Taiga said with a fed up expression. "Basketball is something people do, because they like it. That's it."

"You," Midorima glared at him, "don't tell us what to think when you don't even know us."

Whosh!

An okonomiyaki landed on top of Midorima's head. "Ah!" Takao startled when he saw Midorima's shoulder's tense and felt the murderous aura emanating from his friend. "Sorry Shin-chan."

Aya was laughing again, this time not trying to hide it at all. Kise knew better, but he couldn't help it and soon joined the redhead.

Midorima got up, "We'll talk later." He stomped towards Takao's table. "Come here Takao." He pulled his friend by an ear.

"Hey! I'm sorry… No… I mean it! I don't know that okonomiyaki learned to fly… I swear!" He got smack upside the back of his head. "OUCH!"

Kuroko was smiling slightly. "It's just as Kagami-kun said. I've thought about it since the match. We'll never get any better if we don't find basketball fun."

"Well said, Kuroko-kun." Aya smiled with a nod. "I'd never get to the top if I haven't enjoyed dancing."

"Hm?" He tilted his head in question.

 _Crap! He doesn't know…_ "Ah… It's nothing. Really."

Kuroko stared at her for a moment with that unreadable expression of his. "If you say so."

They chattered some more, about school, and other trivia, joked with food, the twins bantered and fought for Taiga's food. It was a funny evening with lots of people. Aya circled the other tables to chat with all Seirin's members. They were enjoying their time together, until the rain outside stopped.

By then, Taiga's stomach was rounded with enormous amount of food he gobbled up. Kise and Midorima couldn't believe how much the boy managed to stuff inside his belly, though they'd seen Aomine overeat like this couple of times.

They were about to leave.

"Kagami, some advice for you." Midorima got up to go and pay his bill, just to notice Takao already dealing with it. _Never mind, I'll pay him back later._ "There are two of the generation of miracles in the Tokyo district. I am one and the other is Aomine Daiki. You'll definitely see him in the final league. And, he is the same type of player as you."

Taiga sighed and scratched the back of his neck. He should probably react as seriously as Midorima sounded, but… "I know." He said simply. "Aya's not Touou's manager for nothing."

"What about me?" She leaned over the table she was currently occupying, chatting with Riko about Taiga's legs.

"Badmouthin' Aomine." Taiga provoked.

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Wanna fight, dear twin~?" She asked teasingly; she couldn't care less about what they'd been discussing.

"You're twins?!" Midorima's eyes widened.

The twins exchanged a knowing look. " **Yes. Didn't you notice? Didn't Kise tell you? Do you need a proof?** " They asked in a perfect sync, enjoying the confused and slightly alarmed expressions of everyone.

" **Good one.** " They said in unison again and fist bumped, grinning widely.

Even Kuroko felt slightly creeped up by this ability of theirs. "You don't have your own language, do you?" He asked suspiciously.

Aya laughed. "Not that I know of."

Midorima shook his head, now he could clearly see the similarity between the two. "Huh… Anyways. Just work hard."

"…Midorima-kun!" Kuroko called out after him.

"Let's compete again."

"Of course. And next time, I'll be the winner." He said over his shoulder and left.

Takao was already waiting for him outside, sitting on a bike which had a two-wheeled carriage attached to it. "Don't worry about rock-paper-scissors. I'll take you, okay?"

 _Eh?_ Midorima's eyes widened. _To think that Takao would offer this on his own accord._ Then an imperious smirk settled on his lips. "Hn. You're just like always."

"What?" Takao glared at him, not liking the smirk at all. He wasn't used to see smirks on Midorima's face. He shook his head and once Midorima had seated himself, he started pedalling. "We'll win next time."

"That goes without saying."

"But can you do away with your lucky item next time?"

"Oh, I won't bring any of my small items again. Next time, I'll buy a bigger Shigaraki ware figure."

"It's not about size!" Takao shouted exasperatedly.

Meanwhile Seirin got around to paying their bill…

"50 000 Yen ?!" (Roughly 440 USD) Izuki's eyes almost fell out. "That idiot Kagami ate too much!" He was crying bitter tears when he handed the money to a cashier.

* * *

 **A/N:** This chapter followed manga, but I hope it wasn't too boring. I tried to insert Aya into it and add her comments etc... And could Aomine feel guilty because of that fall? At first no, but later I think that yes. Ah well...

Let me know what you think and remember, reviews are appreciated but never necessary.

-S.


	24. Chapter 24: Tests

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone who followed and favourited and reviewed! It makes me very happy. I guess there'll be more mistakes in this chapter, as my Beta reader and I had some technical issues with this particular chapter (we have no idea what magic occurred, but we couldn't go through it as usual), and we apologise for that.

Enjoy!

* * *

 _When I dance, I escape the present and become one with my soul. **– Normani Kordei**_

 _Once you have a commitment, you need the discipline and hard work to get you there. **– Haile Gebrselassie**_

 _This is part of what a family is about, not just love. It's knowing that your family will be there watching out for you. Nothing else will give you that. Not money. Not fame. Not work. **― Mitch Albom, Tuesdays with Morrie**_

 _Love is a fire. But whether it is going to warm your hearth or burn down your house, you can never tell. **― Joan Crawford**_

 _It is an ironic habit of human beings to run faster when they have lost their way. **― Rollo May**_

 _This connection we have isn't going away, it's only getting stronger. Because the more I spend time with her, the closer I want to be. ― **Simone Elkeles, Perfect Chemistry**_

 _I've never dropped anyone I believed in. **– Marilyn Monroe**_

* * *

"Ayaaaaa! Do something about it! I can't stand on that leg properly!" Taiga complained the next morning.

He'd somehow managed to get home with Aya's help. After he'd taken a shower, she'd ordered him to cool his right calf with ice and then she'd applied some ointment. It'd worked like a magic spell, and he'd gone to bed without feeling the pain… But the morning was hell!

"Of course you can't! It hurts! That's what damaged muscles do!" She shouted across the apartment. "Cool it down again, I'll be right there! I just need to finish this homework!"

"How long is that?"

"10 minutes!"

 _Urgh._ He slumped onto a couch and turned the TV on.

When she was done with gently massaging the ointment into his skin, she wiped her hands. "I'll bandage it up in 10 minutes. You're not leaving home today and you'll bandage it up tomorrow before you leave. Don't even think about practising during the next week. Understood?"

"Yeah." He grumbled in an unimpressed manner. "Are you staying home today, or are you going out?"

"I'm planning on meeting Senri in the gym. We decided to have some additional practise." She was looking forward to dancing. "But I'll stay if you want me to."

"Nah." He waved his hand. "Just go." He didn't want to limit her in any way and he knew that dancing was her life and joy. She loved basketball, yes, but she could never in her life abandon dancing. And after she had told him all about the Touou's match, he could understand the need for a distraction.

######

"Aomine-kuuun!" Satsuki found him in the park near their homes.

He groaned in annoyance. "What?"

She ran to him with a delighted expression. The dogs didn't even bother greeting her and continued in their tug-of-war with a piece of an old rope Daiki had discovered in their garage. "I've just got my hands on the final league schedule!" She waved the paper in front of his face.

"You mean you snuffled it from your mom." He corrected her mockingly. As far as he knew, Satsuki's mother worked in some high-up position in the school system, where she had an access to these schedules and all other info about schools within their prefecture.

"Don't call it that! I simply borrowed it, made a copy, and returned it to her."

He raised an eyebrow at that, but didn't comment on it further. "So? What weaklings are we up against in two weeks?"

Satsuki's pink eyes stared at him intensely for a moment and then she handed him the schedule. It was just as Midorima had guessed.

"Our first opponent in the final league is Tetsu-kun and Taiga-kun."

* * *

"Senri! What's up?" Aya arrived at the dancing gym at 5 AM on Monday.

"Yo! You don't have morning practises on Mondays right?" He asked just to be sure.

"Well, no…" She got suspicious. "But, we practised yesterday. Don't tell me you want extra practises? And isn't Miki coming back anytime soon?"

"Her cast is coming off in a week and then there'll be rehabs and all that. I want to, no, I _need_ to train now. With _you_." He insisted.

The usually calm and relaxed Senri was insisting on extra practises and over-practises. The past two weeks she'd been staying in the gym for hours after the club members had left, well except the one practise she'd missed. And they were practising not just Latin dances but also ballet, gymnastics and other styles… She loved dancing, so she didn't mind, but this…

"What is going on?" She narrowed her eyes at him.

"I want to try acrobatic dancing. You've trained it before right? You could teach me."

Her eyes widened. The last summer training camp had been focused on acrobatic dancing and gymnastic stunts along with Ballroom. Almost everyone loved it, for its difficulty and playfulness. That's why; she decided to repeat the programme with different lectors and adding some street dancing into the mix again. She'd practised it before, because from ballet and Latin dances, combined with her personality and willingness to try whatever, Aya naturally got to try out acro. But teaching it wasn't easy, and she wasn't sure she fully trusted Senri in this. Whenever she was learning new pair stunts, she'd always done than with either Raymond or Taiga, no one else.

"Then do a front aerial. Now. Then I might try teaching you." She said with a hard gaze.

Senri smirked. He wasn't the best dancer out there, he didn't know all the stunts and he'd need to learn a lot more, but he knew a front aerial. Aya wasn't the only one trying everything she possibly could.

With an initial jump to gain momentum, he performed a flawless front aerial, gracefully landing on his feet, as if he were doing it his whole life – he indeed was. Despite his job as an accountant, he'd never forgotten to train everything he knew regularly.

She clapped. "Good! For an elder."

"I'm 28 not 80, Robin." He returned the jab, showing his Shiranui's nature.

Aya shook her head and chuckled. "Why do you want to learn that anyways? Why now? Why with me? I'm not sure I'll fully trust you."

"And why not? You're here. And I saw some videos the other day… I know most of the individual stunts, but I've never tried to do this with a partner. Maybe… Maybe I could enter competitions again. If I'm not good enough in Latin, though I paradoxically teach it… Maybe I could win something in this."

She bit her thumb nail. This sounded like fun. Lots of hard work, arguments and bruises, but fun nonetheless. They could teach Latin and afterwards switch to acro. The final league was happening on Friday and Saturday, in 12 days… And she felt she was focusing too much on basketball lately, though it was making her happy... _Change of pace, huh?_ "You are aware I can't compete with you, right? Given the age gap."

"I want to compete with Miki, once she completely recovers. But I need to train myself."

"And her? Is she going to agree to this?"

"I don't see a reason why not. She used to do gymnastics before."

"Hmph, fine then. Wanna start right now?" She asked and eyed her sports' clothes she'd brought just in case.

His face lit up into a happy grin. "I'll drive you to school." He offered.

"Not needed. I don't want weird rumours spreading again." She grabbed the bag and headed to the changing room.

######

Aya ran into the school as the bell announcing the first class rang. She didn't change her shoes; there wasn't any time for that. With long strides and taking three steps at the time she made it into the classroom five second before Suzuki-sensei.

"Don't run in the hallways, Kagami-san." He reminded her with a smile. "And change your shoes."

She smiled sheepishly as she pulled out the English textbook. "I'm sorry, sensei. I'll change them during the first break."

"Well now…" He took attendance and then proceeded with the lesson. They had to finish the chapter they'd been studying. The review test was right around a corner, so Suzuki-sensei didn't give them any assignments or any pair assignments or tasks. But he hadn't told them about the tests yet, it was the responsibility of their homeroom teacher, Ueda-sensei, and besides, they should've already known.

"How's Taiga?" Kano asked immediately after the teacher had left. "Daiki told me the match had been amazing! But that it'd seemed like he'd overexerted."

Aomine looked at Kano, reacting to the name, but he quickly understood they weren't talking about him. _Maybe I should listen more to their chitchats in the changing room…_ He though, as he had no idea who they were talking about, but he had a vague feeling he should've. Then again, if he wanted to know, he'd need to attend practises more often.

"He pulled a muscle in his right calf. He should be functional in couple of days and completely fine by the match… if he does as I told him." She said with a frown indicating she doubted her brother. "…Anyways. Daiki was there? I didn't see him!"

"He went with Airi-chan, and they mingled with Shuutoku's players in the spectators' area. Takao somehow arranged it." He shrugged; he didn't know Takao that much.

"So a date huh?" Aya smiled. "Good for them. How was the celebration anyways? Sorry I didn't come with you, but…"

"You wanted to support your brother! That's understandable! And well… It wasn't much of a party. We ate, talked, bickered, joked and went home. It wasn't much different from the usual practise atmosphere."

"Right, just that you were playing around with your food, which ended up scattered all over the table, on the coach's shirt _and_ Kiku's t-shirt." Ishii added with unimpressed expression, leisurely checking his nails.

"That's not… and I did a good thing. Kiku ended up wearing Wakamatsu's spare t-shirt." He defended himself with a pout. It wasn't like Wakamatsu talked about his crush on Kiku, but his teammates would have to be blind to not notice. They were teasing the big blonde to no ends, but only if Kiku wasn't around, if she was, they just made subtle jokes. And Kano in particular had an eye for detecting crushes.

"What?" Aya turned to Kiku. "Really? Did you get accompanied home too?"

Kiku gave a small nod. She was unbelievably happy about it; she liked Wakamatsu, but… but… _He's just being nice._ She wasn't courageous enough to confess or anything, and with her scars… She was afraid. _I'm fine with just this. It's not like I could wish for more anyways._

"Hmmm…" Aya hummed, feeling the girl's struggle. Kiku wasn't one to talk about her feelings much, and she respected that, but she was surprised that Satsuki hadn't called her about such interesting news!

Kano's eyes widened in surprise. He knew about Wakamatsu's crush, but Kiku was too shy and he wasn't sure if she liked the blonde or if she was scared of him. "You like Wa –" He started loudly, but Aya's hand slapped across his face, not at all gently, sealing his lips shut.

"Hush!" _Maybe I shouldn't have asked now…_ "Not so loud and **not** in the classroom, baka."

With tears in his eyes caused by the impact, he rubbed his violated face. "But that's…"

Aya raised an eyebrow and gave him one of her pointed glares.

He gave up. "Haaaaai, I'm sorry." Then his eyes travelled to Aomine who was, by now, half-sleeping on his desk, uninterested in the world… "Wait! Does that mean Aomine stayed with you yesterday? We left you two behind…"

"Do you really need to test your luck?" Ishii asked his friend with an amused expression on his face. "And didn't you promise to go change your shoes?" He asked Aya with a smile, glancing at her shoes, giving her an opportunity to avoid Kano's question.

"Urgh… Haaaai, I'm going."

Aomine cracked open one eye to look at her departing figure. He wasn't sure how to behave around her now, so he was glad when Kano kept her occupied.

######

"Why are you skipping classes this time? Hm?" Aya bent over Aomine's seemingly sleeping figure. She decided to help Sakurai to look for him during the lunch break.

Surprisingly, he found his refuge in the gym's second floor. It was the least probable place for him to hide at. Usually the senpais used the gym to eat lunches together, or play some mini games. Aya knew, but she usually ate lunch with Kiku, Kano and Ishii, or some other girls when she felt like it. And sometimes they joined as well. But today, the gym wasn't used at all.

He opened his sleepy eyes to look at her. Why did she always have to find him? She was even better than Satsuki when it came to sniffing him out. Thankfully, it was a rare occurrence; the redhead usually didn't bother.

He didn't feel like talking with her now. "What do you want?"

She blinked at his rash tone. _What's up with him now?_ " ** _I_** don't want anything." She replied in the same tone. "Sakurai-kun was looking for you, to give you this."

"Oh." He stared at two bento boxes she was carrying and one was indeed wrapped in the cloth Sakurai used.

"Oh." She parroted. "If you ask him to make you lunches, you should at least come and take it. The poor guy was looking for you everywhere."

 _Oh._ He'd forgotten he told Sakurai to bring him a lunch that day. His stomach rumbled. "Give it here." He reached for the bento, but Aya pulled it from his reach and raised an eyebrow at him.

He clicked his tongue in annoyance and frowned at her. "I'm starving."

She sighed, she wanted to be mean to him but considering his mood, and the last match, she couldn't bring herself to. And so she handed him the lunch box. "Would it kill you to say _'please'_ or _'thank you'_?"

Aomine wasn't listening. He was already stuffing his cheeks with rice. With a sigh she sat next to him and started to eat her own lunch. He was quicker in wolfing down his food, so he leaned against the wall and stared into nowhere. _So the next match is against Kagami's brother… And Tetsu…_

When she noticed a sideways glace he gave her, she raised an eyebrow at him. "What? Want me to leave?" She asked rather defensively.

"Huh?" He blinked at her in confusion; in fact he didn't mind her presence.

"You're unusually prickly. What's eating you up?"

"Nothin'."

She shrugged and finished her lunch. "You do know that we have the mid-terms on Thursday, right? And therefore no practises on Tuesday and Wednesday, so we can study…"

He tilted his head to a side, but his eyes were blank. No spark of remembrance. He wouldn't attend those practises anyways.

"Aomine! Katsunori posted it into our team's group chat on Saturday evening!"

He was still giving her the blank look.

Aya facepalmed. "Urgh, seriously?! Are you seriously ignoring the chat that much?!"

Instead of an answer, he shrugged. He didn't care about the group chat in the slightest.

She let out a sigh. "If you want to play in the final league you need to pass the tests. Or otherwise you'll be stuck up in remedial classes." Her eyes widened, _Oh god! If we have the tests than… Taiga!_

He raised an eyebrow at her suddenly terrified expression. "What?"

She shook her head as if she could shake out the worry she felt for Taiga. Her brother hadn't been studying regularly, and everything he'd done was under her strict supervision. And he sucked at kanji in particular. "Nothin'. I'll need to call Taiga's coach, apparently." She mumbled. "Anyways… You need to study."

"I'll be fine."

"What was your score in the last math test?"

"Uh… 12?"

"Out of 100. Congratulations. Real awesome." She snorted sarcastically. "And English?"

He frowned in thought. If he remembered correctly, the last English test score he'd gotten was the best he'd ever had… "45."

"Well now… You need to be above 50 points in each subject to avoid remedial classes." She cleared for him. "You've gotten better in English, that's good, but you need to study more than one evening before these tests."

He let out a heavy sigh. He so hated this kind of conversation. "I'll pass. Don't fret over it."

Aya bit her thumb nail and stared at him and then she focused on her foot. She was thinking.

With an interest in his eyes he was staring at her. Sometime during their conversation she turned towards him, she was sitting on her left foot, her right leg was bent and she was leaning against it. It was a totally ungirly position, but it somehow fitted the redhead. _And the shorts under her skirt again…_ He sighed inwardly. His eyes roamed up her figure, but before he could focus on her boobs, where the shirt was tighter – he only noticed now, as they'd changed for the summer uniforms just recently – she spoke up again.

"If you're gonna be fine…" She said carefully. "Let's make a bet."

"Oh?" He looked at her face, just to see the familiar challenging smirk. "Now that sounds interesting, Sweetheart. What do you have in mind?"

"If you score above 50 in each subject and above 60 in English, I'll make your lunches for… How long would be enough to bribe you?"

"Until summer break." He said. The bet seemed interesting. Aya's cooking was awesome; he wouldn't mind eating it instead of Sakurai's.

"Okay." She nodded. "If you score above 50 in all subjects, less than 60 but more than 50 in English, I'll make those lunches only for the two following weeks."

"Fair enough." He nodded. "And if I fail?"

"If you fail, be it just one subject, no lunches and you'll come to the dancing club with me. Plus… you'll be stuck in remedial classes."

"WHAT?! NO!" His eyes almost bulged out and he backed a few steps away from her. Aomine Daiki attending a dancing club… _Hell no._

"Pass the tests, Honey-bun, and you don't have to worry 'bout dancing."

"Tch." He was frowning at her. Kagami's cooking vs. possibility to go to the dancing club… It wouldn't be a bet if there was nothing challenging… "Fine." He grunted in agreement.

"Ohooo! Great!" She smiled brightly and held up her hands to high-five with him.

He smirked and slapped her palms with more force than necessary. It stung him as hell too. She winced, but she didn't make a sound.

A vein popped on her forehead. "Don't try that again. I'm starting to hope you'll fail, so I can get back you in dancing."

"Dream on, Sweetheart." He decided to pass those tests even if it'd kill him.

"Oh, I will." She said with a smirk. "But I'm ready to help you with English if you need." She shrugged.

He so wanted to refuse, but if he considered his options: 1. ask for help, 2. don't ask for help, fail and dance… _Kagami:1, me:0, again._ "This afternoon in the library?" He asked.

She shook her head, mildly disappointed. "I can't today, sorry."

"Why?"

"I have an individual practise with Senri." She explained, though she didn't have to. "I hope he won't break my neck in the process…" She mumbled under her nose.

 _Just what are you practising?!_ "…Tomorrow morning in the library then. In the time of morning practise."

"Sounds good…" She said in a tentative tone and raised an eyebrow at him expectantly.

"Tch… _Please_." He almost choked on the word, but he said it. _Kagami: 2, me: 0… Tche!_ He'd forgotten all about the upcoming match against his former shadow. She truly had a talent to distract his thoughts.

######

"Aya!" Taiga barged into the dancing gym with a terrified expression, not caring about the practise going on there.

"GAH!" Senri let out a strangled shout, and his concentration broke.

He was just trying to get a hang of one arm planche. He was holding Aya above his head with just his left arm holding her right forearm. It took an unbelievable strength, concentration and balance to not drop her. She was supporting herself too, but Senri was the most important pillar. And now, he startled, and she was falling.

"KYAH!" Aya screamed as she suddenly fell on the hard wooden floor. Only because it'd happened before, she managed to soften the fall by her forearms, not falling on straightened arms – she'd already known what that could cause.

She was immediately up on her feet, shaking off the impact and glaring viciously at Taiga. "What the hell?! You know what we're practising!"

He took a step back. "Sooorrryyyyy! I didn't know you were doing _those_ stunts!"

She turned at Senri and jabbed a finger into his chest. "And why'd you let go?! You're supposed to hold me up!"

"I'm sorry." He apologised too. "I got startled."

"Urgh." She groaned and shook her head. She could already see the bruises she'd have. Taiga'd startled her too, so even if it was her taking the fall, she shouldn't get that angry. "So?" She asked with hands on her hips. "What's up Tai?"

"Mid-term tests!" He shrieked desperately.

"Then study!" She worried for him, but heck was she annoyed.

"That's it! The coach is having a studying session at her house! They're gonna torture me! Please help meee!"

"Oh?" She chuckled. "Good for you. They'll help you."

"I'll be away for two nights! Two whole nights! _Ain't you worried?!_ "

Aya shrugged. " _I'll go through English with you tonight then._ Other than that, I'll rely on your senpais. And pray they won't kill you." She loved her brother, but studying with him was near impossible.

 _"You traitor."_ He growled.

"Hai, hai. I'll call Riko to give her some tips on how to handle you." She smirked evilly.

"Ayaaaaa!"

Aya laughed. Then she narrowed her eyes in thought and stared at him. "I know your legs are injured but... You've taped them right?"

Taiga blinked at her in confusion. "Yeah, why?"

"Let's show Senri how it's done properly."

"Huh?" His eyes widened, but he had no time to think as his sister leaped at him and his only choice was to catch her. Automatically, after seeing their figure, he knew what to do.

The twins' movement was so smooth when they performed the perfect one arm planche that Senri's mouth opened in awe.

"Have you gained on weight?" Taiga asked his sister with a mocking smirk as he rocked her up and down in the air. He turned around and walked towards Senri.

"Oh, don't go there, dear brother." She warned him. "And I haven't! I have more daily exercise than you!"

"How the hell?" Senri asked, baffled by Taiga's ability. Sure, the youngster had the muscle to do something like this easily, but… But… He made it look way too easy!

Taiga shrugged and let her down. "Dunno. We trained?" The acrobatic stunts were the most interesting and fun part of dancing, at least for Taiga. So if he had to dance Latin and Standard dances with her, he demanded her to learn acro with him…

"And that's how it's supposed to look." Aya nodded in satisfaction, it was indeed a different feeling when she could do that with someone she fully trusted. "Let's get to it again, Senri. Taiga, you'll be taking videos!"

"I need to study!" He whined. He hated studying, but he had a bonfire under his ass right now. He'd **_have to_** sit by the books if he wanted to play in the final league.

Aya rolled her eyes. "It's called effective studying. You'll have two days, and help of your entire team. I have to help Aomine, do three reports for father, be here _and_ study! Don't whine. You can help us for this one day."

Taiga pouted but slumped to the ground and picked out his phone to record their tries. That way, it was easier to analyse and point out any mistakes they did.

* * *

 _His hands grabbed her waist and his lips crashed with hers, stealing her breath away. Kissing her felt so natural. Their lips moved in a frantic, hungry rhythm. She bit at his lower lip and her red eyes were shining with love and lust. He let out a heavy breath. She smiled mischievously and pulled him down for another kiss._

 _His hands were roaming up her waist, gently touching her soft skin. He teased the small scar she had there._

 _She had to stand on her tiptoes to reach him, so she held onto his shoulders for a support. Her mouth travelled down his neck, leaving a trail of kisses all the way to his collar bone. Oh, how he wanted to do the same. To kiss her all over. But it was uncomfortable for him to be bent down. Compared to him, she was short._

 _He let out a low grunt as he lifted her up, her legs instinctively wrapping around his waist. Her touches were sending electricity through his entire body. For a moment he stared into those gorgeous reddish eyes, completely devoured by the fire in them. But now he could finally kiss her neck all he wanted, and he didn't hesitate to do so. She tilted her head to give him a better access and let out a soft moan._

Daiki's eyes snapped open.

 _What the hell?_ He had no idea where the dream had come from, but damn, Aya was so... Those burning red eyes of hers... _Why did I wake up?_ He thought desperately. He didn't really see her naked or anything, but he could almost feel the touches on his skin. That's how vivid it'd been.

He sat up and stared at his erection.

Shiro raised her head to look at her master with her intelligent black eyes.

"Get out, Shiro." He ordered her. It was strange having a dog observing you. The Samoyed got up and left, but she had almost a scolding look on her usually smiling dog face.

He took a deep breath. He needed to either calm down, or finish what the dream had started. And waiting to calm down was not an option, considering he'd have to meet Kagami in less than two hours.

######

Aomine came to the library, surprisingly, on time. Aya wasn't there yet, and for a moment he felt relief. He wasn't quite sure how to face her. The dream stirred him up so much that his dirty magazines just hadn't felt right. So he got off thinking about her. He didn't feel guilty, just strange.

Aya arrived within the next 15 minutes. She looked dishevelled, but strangely happy. Her thick, long and currently wet mane was left down, drenching the shoulders of her shirt. The top three buttons of her shirt were unbuttoned, showing the necklace and a part of her cleavage and her ribbon was loosely hanging under the collar.

 _Is she trying to kill me?_ He thought as his eyes naturally zoomed on her boobs. The worst thing was that they were there alone.

"Hey."

"Hey. Sorry I'm late. I got held up by Senri." She rambled out. "He kept asking me for repetitions and I lost the track of time." Her morning practise overstretched and she needed to wash her hair afterwards.

 _Repetitions? With Senri?_ That stung, but he refused to show it. "Someone had a steamy morning?" He asked with a raised eyebrow and a mocking smirk. All to hide his burning jealousy.

She gasped and covered her mouth. "Oh god, no! That came out so wrong! It's Senri for god's sake!" She exclaimed as if that explained everything. "We have morning practises! I'm trying to teach him some acro, so he can enter competitions with his fiancée once she recovers. Currently I'm trying to teach him a one arm planche." She was feeling so frantic and it reflected in her fast speaking.

He blinked at her. He had no idea what she was saying after _'we have morning practises'_. But he should've guessed that. Because of the stupid dream he was now what? Jealous? _Get a grip, idiot._ He scolded himself inwardly. _You aren't dating or anything._

"I have no idea what that is."

She opened her mouth to explain, but he didn't give her a chance.

"Calm down." He rumbled. "So you're late, no big deal."

"…Right." She let out a long sigh and slumped to the chair opposite him. "Sorry." She gave him a half-smile. She hadn't slept a minute, had a morning practise, got her period and had to run to school. "It's just… Everything is happening so fast, that I have 0 time to sit and rest… which doesn't concern you in any way~"

There was something almost vulnerable in her eyes that morning. Since when was she so open with him? First the dream, then the boobs and now this? _What have I done? This is torture!_ And they weren't even studying yet.

He cleared his throat. "We still have more than an hour." He got up and when she gave him a questioning look he asked "Want something from the vending machine? I feel like having a juice." _And a minute to calm down._

She stared at him for a moment. He knew he was acting strange, but so was she. And as he'd expected she didn't pry. "Yes please. I'm desperate for a black coffee."

He nodded and turned on his heel. "Button up your shirt." He added over his shoulder.

When he closed the door, he could hear a short, muffled _'Crap! Not again!'_. He couldn't help a smirk.

######

By the end of their study session, Aya regained her usual composure. Aomine's relaxed and not caring attitude helped her to calm down herself. That one hour of studying was rather calm, and the time was passing almost lazily. She felt like an idiot for her morning franticness. _What the hell had happened to make me so hectic anyways?_

They managed to go through half of the semester's work. She nodded approvingly. "Not perfect, but you should handle English quite fine. Tomorrow morning I'll bring some tests from last year, 'kay?"

He blinked at her. "Are we doing this tomorrow too?"

"We've only managed to go through half of it. And I believe you'll go through the other four subjects on your own, or with Satsuki."

"Tch."

She had to smile at it. Despite his hate of studying, he wasn't stupid and he could learn pretty quickly, if there was the right incentive. His grades were terrible, because he simply didn't care and considered studying boring. _Well, it bores me too… But I need to have the results._ She wondered if he ever realised that if he'd spent one hour of studying every day, he could've had results similar to hers.

"If you don't wanna dance, you'll do it." She smirked. "Anyways, we should get going. Classes are starting in a minute."

######

"Come here dear." Daiki could hear his mother's whispering voice from behind the door to his room he'd left ajar. "Come, quick."

A vein popped on his forehead, but he ignored it.

"What is it?" Daisuke asked curiously.

"Look…" She whispered and pointed towards Daiki sitting by the books.

"Hooooly crap!" He whistled. "Who do you think is this impostor?"

"I have no idea. We should be careful." She giggled quietly.

"Indeed."

"Would you two stop?! I'm trying to study here?!" Daiki turned on his chair and barked at his parents hiding behind the door, observing him as if he was some rare species.

"That's serious." Daisuke rumbled and gave Michiko a curt nod.

"Ha?!" His parents could be so embarrassing at times!

Then Daisuke nudged the door open and stared at his son with worry in his blue eyes. "Did something happen to you? Did you get hit on your head, or something?"

"What?! No! I need to pass the midterms!"

"To impress Kagami-chan?" Michiko giggled, partially hidden behind her husband's back.

A very quick blush passed Daiki's face and he hesitated for a moment. Why was he studying indeed? The bet could've been broken… "To get her lunches!" He exclaimed and his voice jumped.

"Mine are not good enough?" She asked him with a teasing, but slightly dejected expression.

"It's the question of amount, not taste, mom." He said more calmly now.

"He needs to eat a lot to keep that muscle, Michi." His father said with a nod. "And lunches from Kagami-chan must be worth studying… If it was Satsuki's offer though…"

Daiki's face twisted into a terrified grimace. "I'd gladly fail in everything."

They both laughed. "We'll leave you to your studies then." Michiko said with a motherly smile. "I'll bring you some tea and onigiri later, 'kay?"

"Ossu."

* * *

"That was terrible!" Kano whined after the last test had ended. "I hope I didn't fail in math."

"I hope so too." Ishii said. "If I spent two days teaching you in vain…"

Aya turned to look at Aomine. He looked like he'd just lost his soul. "So?"

He looked up at her and smirked cockily. "I'm looking forward to your lunches, Sweetheart."

"Hmph. We'll see about that when we receive the results tomorrow."

"Oi, oi!" Kano turned to the duo. "Is there some bet going on?!"

"If he passes everything I'll make him lunches. And if he fails, he'll have to suffer the remedial classes." She shrugged and gave Aomine a short sideways glance; she didn't need to bring up the dancing part.

"Are you doing this to get Sakurai off the hook?" Ishii asked with a knowing smile.

"Sakurai-kun should eat those two lunches himself." She said with a nod.

"Eh! You didn't have to do that, Aya-san! I'm sorry to worry you! I'm sorry!" Sakurai gave her a strange half bow as he was sitting.

"It's fine. Don't apologise. I make lunches for my gluttonous brother. It's not a big deal to make one more." She waved her hand at it.

"Are we going to play some basket in the afternoon?" Kano proposed with a happy grin. Tests were over, they could practise again!

"I can't today. Sorry." Aya send him an apologetic smile. "We are practising tomorrow and on Saturday you'll get plenty of practise."

* * *

The next day, Aomine was blinking at his test results in disbelief. His English result was 73! And almost all other tests were above 60 points. He passed everything with flying colours – well, in his merit.

"Oh?" Aya leaned over his shoulder during a break. When he hadn't said anything after receiving the test, she started to worry. "Seems like I'll be making one more lunch from now on." She smiled contently and ruffled his hair out of habit. She'd always done this to Taiga when he succeeded in something.

 _Oh… His hair is softer than it looks…_ "Good job." She praised him cheerfully.

"Stop it!" He protested and shoved her hand away. But in reality, he didn't mind it.

"Hai, hai." She laughed and turned to the rest of the club and Kiku, who was by now also a part of the team. "So? Everyone passed?"

"Noooohooooo!" Kano cried out with tears in his eyes. "Whyyyyyy?!"

"What did you fail at?"

"History! I focused on math so much that…. Nooooo!"

Ishii facepalmed. So his dear friend passed in his worst subject, math, and failed in the subject he didn't mind.

"I won't see the match against Kuroko-kun and Taiga! That's so unfair!"

"I'll get you the recording of it, don't worry." Aya patted his shoulder in sympathy. "Maybe I'll find some way for you to attend despite the remedial classes. Hm?"

"Really?! Ah… But that's not… Urgh." He was such an idiot. Even Aomine had passed!

######

"Are you going to practise?" Aya asked Aomine when they were tiding up their class. For some reason he was helping her and she had no idea what had happened for he'd never done that before.

"No. Why?"

"Just askin'. We still haven't dealt with Kise." She shrugged. She'd almost forgotten the prank they wanted to do in the mess of responsibilities and tests, but she'd seen his face in some magazine the previous day… "Do we still want to prank him?"

"Oh." His eyes widened, he'd forgotten. "I'll call Aiko-san."

She nodded. "That sounds good. Inform me about it then."

He nodded curtly and wiped off the blackboard. He needed to do something to occupy himself, or he'd end up daydreaming about Kagami the way he shouldn't have. _I'm terrible…_ He thought.

######

"Tadaima!" Aya returned late and dead tired after the entire week. And there she had another reports awaiting her on the table.

"Okaerinasai!" Taiga greeted her in a cheerful and happy voice. "I've passed all the tests! I'm 90th out of all 308 students!"

"Ohoooo." Her mood improved immediately. "Congratulations! You did a great job!"

He smiled widely and tilted his head so she could pat it. It was an automatic gesture, something she'd done ever since they were kids, and she'd never tease him for it. Well… most of the time.

With a wide grin of her own she ruffled through his thick hair. "I've passed everything too. Was English your best score?"

Taiga paled.

"What?"

"No. I got 98 for Japanese language." He said gravely.

"WHAT?!" She shouted in surprise. That was Taiga's worst subject. Even she scored only 89 in Japanese language, and her brother got almost a full mark?! "How in the world?!"

"All I did was roll a pencil."

She stared at him as if he'd gone mad. "You what?!"

"No listen… Kuroko lent me a rolling pencil, made by Midorima. He called it a 'Last resort', Yushimatenjin[S2], or something… a rolling-dice-like pencil… I chose my answers based on that." He said with a conspiratorial nod. "But now I feel like I owe the bastard."

She blinked at her brother. "A rolling pencil?" Her tone indicated she didn't believe it in the slightest.

"I've got 98." He reminded her grimly. She knew how useless he was when it came to kanji – heck he couldn't even read the textbook properly.

"Just who the hell is Midorima?!"

* * *

Aya's phone rang on the Saturday's morning. "What's up Riko?"

 _"Hey. Uhm… Don't you know where Kagami-kun went? He was supposed to watch our pool drills, but he hasn't shown up at all."_

"He left in the morning to go to the practise." She said suspiciously. _Where the hell did he go then?_ He didn't lie to Aya, he couldn't, but if he hadn't shown up for practise it meant he either changed his mind midway, or something had happened.

 _"Sorry. I didn't mean to worry you. I'm sure you have a practise of your own."_

 _No, if something had happened I would've felt it… But what if…_ "No that's fine. Thanks for calling me. I'll go look for him; my boys can practise without me too."

 _"Oh no, you don't have to. I'm sure he'll show up. Or not… He kept whining all the time yesterday that he wanted to practise, and why did he have to watch and…"_ Riko sounded almost apologising.

"Yeah, I know him. I'll deliver him to you when I find him." She said in an icy voice, which made Riko shiver, and hung up.

######

After another failed attempt at shooting a three pointer, Taiga frowned at the hoop. This wasn't his style, but dunking was out of the question. Even this simple shooting hurt. Not as much as the previous day, but it hurt.

 _Aya and the coach told me to rest, but I can't just sit around doing nothing. My legs are getting better anyway…_ _Urgh… If Aya knew, I'd be a dead guy._ He shivered.

He shot again and winced. "Ouch."

"Hey! You're Kagami Taiga?"

"Huh?" He turned around to see a tanned boy with navy blue hair picking up his strayed ball. The boy had an unbelievably annoying smirk on his face.

"Be my opponent, I'm challenging you!" The bluenette demanded.

"…Hah?" Taiga frowned deeply. "And who the hell are you?! I hate people challenging me out of the blue, when they don't even tell me their name." He bristled. The last thing he needed at the moment was some match. _I have a bad feeling he might be…_

"Who cares what you feel! Well… I'll tell you my name." When he stared at the redhead closely, he could see the resemblance between him and Aya. "I'm Aomine Daiki."

 _I knew it!_ He started laughing. "I should've guessed so. That attitude… So? What do y' want?" He asked with a hand on his hip. Aya'd talked about Aomine so much that he felt like he knew the guy, or at least he was prepared to face the arrogance.

"What are you laughing at?"

Taiga just shook his head and took control over his laughing fit. "So?"

 _So he can be pretty arrogant too… Though I like that determination in his eyes_ Aomine thought with a smirk. "I want to test you. Don't worry, I don't think you can win against me, because no one can be stronger than me. I'm not looking for that nonexistent person. I just want to know how much you can entertain me." _Be at least as good as the girl…_ He hoped; because Kagami'd said she usually lost against her brother, and she could entertain him a little, or was it him entertaining her? He wasn't sure anymore.

"Huh?!" A vein popped on his forehead. _… So she is dealing with this? She **likes** this?! What the hell?_ Taiga thought, hating Aomine instantly and for a moment admiring his sister, because he felt like punching this prick. "Kise and Midorima… The generation of miracles is sure full of arrogant idiots, who annoy the hell out me… But you are a league of your own. Bring it on then!"

 _So provocation works._ Aomine smirked victoriously and started to dribble the ball in a leisure pace. _He's injured, huh? No need to be serious._

Taiga tried to stop him, but Aomine was way too fast. He passed him with a spin move to the right, and dunked without any effort. Taiga hadn't even tried to jump. The motion was so quick and smooth, he couldn't possibly react. Aomine raised an eyebrow at his pathetic performance and threw him a ball.

 _What a terrible pass._ Taiga thought. Aya'd said Aomine'd been a streetball player, but Taiga couldn't quite see it. _So he is making fun of me._ The redhead bristled and tried to dribble past Aomine, using several fakes. He managed to pass by Aomine but it felt as if the latter had let him. He leapt up using his less damaged left leg, but it wasn't quite the jump he imagined. _Shit. Too low._ He swore inwardly, when Aomine slapped the ball away, before he could release it.

The bluenette yawned, this was boring. He hadn't thought the injury would limit Kagami that much. Nonetheless, their little one-sided game continued for around 6 minutes.

"That weak, huh?" Aomine was looking down at panting Taiga. _Or have I gotten better again?_ "Did you really manage to defeat Midorima?" He asked mockingly.

"You..!"

"Yeah right… Tetsu was there too." He said, sounding almost dejected. "How disappointing. He's a shadow. Shadows are the strongest when there's a strong light. With you as a light, he's weak too."

Taiga's legs were shaking and hurting like hell. He could barely keep standing in a defensive stance, let alone keep up with Aomine. And those reflexes and instincts Aomine had… _And I haven't seen a proper streetball yet…_

He passed Taiga as if he wasn't even there. "Your light's too dim, Kagami Taiga." He said as he landed in another layup, dunking took too much effort for him at the moment.

A vein popped on Taiga's forehead. "Too dim huh… I heard you enjoyed the marble cake I made the other day." He said mockingly.

Aomine froze on the spot and slowly turned to face Taiga. _Oh yeah, this is her brother indeed_. Eating that cake had been a mistake… He opened his mouth to retort, when…

"WHAT THE HELL?!" The voice, all too familiar to both, made shivers run down their spines, all their banters forgotten. They were caught doing something, they shouldn't have been doing.

"BAKAGAMI TAIGA!" Aya was furious. _"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING HERE? I AIN'T TREATING YOUR GODDAMN LEGS FOR YOU TO… TO…" _In an instant a shoe was flying Taiga's way. He was too shocked by her sudden appearance that he didn't dodge. Her sandal hit him straight into his face.

"OI! _WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!"_ He bristled up, his mouth working before his brain. She looked like a goddess of wrath, which was extremely dangerous and he immediately swallowed all the protests he might've had.

 _"WHAT WAS THAT FOR?! YOU DARE TO ASK?!"_ She shouted her lungs out. " _You tell me_! What the hell do you not understand when I tell you **_'don't play for a week!'_** HUH?!"

Aomine was staring at the two in a quiet amusement, snickering under his nose. The language switches between English and Japanese were hilarious. But he'd never seen the redhead so furious. Just like Kagami, he didn't dare to move a muscle – in hope she could possibly ignore him, because he didn't want that fury turned against him. But hell, she was amazing.

 _Crap…_ Taiga instinctively took a step back, because his sister was freaking scary when she was furious like this. He realised he was screwed and he was wary of a possible second shoe flying his way. "I… Uh…" Oh, he had so many arguments and retorts in his head but… But he knew that Aya'd been worried for him. That worry was the source of her fury. He felt guilty.

Rage was seeping from her figure as she stood there with hands on her hips. Compared to Taiga, she was small, but right now she looked like she was much bigger than the boy.

"Just what were you thinking playing a stupid one-on-one with Aomine?! Out of all people! _For fucks sake, Taiga?!_ Are you deaf when I talk to you?!"

"Ah… uhm… _Sorry_?" He peeped guiltily. "I wasn't thinking?" He tried.

She groaned in exasperation. _And there I was, worrying for this idiot._ " ** _Of course_** you weren't!"

Her eyes narrowed into slits. The second shoe came off and Taiga shrunk into himself a bit, wanting to catch the shoe, but not sure whether he should.

But Aya suddenly made a 90° turn and in a lightning fast move she sent the shoe towards Aomine.

"Whoa!" He caught the improvised weapon millimetres from his nose thanks to a sheer instinct. The girl had an incredible aim and speed. He blinked at the shoe than at her face. She was terrifying, but she was also funny. He bit the inside of his cheek not to start laughing. "Careful with that, Sweetheart." He said teasingly.

The mocking smirk he had annoyed her to no ends at the moment. "And you?!" She ignored his comment, and regretted not having more legs to supply her with more throwing weapons. "What the hell are you doing here?! Challenging him? When you **_know_** he's injured?! What did you want to prove, huh?! How awesome you are facing an injured idiot?!" She needed to stop to take a breath.

Oh, her words cut deep, but it wasn't like he couldn't understand. He was angry at himself, and this entire situation. Not that he would let it show. "You done, Sweetheart?" He asked curtly, spinning her shoe on his forefinger. Nope, he wasn't going to return it.

Aya opened her mouth to retort and then she closed it shut. She ran out of steam. She could have a short fuse, but she could also snap back to her usual self in no time too. And it seemed like there was nothing she could say to shake with Aomine now. The bluenette was totally enjoying her rage; she could see it in his dark eyes.

Taiga blinked at his sister and then at Aomine. _Now I get it._

"Tch." She clicked her tongue. "You know what?... Just go."

"Heh. See you in the gym." He saluted and left, spinning the shoe on his finger.

She blinked at it. "Oi! The shoe!" She shouted after his departing figure.

All she could hear was Aomine's husky laughter as he waved her with it.

"I'll kill him!" She huffed and picked up the remaining shoe. It was pointless to put it on; she'd get back to Touou barefoot.

She glared at Taiga again and he shivered again. "I'm delivering you to your coach. Come on." She said icily.

He took a step to follow her. "On your hands." She ordered in a general-like voice, which he couldn't disobey.

It'd been almost funny when she shouted at someone like Aomine. And the bluenette had handled her hilariously. Taiga wondered if it hadn't been precisely because it'd been Aomine. Anyone else and heads would've been flying. No… anyone else and she wouldn't have shouted like this… He knew his sister.

Another scolding awaited him, when Riko learned what had happened. And he wasn't sure who was scarier. But at the end of the day, he knew that Aya would treat his legs again, he'd just have to endure resting until the match.

######

She walked into the gym with remnants of her previous fury still clearly visible. She didn't greet them, her presence made itself known without her having to speak up. Her eyes didn't find the person she was looking for. "Where's Aomine?" She asked curtly.

All eyes turned on her. Katsunori and Satsuki weren't there. Then she noticed a broken hoop and careful expressions on everyone's faces. "What happened?" She changed her question and sighed. The stolen shoe would have to wait.

"Aomine-kun broke the hoop… And kicked Wakamatsu-senpai into the stomach. I'm sorry." Sakurai explained the situation that had occurred when the ace showed up in the gym.

"Sakurai! Don't!" Wakamatsu scolded the kouhai with a scowl.

"He was in a bad mood, Aya-san." Imayoshi joined the explaining and cleared everything that had happened. It wasn't necessary for Aya to know that Aomine behaved like a total trash that day, but when the boys had already told her… And Aomine's excess behaviour surprised him a bit too. So far, the ace had never been physically aggressive with anyone.

While she was listening to the story, she reined in on her remaining anger. She let the steam out on Taiga mostly and all that was left was the annoyance from walking to Touou barefoot. But if she was to face Aomine now, she needed a clear head, and possibly an open mind.

"Oh?" Her eyebrow shot up. "Interesting." She muttered. Something had been off with Aomine ever since the match against Kirisaki Daiichi, but she had no idea what it could've been. She could comprehend a strange and even aggressive behaviour of a worked up athlete. But with Aomine and his skills… She had a feeling there was more to it than just some pre-match stress. _Just what is going through your head?_

"We don't know where he went." Imayoshi shrugged apologetically. "He took his magazine and left."

"I'll go look for him. I want my other shoe anyways." Aya said and left. She was now more worried than anything else. _Maybe I should've questioned him more._

######

"Ne, captain?" Wakamatsu asked.

"Hm?"

"Do you think she's gonna be okay?" He stared at the door worriedly.

Imayoshi sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "If there is anyone going to be okay while facing Aomine in _that_ state, it's her."

"I've never seen him behave like that before." Kano frowned. "He is snappy and prickly and arrogant, but…"

"And he stole her shoe?" Naito joined in remembering that she arrived barefoot. "How did that happen?"

"That's not important now." Ishii rolled his eyes.

"Maybe not, but I'm curious."

"Why do you think that?" Tada questioned Imayoshi's previous statement.

"Because… She has the same presence as him. If not a bit stronger… Haven't you noticed that?"

"Eh?" Various boys snapped their heads at the captain.

"I'm not completely sure why, but it's obvious. The confidence she has is the same as Aomine's except she isn't arrogant. And he respects her, for some reason. Do you think he'd respect just anyone? Even Momoi-san can't manage him the way Aya can, and she's his childhood friend. I've been wondering lately…" _Or after the poker game with Kouta, who told me absolutely nothing at all…_ "She goes to dancing practises; we all know that, but just how good is she? If she was the same level as Aomine is in the basketball–"

"Good observation, Imayoshi-kun." Katsunori returned just to overhear the last part of their conversation. "But I'd appreciate if you stopped chitchating and started practising."

#######

She found him. He was sprawled on the ground on _his_ rooftop. The magazine was placed on the ground next to him, closed, and he looked like he was sleeping. But she knew better.

"So? Where's my Cinderella's shoe?" She asked in a pretended annoyance to get his attention.

"Dunno." He replied with a cocky smirk. He liked her sense of humour, mainly when she was annoyed.

She sighed and sat next to him, putting her bag aside. "What happened with the team?" She asked calmly and curiously.

"Tch." He turned and leaned on his elbow to look at her. The first thing he noticed was her dirty feet. _Did she really walk here barefoot?_ He wouldn't have guessed that. "Nothin'."

"Aomine Daiki." She said strictly, but there was a hinge of benevolence in her voice. Aomine was struggling with himself, she couldn't possibly be angry. She understood it all too well. "Why did you do that? And don't tell me it's because they nagged you to practise. It didn't seem to bother you that much before."

"I don't know okay?!" He snapped at her. Studying had occupied his mind, but… He was just so restless, annoyed, angry… He'd have to face Tetsu for god's sake! It's not like he'd asked for it! Yeah, he was the best. He didn't need or want a shadow. He was more than capable of winning on his own. But why did it feel so damn difficult to just crush the ghostly boy. And he knew he had to do it. Otherwise he wouldn't rid himself of the remaining regrets and admiration he still had towards Kuroko.

Her reddish eyes were staring at him. "Is it because we are facing Seirin? Because Taiga disappointed you? Or did something bad happen?"

"Why do you care anyways?" He was frowning at her.

"Do I need a reason to care about a friend's struggles?" She asked with an amusement in her voice.

He didn't like the sound of it. His struggles? He wasn't struggling. Or was he? "You're surprisingly calm for someone who just threw their shoe at me." He changed the topic.

She raised an eyebrow at that, seeing through his attempts. "I'm still annoyed. Thanks to you I had to walk here barefoot, but don't forget I still do have the other one at my disposal." She warned him. "But I have to admit… You're the first one who dared to do that while I was furious. I'm bowing to your wit and courage, and I don't see the reason to argue with you further."

 _What? The first one?_ He blinked at her, stunned as if he just saw a ghost. He didn't know what to say. Kagami Aya could be one hell of an enigmatic puzzle.

She was staring at him, waiting for some reaction. So at the end he answered: "I don't need a pep talk."

"I'm not giving you any, am I?"

His eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Then what are you doing here?"

"Talking with you. I want to know where you hid my other shoe and I want to know why you destroyed another hoop _and_ kicked Wakamatsu-senpai. That's all."

"He pissed me off and didn't let go when I warned him. I warned him I'd kick him, you know… though they probably didn't say that to their mother-hen." He said in a rather venomous tone.

She ignored the insult. "You'd be surprised, but they did. And he pissed you off couple of times before. Why kick him now?"

"Tch." He looked away, refusing to answer further.

Aya sighed. Aomine Daiki was sure a complicated teenager. "Look, I don't –"

"Tch, I knew it was coming." He groaned in exasperation.

She slapped her palm over his mouth with a force which almost made him fall flat on his back. "If you're going to ignore me, then so be it, but don't interrupt me." She glared at him and he realised that her quiet anger was much scarier than her previous shouting.

He rolled his eyes, but nodded.

"Good… Look, I don't know what happened between Kuroko-kun and you, since you refuse to talk to me and I didn't ask Kuroko-kun… But if you were his 'light', I bet you were quite close friends. So I guess it's normal for you to behave –"

"Like a trash?" He supplied, because that's what he felt like at the moment.

She chuckled at his choice. "Well… You said it. But I've told you already, I like that streetball style of yours. And you have a new team now. Maybe you don't care about us at all, but we're here. And the boys are not that bad, you know."

Maybe she was right. _Damn, Why am I so conflicted about a stupid match? Tetsu's just another opponent, nothing else._ He thought and sat up. He couldn't help but stare at her. She was basically curled up, like she was protecting herself from him. Well, they were on the rooftop alone, and he'd been pissed off. That's quite a dangerous and unpredictable combination, and she was probably aware of that. _So she doesn't really trust me yet._ Though, it surprised him how she could go from hellishly annoyed to heavenly calm when dealing with him. Somehow, it made him respect her even more. She wasn't trying to push her opinions onto him; she was just giving him options, different points of view. And heck, she did know what she was talking about. If he managed to calm her down during their study session, now the tables turned and she was the one who had the calming effect.

"… Have you ever drifted too far away from someone?" He asked without thinking.

"Hm?" She didn't expect him to say or ask anything, not really. So his sudden question surprised her.

"Nothing. Forget it." _It's her; she wouldn't drift away from people she cares about…_

She smirked and looked at him. "If I drifted too far? Hmmm… After mom died, and I won the first world championship there was a time when Taiga and I seriously hated each other. It took us almost a year and one broken drunkard dosser to start talking again." _Not to mention our relationship with father..._ She shrugged. "Sometimes it takes time to get over it, but drifting away is never a fault of just one person."

 _'We don't have mom anymore.'_ He remembered she'd told them after the party. He had a feeling the woman didn't just get up and left her children, but he couldn't be so sure… Now he knew. But a drunkard dosser?!

"Uhm… I…" He had no idea what to say. What were you supposed to say when you learnt that someone's parent had died? He certainly didn't know.

Aya laughed at his stuttering and ruffled his hair. "You're the one who asked, don't be so surprised."

"Oi!" He shoved her hand away. "But you have an exemplary relationship, no?" He blurted out.

"It wasn't always like that. But I guess that at the end of the day, the fabled twin bond is true in our case. We're no good if we're seriously fighting. Though I'm really curious what this match will cause."

Aomine frowned and looked at the passing clouds. "They won't win."

She looked at him and shrugged. "That may be true, but he'll give you some trouble at last."

"He better should."

"Ah, yeah." She blinked and pulled her bag to fish something out. "I've almost forgotten. I came here to give you something."

"Eh?" He stared at a bento she was handing him. "Why'd you...?"

"I've lost a bet, and I thought you might show up today." She shrugged. "Well anyways. I guess I should go. I want to practise with them."

 _I really don't understand you._ He stared after her departing figure. "Your shoe is in the tree by the outside courts." He said before she could disappear down the staircase.

"Urgh. You can't be serious! You really want me to climb the tree barefoot?!" She scowled in her usual way. Like their conversation wasn't one bit serious.

He had to smirk at that. "Sorry?" He tried and a low chuckle escaped him.

######

"You've been with Aomine-kun?" Satsuki asked her the moment she rejoined everyone in the gym. "I couldn't find him anywhere!"

"Yeah. He was on the rooftop."

"Really?! That was the first place where I went and he wasn't there!" _He surely sneaked around until I'd leave again…_ "Erm… How is he?"

"He's a bundle of prickles at the moment." She shrugged. "But he seemed better when I was leaving."

The pinkette sighed desperately. "I think… it's because of the next match. Aomine-kun and Kuroko-kun… They never quite resolved their dispute. No, that's not right. They did, but… But… I think that some part of Aomine-kun still regrets how it turned out…"

"I think so too. But he's an idiot." Aya said. Satsuki's eyes snapped at her, just to see her smile. "He'll get over it, I believe."

"You believe in Dai-chan more than I do." Satsuki said with a mild disappointment in herself.

"We're similar. And if I overcame the shit in my life, so will he. Well… More or less… Some skeletons keep resting in the closet anyways."

"I wanna be you when I grow up." Satsuki exclaimed with a bubbly chuckle. She really liked the redhead.

"Careful what you wish for, my dear. You're awesome too, you know?"

"Oh? Exchange of flattery?" Satsuki smacked her lips and smiled. "Like in what am I awesome?"

"Hmmm…" Aya touched her lower lip in thought. "Your researches, intuition, friendliness and persistence."

"Persistence?"

"Yeah. You might doubt Aomine, but you aren't giving up on him."

"You wouldn't give up on Taiga-kun either."

"No. I wouldn't. But I would've punched him couple of times already."

For a moment the girls stared at each other in a mutual understanding and then they burst out laughing. They both had dorks for brothers, blood related or not.

######

In the evening her phone chimed. A message from Aomine was delivered.

'Aiko-san says to meet her tomorrow at three at Maji burger. Don't be late.'

 _Pranking Kise... Well, that's gonna be fun._

'Don't worry. I'll be there.'

She replied.

* * *

[S2]„Man proposes, God disposes"

 **A/N:** After re-reading this I have a feeling there is a lot of things packed up into one chapter. Going from slight smut, through tests and argument and practises... I've tried to keep Taiga's first encounter with Aomine the way it is manga and give some justice to his trashy behaviour. I hope I didn't overdo it.

Let me know what you think but remember, reviews are appreciated but never necessary.

-S.


	25. Chapter 25: Pranking the blonde

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone who followed, favourited and reviewed! It makes me very happy. I don't know if I'm able to update CH26 in two weeks, I have it written, but I need to go over again, and then there is my master thesis in a poor (only 1/3 done state) and I have only 4 weeks left to finish it! Fingers crossed, wish me luck!

Enough of ranting, another long one here! Enjoy!

* * *

 _By making yourself better, that's how you make your team better. **– Jimmy Garoppolo**_

 _Sister is probably the most competitive relationship within the family, but once the sisters are grown, it becomes the strongest relationship. **– Margaret Mead**_

 _"You don't need to worry, though. He's not my type."_ _"I don't think I've ever heard a girl say that before," said Simon. "I thought Jace was the kind of guy who was everyone's type." **― Cassandra Clare,**_ ** _City of Glass_**

 _There are two circumstances that lead to arrogance: one is when you're wrong and you can't face it; the other is when you're right and nobody else can face it. ― **Criss Jami**_

 _Chemistry is you touching my arm and it setting fire to my mind **― Nayyirah Waheed**_

 _Curses, like chickens, come home to roost. **– Proverb**_

 _I would always rather be happy than dignified. ― **Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre**_

 _When you're in jail, a good friend will be trying to bail you out. A best friend will be in the cell next to you saying, 'Damn, that was fun'. **― Groucho Marx**_

 _Love is not the perfect match, love is the connection between two people. ― **Unarine Ramaru**_

* * *

 _I lost._ Taiga thought dejectedly on Sunday's noon, as he was sitting on the balcony, eating lunch. Aya'd gone to practise with Senri again, leaving him home alone. She'd invited him, but he'd refused. His legs hurt around the same as after the match against Shuutoku. He seriously needed to stay put if he wanted to play against Touou in a week. But staying put meant thinking. And right now, that wasn't the best option.

 _This is not the first time I lost in a one-on-one. I've had a similar experience with Kise, but this time… This time I have a feeling… I don't think I could ever win against him._

"Tch." Aomine was good, definitely stronger than Taiga and the latter knew it. He wasn't a brother of a former world champion for nothing. He could smell excellence when he met one. And Aomine Daiki was an excellent player, who totally crushed him without breaking a sweat. Without getting serious.

 _Even if we have Kuroko… I don't think we can win._

"Why the long face?" Aya interrupted his thoughts when she appeared on the balcony snatching the last piece of meat from Taiga's plate.

"Ah… Nothin'. I was just thinking."

 _Not protecting the last bite? That's baaad…_ "That's always dangerous." She said with a crooked smile and sat on the chair opposite him. "Talk. What's eating you up?" She pulled out several apples from her bag and put it neatly on the table, offering some to Taiga.

He took one and bit into it. The delicious juice filled his mouth and he let out a content moan. He so loved good food.

"It's Aomine…" He said with a sigh. "I don't know. I fell… I don't think I can ever match up to him."

All he could hear for a moment was Aya munching on an apple. "You know. I don't think so. Maybe you can't win right now. But you can definitely match up to him. Talent-wise you're not worse than any of them. You just lack the skill and experience that comes with attending official competitions and championships." She wondered what Aomine had told her brother in that stupid little match they'd had.

"You think I can match up to him?" He blinked in surprise. "You're not saying that just because you're my sister… Right?" He gave a suspicious glance.

"No. I'm not pulling your leg and neither am I joking about this, Tai. You've discovered your weapon. Now you just have to train your ass off in order to make it truly yours."

"What are you talking about?"

She rolled her eyes. "Are you serious?! How can you be so dumb!"

"OI!"

"Your jumps! Do you think it's normal to keep jumping higher and higher as a match progresses? Or that you managed to catch Midorima's high-arc shots?"

"Oh…" He said, understanding hitting him. "So jumping?"

"Yeah! Look, if your legs weren't injured I would've recommended you to find some gambling basketball matches and play. I'm sure it's not on the American level here, but I believe we could find some and it would've helped you…"

Taiga shivered. "That sounds awfully like something Alex would do."

Aya smirked. "She was my teacher as well."

"What do you think I should do now? Considering the legs…"

"Stay put and rest. That's the best thing you can do for your team right now." She shrugged. "If you want to do something, try to find out as much as you can about Touou's playing style, strengths and weaknesses – no I won't help you, I've told you way too much already – and maybe figure out what was the relationship between Kuroko-kun and Aomine. It might help you understand him."

"And you wanna know too, right?"

"I won't deny I'm curious; Aomine refuses to tell me. But you don't have to tell me should you find out. And well… ' _Know your enemy.'_ "

"And if that doesn't help? What if we lose?"

"If you lose you lose. My team is strong after all, but don't take loss as a predetermined result. I want you to go all out, with everything you have. And do it for your team. Understood?"

"Ossu."

"Now then… I'm going out with Aomine and Aiko-san – Kise's older sister, and maybe Satsuki. We want to prank Kise somehow. Any ideas?"

"Ha?! Something like that is going on?!"

"Yeah. For the video he shared–"

"–and which I haven't seen so far." He pouted.

She sighed and threw him her phone. "Just watch it if you want, I don't care anymore. I'm gonna take a shower, I'm sweaty from the practise."

"Stinky pig!" He called after her.

"Burn in hell!" She called back and he could hear a clicking of a lock.

"OI!" He jumped to his feet and tried to open the door. Unsuccessfully. She locked him out on the balcony.

"She can be terrible." He mumbled under his nose and slumped back to his chair. At least he could go through her phone.

 _Aaaand here it is…_ He tapped play and watched.

And he couldn't believe the two weren't dating yet.

Sure, Aomine was like a clumsy bear, following his sister, but the sheer fact that he could follow her showed that his physical skills were on a whole different level. Because she was dragging him around in a waltz steps, and Taiga doubted she'd informed Aomine about it. Their upper bodies were not held as they should've been, but the legs moved in the precise set steps anyways. It was strangely enjoyable to watch. And the way he seemed to be holding her. A bit awkwardly, yes. But nonetheless, he held her like a treasure, like something he wanted to protect with all his might. _What a strange guy he is._ Taiga thought, because the cocky and arrogant jerk he'd met the previous day and the boy on the video seemed like a different people. At least in his opinion.

He watched it at least five times. His sister just made every dance look so thrilling and magical. And then there were the performances with Hikaru. He watched that again too, this time with more attention, and he had to admit that Hikaru was indeed a skilled dancer. For some reason he'd always underestimated the three brothers, but maybe they were better than what he gave them credit for.

"So? Have you seen everything you wanted to?" She asked when she returned to the balcony, rubbing her hair dry.

"Yeah. Ne… You've basically taught him waltz steps!"

"Shhhh…" She put a finger on her lips. "Don't you dare tell him that, Taiga. Once he gets over the 'I don't dance' part, I'll teach him properly."

"So you are in love with him!"

She rolled her eyes. "Do you have to shout that on the balcony?"

"Why don't you just tell him? I hate him but…"

She sighed. "I thought you two might clash. But…"

"… Is it because of father?"

Aya shrugged. "How would it look? We're here for only around three months. If he heard I have a boyfriend the hell would break loose. Plus Aomine doesn't know much. He wouldn't choose me if he had. And he's struggling with himself. I don't need to add another worry on his back right? Heck I don't even know if he likes me."

"Excuses, excuses. You're just afraid to give it a try."

"I don't remember you having a girlfriend. Ever." She mocked him, feeling uncomfortable with the topic. Taiga bristled, but he couldn't possibly retort, it was the truth. "So… any ideas how to prank Kise?"

"Share something embarrassing. Make him suffer through a terrible date. You train him in dancing for no particular reason; waste his time like that…"

"Well…"

"You don't wanna?"

"I don't mind cockroaches in shoes or itchy powder, but getting his hopes up for something, and then shattering it… Or sharing a video… I don't think that's what I want to do, because well, he really didn't mean bad with this." She shook her phone.

"You hate cockroaches…" He reminded her, and then bit into his thumb nail in a deep thought. "Hmm….Then… photo-shoot itchy powder? And he'd have to stay still?"

Her eyes widened. "You are amazing!" She smiled brightly and jumped at Taiga to engulf him in a big hug.

"What can I say… I've seen the pervert planning some of his pranks."

"And you helped some, I believe." She mumbled against his chest.

He laughed. "I won't deny that."

######

"Hey!" Aya walked towards Aomine and a blonde short-haired girl standing next to him. She was right on time and they were waiting her outside, which they didn't have to do, but it felt nice. Aomine just nodded in greeting.

"You must be Kise Aiko-san I believe." She said with a genuine smile. She was looking forward to meeting Kise's sister. "I'm Kagami Aya, nice to meet you."

The girl eyed her up and down with her big amber eyes.

And Aya did the same. Aiko was an inch shorter than her, but she sure had a confident air around her, she looked fierce. Her clothes consisted of sand coloured army boots, very short jean shorts and camouflage tank top. A military dog tag was hanging around her neck and Aya would swear she had her basic info stamped into it. The girl was sure interesting, and first impression-wise a complete opposite of Kise. And Aya liked that.

Aiko offered a handshake and she accepted it happily.

"Oh. Good! You don't give a _dead-fish_ handshakes." Aiko said, and her voice was slightly deeper than usual, but it made her a lot more interesting. "I might even come to like you!"

" _Dead-fish_ handshakes are the worst indeed." She agreed. And with that a friendship had formed. Both girls liked what they saw in the other.

They walked into Maji burger and ordered some food. Aya hadn't had a lunch so she went for three cheeseburgers and two large fries and a large orange juice. She paid and headed towards one of the booths near the window.

"Finally a girl with an appetite! I thought you'd hold back with this kiddo tagging along." She said as she was sitting down opposite Aya and pointed at Aomine who also ordered his fill, thrice the Aya's portion and sat next to the redhead – the safer seat.

Aya laughed at it and eyed Aiko's portion similar to hers. "Why should I hold back when I didn't have a lunch? I'm starving!"

"So tell me, Kagami-chan –" Aiko started excitedly, once she found someone who interested her, she was all in to get to know the person.

"– please call me just Aya." She corrected the blonde automatically. "I like that more."

"Great! Call me Aiko then. I'm not that older than you. I'm a third year at Seiho actually."

"What?! No one told me that! I would've asked you to get me in touch with their basketball club!" Aya exclaimed with wide eyes. _Such a wasted opportunity!_

"Well you wouldn't have a date otherwise." She said with a wink.

"Oi! It wasn't a date!" Aomine corrected her brusquely. "And how would _you_ know?"

"Oh, dear kiddo. I was there. Believe it or not, the captain is my boyfriend."

Though he called her Aiko-san… "What? Someone would really date a witch hag like you?!"

Her eyes narrowed at Aomine. "Say that one more time, you little maggot, and I'll stomp you to the ground." She warned him.

Aya started laughing at that. She got the sibling like dynamics the two had. And for a moment it stung that Aomine had such a relationship with someone else. But then again, Kise was probably his best friend; of course Kise's sisters took him under their protective wings as well. She did the same when it came to Taiga's friends.

"What?!" They both snapped at her.

"Nothin'. You're just hilarious. Why isn't Satsuki here? I thought she wanted to help."

"But she is helping!" Aiko said and stuffed her mouth with fries. "She is pestering Ryouta so he wouldn't get a whiff of whatever we'll be planning. Trust me. That foxy kid can sniff out about anything you don't want him to know."

"Oh. I haven't thought of that."

"Well," Aiko smiled, "you might understand how he thinks, but you know him only for a short period of time. I grew up with the rascal. And he talked about you so much. I feel like I know you too." She teased the redhead, provoking Aomine at the same time. She wanted to see what Ryouta had been, subtly, talking about.

Aya's eye narrowed. "What exactly did he tell you?"

"Oh? Have you discussed something serious with him?"

 _Those two are sure siblings._ She thought. "Not that I know of." The first impression of Aiko was that she was a fierce, straightforward girl. But that wasn't that much of the truth. Aya could feel the small nuances which were so similar to Kise's two-facedness.

The blonde chuckled. "He told me… That you dance, I've seen the video by the way. That you're pretty sly, but awesome. And that he and Kasamacchi-senpai spent an afternoon with you the last Saturday during the final matches. He told me you pissed of some Hanamiya dude after your match, so they couldn't have possibly left you alone."

"You pissed off who?" Aomine's eyes widened, he couldn't believe what he heard. For the first time. Hanamiya was a definition of a crappy guy. "You sure have a talent to piss off all the wrong people, Sweetheart." He said with a head shake and frowned. He had no idea that after he'd left the stadium Kagami had stayed with Kise. Heck he had no idea that Kise had been there!

"What do I say, Honey bun? Are you worried~?" She teased.

"Oi! Don't call me that! I didn't…" A slight blush creeped onto his cheeks and he looked away.

This time it was Aiko who laughed at the two. They sure had a good chemistry going on between them.

"Now, now." She clapped. "Our main purpose of today's meeting is to figure out how to prank my brother, in a way that's not too terrible. I'm all in, but you know…"

"You protect what's yours." Aya added with an understanding nod.

"I see you know what I'm talking about. Good. Any ideas?"

Aomine shrugged. He wasn't good at finding ways to pull Kise's leg. The blonde was way too sharp for Aomine to ever successfully prank him. Unless he decided to let himself be pranked. And this didn't occur often.

"I have one. Or… Taiga and I had one idea."

"And that is?" Aiko encouraged her.

"Itchy powder in his dress up during a photo shoot... We might or might not record his struggle as he has to keep still and yet wants to scratch his butt so damn much." She presented her idea as if it was already decided. It was a habit of hers to present her ideas in this manner. If she was helping her father with the business, she needed to be persuasive.

"That one's good! I'll call Emi-nee to see when he is working, but I believe it should be some Monday afternoon. That's Kaijo's team day off."

"Hmm…" She exchanged glances with Aomine. "It's ours day off as well. And I just know the stylist in charge of Model-kun."

"Awesome! Wait… You call him Model-kun?!" Aiko laughed. "He hasn't boasted about it!"

"He called me Ice queen-chan at our first meeting. So…" Aya shrugged. It didn't happen often that Aya felt so naturally good with a girl she'd just met. Maybe it was because Aiko was Model-kun's sister or maybe they just had a good vibe but she liked talking with her. And because Aomine was sitting next to her, she was almost forgetting he was there.

"I bet it was because you weren't fawning over him."

"Well sorry, blondes are really not my type." She exclaimed and raised her hands in a _'nothing-to-be-done-about-it'_ gesture. "No offence." She added.

"Ahahaha! You should just go and tell him that. I wonder what kind of face he'd make."

"Surprised, dramatically hurt and then he'd laugh." Aya said with a poker face.

"Wait, wait, wait. You told him that?!" Aiko's eyes almost bulged out.

She put a finger on her lower lip, her unreadable expression not wavering. "I wonder… Did I?" It was a perfect display of her self-control, because inwardly she was laughing her lungs out. Because… She had told Kise he wasn't her type – he'd simply twisted their conversation during a lesson of cha-cha she'd been giving him on the party, in a way that she'd bluntly announced it. But it was fun watching Aiko clueless.

"Anyways, if we want to do the prank tomorrow, we need to plan for it. I'm calling Hikaru to ask him for help… But it won't be for free I believe." She gave the sideways glance to Aomine _'Especially for the two of us.'_ she conveyed wordlessly.

Aiko blinked at her. "Right! I'm calling Emi-nee right away. Wait until I give you the clear answer when is Ryouta going to arrive there."

######

"What's the price of his help?" Aomine asked when Aiko left for a date with her boyfriend and they were waiting for Satsuki to join them.

"Well… He said he'd tell us tomorrow after we get there. But knowing Hikaru… No. I have no frigging clue what he might want. He might go from something totally embarrassing to a simple dinner." She shrugged. "We'll have to wait."

"Tch. I don't like that."

"Neither do I. But it can't be helped. We're trying to prank Kise here; it's not an easy task. Which is why you didn't come up with anything right?"

He snorted, he truly didn't know what else, and still civilised, they could do. Kagami's idea was the best.

"You telling him he was not your type must've been enough of a prank. I'd give anything to see the face he made." It'd been the first time he heard a girl say that Kise wasn't their type. And he'd never wondered just who was Aya's 'type'.

 _I can't fool him, can I?_ "Aiko was clueless. How'd _you_ guess I really told him?" She asked curiously.

He shrugged and simply said: "'cause it's you."

* * *

"Kuroko!" Taiga turned around on his seat right after the bell announced a lunch break – so the ghostly boy wouldn't disappear on him again.

"What is it, Kagami-kun?"

"Uhm… I've played a one-on-one with Aomine on Saturday." He admitted, trying to keep his voice down.

After Aya had yelled at him, and forced him to walk on his arms, they'd decided to conveniently omit the fact that he'd played against the ace of the generation of miracles. They'd assumed it'd cause a mayhem neither of them wanted. But now… Now he needed to know.

Kuroko's eyes widened slightly, though a familiar, unreadable expression settled on his face a second later.

Taiga continued. "The guy said he'd been your light in the past. I don't think you _'just happened'_ to be on the same team. What exactly happened in Teiko between the two of you?" He asked seriously and calmly. Those weren't the traits he showed to his team regularly, but right now, he needed to show Kuroko, that he could be like this as well.

"…" The ghostly boy stared at him for a moment as if evaluating his worthiness to hear this explanation. "Let's eat outside." He said simply, took his lunch and left the classroom, expecting the redhead to follow him.

They sat on a bench in the school's garden and Taiga unwrapped his bento, to eat it as quickly as possible, so it wouldn't distract him from listening to Kuroko's story.

"As you know, Kise-kun joined the team later: in the beginning of summer in our second year. He was a quick learner and he kept challenging Aomine-kun to play one-on-one with him all the time. They could keep at it for hours. At that time, Aomine-kun kept playing with Kise-kun because he liked his talent and the will to challenge him over and over again despite constant loses. In Teiko, Aomine-kun was the most talented and he trained the most, simply because he loved to play. Momoi-san used to say that he was 'just an idiot for basketball'. But he wasn't a miracle yet."

A small smile appeared on Kuroko's face and Taiga wondered what image he had in his head. So far, he could relate. And he patiently waited for his shadow to continue.

"Midorima-kun, Kise-kun, and the others… They weren't miracles from the start. We all started out as above-average players. Nothing more. But Aomine-kun, he was the first one to shine. It happened in one match, when he was particularly concentrated, or in particularly great shape, where he scored more than 80 points on his own. He was like a different person that day. Even Kise-kun called his skills 'scary'. And matches like that kept piling up. He even scored more than 100 points in one match. The opponents were giving up mid-match, and Aomine-kun started skipping practises. He didn't want to become any better, because the games were starting to get boring for him. It was then when he started thinking he had no equal. No rival. And slowly, he started drifting away. Not that he had no equal among opponents, he had no equal on the team either. No one could match up to him. He became too strong for his own good."

 _Oh…_ Taiga stared at his taped legs.

Kuroko ate a part of his lunch before he spoke up again. "He was doing a bare minimum for the team to win the matches… I told him that no matter how good he became, I'd want him to be serious, to go all out should we faced each other as opponents. He was still hoping to find that person. But the nationals in our second year were, I think, the last straw that broke the camel's back. We faced someone who'd used to give Aomine-kun trouble every single time they faced each other. A rival he had at that time. But… In that match, the boy gave up. Once Aomine-kun created a 70 point gap, the person he considered a rival gave up. After that match Aomine-kun decided that it was pointless to hope for a serious opponent, that the only one who could beat him was him. We won those nationals only thanks to Aomine-kun. The other four changed soon after. Then something happened in our third year of nationals and I quit the team…" Kuroko said in a tone, which indicated he didn't want to go further into the topic. Then he took a breath and added: "More than anyone else, Aomine-kun needs a true rival. Someone he can go all out against. At least that's what Midorima-kun thinks. And I have to agree."

"Sounds kind of familiar…" _Though Aya didn't turn into 'the only one who can beat is me' idiot._ Taiga sighed, which earned him a confused but curious glance from Kuroko. "No. Nothin'." He blinked to shoo the thought away.

"There is only one thing I can say to that." His face turned into an angry grimace. "Don't get too arrogant yet, you idiot! There's still a fat chance!" He shook his head. "Seriously… Did the game get boring because you're too strong? What the hell? Oi… Gimme your hand."

"What?"

"Just give me your hand!"

So Kuroko offered him his palm, way too confused by Taiga's behaviour, but keeping his unreadable expression.

"No! Not your palm, your fist!"

"Oh." Kuroko nodded and curled his hand into a fist.

" _The only one who can beat me is me?!_ He will be the fool the year!"

"The fool of the century, you mean?" Kuroko corrected him.

"We'll definitely win this one." Taiga said and fist-bumped with his shadow. "We'll beat him back into his senses!" They had to win. _Even if my legs tear apart._

#########

"I-I-I c-can't do that." Kiku gave up. She was flexible, but she just wasn't the one to learn splits.

"It's a part of the curriculum and your final mark, Ohno-san. You have to try more." Umaki-sensei said in a scolding voice. She didn't like students who weren't, in her opinion, trying enough.

"B-but…" Kiku had no idea how to explain that her thigh muscles weren't stretched enough for her to do that. She could go to a certain point but then it hurt.

"It takes time for muscles to stretch enough." Aya said, aiding Kiku. "You can't force it in 15 minutes… Well… not without an injury."

"You don't seem to have a problem with it." The sensei jabbed, but the courageous girl was right. She couldn't force it.

She just shrugged. "Maybe I'm just overly flexible."

Umaki-sensei shook her head and then looked at Kiku again. "Just try to exercise more so you can do it by Friday." She huffed and left to scold some other girls who couldn't do it.

"Uhm, Aya?"

"Yeah?"

"Will you help me to learn it?" She asked quietly.

"Yeah, sure. Come with me to the dancing club after school tomorrow and we'll all help you."

Kiku blinked at her in surprise. "Eh? Uhm but…" _That's too many people!_

Aya could literally read her mind at the moment. "Oh come on. The majority are kiddos or elders, no one's gonna eat you. So don't be scared, 'kay?"

After a moment of thought, the girl nodded. There was nothing to lose, not really.

"Oh. Look, they're doing handstands." She pointed towards the boys' part of the gym separated by a net, her eyes unconsciously looking for Aomine. She'd swear she could feel his eyes on her when she was doing the things Umaki-sensei told them to do. _Now it's my turn._ She thought and stared at his tightened arm muscles as he did a handstand. His t-shirt rolled down, showing his abs… Oh how that pleased her.

It was almost the end of the class, so she could move towards them. She was curious what else they'd been doing, because she couldn't keep an eye on them all the time.

"Aomine!" Kano ran up to the ace still standing on his hands, but already struggling to keep balance. "Can you walk on your hands too?!" He asked loudly.

"I ain't a gymnast." He grumbled, and flipped back to stand on his legs.

"I thought you are good at everything! How disappointing." He mumbled, which earned him a glare from Aomine. "Anyways… How do you do it? I can't keep my balance!"

"Try setting off from your left foot." Aya said.

"Eh? Aya-chan!" His eyes widened in surprise. "Why? Everyone does it going off from their right foot."

Aya sighed. _Because everyone else…_ "Can you do a cartwheel?" She asked instead of answering. They didn't learn it at school but it was a kind of stunt boys tended to learn on their own just for the sake of showing off.

"Eh? Ah… yeah." Her sudden question made his mind go blank.

"Show me. Do it." She demanded with a raised eyebrow, ignoring Aomine's questioning stare. Her tone didn't allow Kano to question her, it was the tone she used when leading the balance practises.

"U-uhm." He nodded.

With a short run-up, he kicked his legs up and performed a side cartwheel. When he landed he turned his questioning eyes at her.

Ishii was already smirking, catching up on what she wanted to point out.

"Which leg did you use to set off?"

"Uuuhm… Left?" He asked, not really sure. He did the cartwheel automatically, without thinking about it.

"That's right. Because left is your good leg."

"My good leg?" He asked confusedly.

"Yeah. Try doing a handstand setting off from your left foot. I believe it should be easier for you to balance it up."

He shook his head, but tried to do as she said. And indeed… It worked. When he was back at his feet his green eyes sparkled in joy. "You're an angel Aya-chan! Thank you! How'd you know?"

She smirked. "I lead your balance practises, who do you take me for, huh?"

"Oh. So you did it, Kano-kun!" Yoshioka-sensei praised him. He noticed the girl mingling in, but because she was their manager he didn't say anything. And as a result, the boy who was struggling with handstands could now do them. "Where was the problem?" He asked as the other kids started to vacant the gym to go get changed.

"The set off leg." Aya said.

Yoshioka rubbed his chin. This hadn't occurred to him at all. _Because everyone else could manage…_ "Thank you for correcting him then." He nodded to the girl. "By chance... Do you do gymnastics or something?"

A half-smile spread on Aya's face. While Umaki-sensei couldn't notice such things, Yoshioka-sensei did. And he didn't mind if a student helped another one or pointed out their mistake, as long as they weren't rude about it.

"Not quite. I dance. I've been practising acro lately, so…" She admitted. There were people who knew even outside the basketball club, and she wasn't spreading it around. But the teacher could know. She liked Yoshioka-sensei's fairness and out-going personality. He was the kind of a teacher students naturally looked up to.

Yoshioka whistled. "Acro. In a pair or a group or individually?" He asked curiously.

"Pair." She shrugged.

"Hmm… My daughter started nagging me to assign her to a rhythmic gymnastics class for quite some time."

"Oh." Her eyebrows shot up in curiosity. "How old is she?"

"Seven. I'm kinda scared because she isn't that good in any physical activity…"

"I think she should try it out. Children tend to learn quickly as they are not that scared, and she can always quit if it doesn't catch her interest or something. For example, I've been dancing since I can remember so… it can't hurt to try."

"Aaah…" He rubbed his chin in thought. "But the injuries…"

"No one runs seven years old to the ground enough to cause them injuries, especially if they're just starting. If you want a really good club, then try going to Uryuu gymnastics. It costs a bit more, and the lady is super strict, but she is very good. She sees all the possibilities and limits of a person and sets the training regime according to that. It won't be easy but at least you'll see how much and if your daughter really wants to do it."

"Hmmm… That sounds like a great coach."

"Yeah. She is. She put me together two years ago after a severe hamstring overload. I almost tore it off." She rambled out, but then she noticed a panicked glance the teacher gave her. "Oh! Don't worry 'bout that. It didn't happen during a practise and it was totally my own fault."

"R-right. I'll discuss it with my wife. Thanks for advice, Kagami-san." It was unusual for him to ask a student for advice, but the girl had something in her eyes that make it easy. He looked around to notice that it was only the basketball club – eagerly listening to their manager – and a little girl remaining in the gym. "I think we need to wrap it up."

They nodded and followed after the teacher.

"So what is acro exactly?" Ishii asked nonchalantly as they headed towards the changing rooms.

"Acrobatic dancing." She said in full length.

"Isn't it dangerous?" Arai asked curiously. He could do the bare minimum of gymnastics that school required, but he was useless otherwise.

"Depends on who's your partner and how much you trust him. Right now it is a bit dangerous for me, but… it could've been worse."

"So, can you do a cartwheel or a hands free cartwheel?" Kano asked curiously.

They were thinking about what Imayoshi had talked about. They started to pay more attention to her, to what she'd been doing, how and whatnot. So far, she hadn't noticed, and they were glad for that.

Aya raised an eyebrow at him challengingly. "A _'hands-free cartwheel'_ is called an aerial." She corrected him.

Then, just as they were walking she made the smallest of the jumps and leapt up in a front aerial. For a moment it looked she stopped upside down in mid air, did a split and ended up back on her feet. Just like that. Casually.

"Whoooooah! That's crazy!"

All of them stared at her in awe and she gave them a smug smile. "I think you should go get changed, you are on a cleaning duty today."

Ishii, Kano and Kiku had dejected expressions in an instant. They parted to go to their changing room and Kiku to the girls'.

Before Aomine could leave, Aya grabbed his elbow. "You brought a change of clothes, right?"

He rolled his eyes. "'f course. We can't show up there in Touou's uniforms."

"I'm just making sure." She chuckled. "Wait for me by the school gate." She called over her shoulder.

 _And off she goes._ He stared at her perfect ass as she ran up the stairs and disappeared in the changing room. The day's new knowledge about Kagami Aya surprised him and awed him at the same time. So the girl hadn't just won some championships, she was trying all the cool things she possibly could. No wonders she was so skilled in almost any physical activity.

 _Kagami Aya's legs wrapped around his hips as he picked her up in his arms…_ He blushed as the image from his dream popped up in his head. He definitely wouldn't have to support her.

"Oi Aomine! What're you daydreaming about? We can't wait for you forever!" Ishii's head peeked from behind the door. The boys were almost done with changing.

"Aya-chan I believe." Kano added teasingly, which made Sakurai and Arai look away to hide their chuckles from the ace. "But maaan she's awesome!" He continued, ignoring Aomine's glare. "Who would've thought she could do _aeariaels_."

"Aerials." Arai corrected him.

"Yeah, I've said that."

"Right, Mr. _aeariaels._ " Ishii imitated him.

Kano stuck out his tongue at his friend and pulled the necktie over his neck.

"Why are you not changing into the uniform?" Ishii asked when he noticed Aomine putting on a loose jeans and a white t-shirt, which only enhanced the ace's muscles.

"I need to go somewhere."

"Can he get even weirder?" Kano asked in a whisper.

A vein popped on Aomine's forehead. "I can hear you!" He snapped at him.

######

"Hey!" Aya ran up to Satsuki and Aomine already waiting her at the school gates. She eyed Aomine up and down while he did the same.

"What?!" He bristled up.

"Nothin'. It suits you, Honey-bun." She teased with a grin. "I love the skirt, Satsuki." Aya praised the baby blue calf-length A-cut skirt enhancing Satuski's thin waist.

"Thank you!" The pinkette spun around happily. She didn't get to wear her casual clothes that often lately. "Your dress is awesome too." She complimented the simple black dress with elbow length sleeves.

"I guess it shouldn't attract that much attention. I was thinking about high-heels at first but nah… I suppose it's better like this." She looked at her black espadrilles. She threw her bag over a shoulder and started walking towards the station. "We should get going if we want to catch the train."

######

"What the hell is that?" Aomine asked irritably when the train they were supposed to take arrived fully packed.

"Our ride." Aya said. "Come on, we need to squeeze in if we want to arrive sooner than Kise." She grabbed both of them and pulled them towards an open door.

With a difficulty they managed to squeeze in and the door closed. Satsuki was face-pressed against the door, and cursing all the people taking the train in this hour. This was going to be terrible.

"Woah." Aya let out a gasp when the train moved and the crowd of people pushed her against Aomine, who was now squeezed between Aya and the door.

"What are y' doin'?" He let out a strangled growl as she pressed against his crotch. _God this is torture._ He thought.

"Sorry. It's not my fault." She protested. _Please don't get a hard-on._ She prayed inwardly, because that would've been super awkward. She squirmed against the crowd and created a centimetre gap between their bodies.

And Aomine wasn't sure if she helped it, or made it worse… because now she was gripping his hips for a support and to maintain the negligible distance between them. Whenever she moved a sweet yet fresh scent emanated from her, teasing his nose. Was it a scent of apricots? _Just don't move. Please._ He prayed and tried thinking about anything else but Kagami's body being so damn close. Be it anyone else he probably wouldn't have felt so awkward, but he couldn't be sure. He pinned his stare into the ceiling and took a deep breath desperately fighting an embarrassing blush and the blood rushing to his crotch.

"I have a feeling we pranked ourselves right now." Satsuki let out a strangled grunt, trying to fight the crowd off her back. But she couldn't move a finger, and the two were so quiet she wasn't sure they were still there.

They both chuckled awkwardly.

"Seems like it." Aya said and her voice sounded weird to her own ears. She could feel how tense Aomine was, not daring to move a muscle. _Well, I'm sorry Honey-bun._ She wasn't naïve enough to believe that she had some special effect on him; he'd get all flustered no matter what girl ended up in her position.

But she couldn't say she hated it. Heat was radiating from his body and his scent invaded her nose: mint, clothes detergent, a bit of sweat, and something else she couldn't guess. Something she could only think of as 'so Aomine'. She blushed furiously. What the hell was going through her head? She was getting turned on, by the sheer proximity. _Oh god, get a grip._ Thankfully he was so tall he couldn't see her face at all.

######

"Phew!" Satsuki let out the moment they got off the train. "What the hell's wrong with all the people today? It's not even the rush hour!"

Aya shrugged, not daring to look at Aomine's face for at least ten minutes. "I have no idea." She said, desperately trying to sound collected. "At least no one tried to grope us."

"Oh, they could try! We had Aomine-kun with us. He'd show them." She claimed proudly.

"Mhm. Right." He said sarcastically with a smirk. Once he got out and put a distance between them, it was easier to calm down. "I don't know how, since I couldn't move a muscle, thanks to a certain _someone_ pinning me to the door."

"Eh? Who pinned you down?" The pinkette asked totally clueless about what had been happening on the train just centimetres from her.

Aya's jaw tightened and she shot him a glare, noticing-and-ignoring an excited glimmer in his stormy eyes. He wasn't fair. "Yeah, who?" She asked mockingly, playing clueless as well. She refused to give him the pleasure of teasing her. "I couldn't see a thing."

"Tch." He frowned at her. "Let's go. If we make Aiko wait, we're dead."

She had to bit the inside of her cheek to hold back a laugh. "Right! Let's invade Kise's job!"

Satsuki was walking between the two, feeling some strange vibe. It took her less than two minutes before her curiosity won and she asked: "Aomine-kun. Who pinned you down?"

"Tch. Stop pestering me, Satsuki!"

Aya couldn't hold back her laughter anymore. And the confused glance Satsuki gave her was priceless.

######

"What do we do now?" Satsuki asked anxiously, staring at the building they were supposed to enter.

"We walk in and get to Hikaru's office, or what the hell it is." Aya said casually totally fine with the plan.

"But if they ask us something? If someone stops us? If we can't find it? If someone tells Ki-chan? Or worse… if we walk into him?"

"Getting cold feet now?" Aomine asked mockingly.

Aya rolled her eyes. "You sure you aren't?" Then she turned to Satsuki. "It'll be fine. Just follow me, act natural, don't look around too much and don't speak, okay?"

"But where is Aiko-chan?" Satsuki continued worriedly.

"Somewhere inside." Aomine took care of explaining this one. "She went ahead because there was some job for her… she gets some photo-shoots once in a while too."

"Oh…"

They walked towards the sliding door and entered the lion's den. Satsuki was admiring the redhead, who walked in confidently, like she owned the place. Aomine and she followed right after her, though Aomine in a more leisure and confident manner. It seemed to be a busy day. Two receptionists were occupied by picking up phones and talking with several people at the same time. Some photographers and their models were moving to their next shooting places, or talking in a company's opened cafeteria.

Without flinching or staring around, Aya led the two towards the three lifts to their right. If anyone greeted her, she greeted back. She kept her walking pace slow enough to be able to answer if anyone talked to her, but quick enough so no one would stop them for a casual chit-chat and they wouldn't look like running. The less people knew about them the better.

They stepped into a lift. Satsuki let out a breath of relief, she was holding in the entire time. They made it.

The door was closing when…

"WAIT FOR MEEEE!" Someone shouted as he ran towards the closing door.

Aya considered ignoring him for a moment but he saw her, and she'd bet her neck he'd talk about a redheaded stranger who hadn't stopped the lift. So after a quick inward dialogue, she stuck her foot into the door.

"Thank you!" The man hopped in and bent over catching his breath. "I'm so late! Emi-san is so going to kill me!"

"You're welcome. Let's hope she won't." She said neutrally with a smile: her professional self floating to the surface.

Aomine eyed her curiously, because so far, he'd seen this side of her only once. Or maybe more, but it hadn't been as visible as now.

"Ahaha… You're kind. But I'm late with the photos. She's definitely going to kill me." The man waved with a large envelope he was holding and straightened up.

"Oh. Too bad then."

"I don't remember your face, are you new here?" He asked curiously, all his attention on the redhead.

Aya chuckled cutely. "Oh my. Is it that obvious? I was asked to visit Shiranui-san. I'm super nervous. I'm not exactly a skinny model-like figure. I mean, will I fit into anything at all?" She said in a mixture of excitement and anxiety.

The man eyed her up and down with a scrutinizing look. "Nah, you look great. And Shiranui-kun is totally fine. He doesn't bite heads of and he never orders models to go dieting like some other stylists. He does wonders with his dress ups. If you ask me, he is the best."

Aya let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you! I feel so much better now."

The lift stopped and the door opened. "Oh. I'll be departing here." He said with a smile. "Good luck on your assessment day." He called over his shoulder.

"Thank you, Sato-san!"

The door closed and the lift continued up.

"Haaa…" She breathed out, "So an assessment day." and nodded for herself. "Good to know."

Satsuki and Aomine were both staring at her, baffled.

"Where did that come from?!" He asked with his mouth hanging open. For Kagami to play a model-to-be fretting over her looks in such a cheesy way… If he hadn't seen it, he wouldn't have believed she had this side to her too.

"I needed to attract his attention. And my acting skills aren't all that bad." She explained matter-of-factly. "We want to prank Kise – we need to do what's necessary to blend in."

"I wouldn't be able to do that. I'd die from embarrassment under his look. And how do you know his name?" Satsuki asked because she hadn't noticed any name tag on the man.

"He had a name on his employee card hanging from his right pocket."

The lift stopped on the floor where Hikaru was supposed to sit.

"Well, let's go." She said and stepped out.

"It's so empty." Satsuki whispered to Aomine, as they followed after Aya. "Did you know she could be like this?" She asked curiously, because Dai-chan didn't look all that surprised.

Aomine looked down at her. "I've seen something similar before." He admitted.

"Here it is." Aya found the door with Hikaru's name on it and knocked.

"Come in!" Aiko's voice invited them in.

A huge room filled with racks packed with clothes opened up in front of them. There was a wall full of mirrors and cosmetics with five chairs set in front of it on the right and unbelievable amount of clothes on the left. Right in the middle, opposite of the door, stood a huge wooden table filled with Hikaru's drawings and designs – he was allowed to use the 'office' for his own creative side-work. And Aya believed that somewhere in the back he also had a sewing machine and all the equipment he might need – just like in his apartment.

"Welcome to my world~" Hikaru sang and waltzed out from one alley between racks. "This is where the stars are born!~" Then his eyes zoomed in on Satsuki – the only one he didn't know. "And who are you, my little pink angel?"

Satsuki blushed under the man's stare. "Momoi Satsuki." She said in a higher voice. "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too, angel. I'm Shiranui Hikaru." Instead of bowing he took her hand and kissed the back of her palm.

Satsuki stared at him with wide eyes and opened mouth.

"Do you have to do this?" Aya asked him unimpressed.

"Feeling jealous, Robin?" He asked teasingly but after seeing Aya's sour expression he stuck out his tongue at her. "You don't have to be so mean."

Aiko started laughing at the two. "I really like you, Aya!"

"Thank you! I really like you too, which I can't really say to this one." She pointed at Hikaru.

"Oi, oi. I'm helping you here. So… Have you talked with anyone?"

"Sato-san, who was running late to bring some photos to Emi-san… I believe he meant your sister?" She looked at Aiko questioningly.

"Oh yeah." Aiko nodded and placed her feet on Hikaru's table. "That'd be her. And if he was late he's done for." There was not a hinge of pity in the girl's voice. "Anyhow, how can you remember so many names?"

"Professional necessity?" Aya shrugged.

"So what sweet lies did you tell him to make him say where he was heading?" Hikaru asked curiously turning his eyes to Aya.

"Ooooi! What do you think of me, huh? He talked about his whereabouts on his own and I didn't tell him a single lie."

"You told him you're model to be." Aomine reminded her.

She put a finger on her lower lip and locked her gaze with his. "Did I really, Honey-bun?"

He blinked at her remembering the conversation. And then he smirked in disbelief. She truly hadn't said a single lie. The man came to a conclusion she was a new model all on his own. He chuckled. "You're unbelievable."

Aya smirked smugly at him.

"But." Satsuki jumped in. "You said you probably wouldn't fit into anything here…"

"And that's true. Hikaru adjusts clothes especially for the people who are wearing them. And I doubt he has something adjusted for me in here, right?" She turned to him with the question.

Hikaru scratched his cheek. "Actually… I have a new dress, you might or might not use during the summer."

"You'll show me later. Right now, we're here to prank Model-kun."

Hikaru chuckled and nodded. "Poor boy. You brought it?"

"Yep. And he deserves it; honestly… you do as well." She fished out an itchy powder from her bag, but she didn't hand it to Hikaru. If she did, it could very well turn into an all out war.

"Me?" He asked innocently with a hand over his heart. "I just gave Ao-kun the opportunity of a lifetime."

"What?!" Aomine bristled. "You gave me what?! And what the hell did you just call me?!"

"What did you do?" Aiko asked curiously.

"Dear Aiko-chan, that's a secret between the three of us." He winked at her.

"Provoke me a bit more Hikaru…" Aya threatened him with narrowed eyes.

"I'm helping for free here. Or rather… You must promise you won't prank me." He stared at both teenagers.

Aya and Daiki exchanged glances. _'What-do-you-say?'_ She asked wordlessly.

He grimaced. _'Better-than-some-stupid-task.'_

Then they both nodded in mutual agreement. Not that they were ever thinking about getting back at Hikaru. "Fine." They both said.

"We won't prank for _that_ scheme." Aya specified. With Shiranuis she had to.

"Did you really just talk without talking?" Satsuki asked in disbelief. Those two were incredible idiots if they weren't dating yet.

"And when is Kise coming in?" Aya asked. She was starting to feel annoyed by the disturbances and unimportant chit-chats.

Aiko looked at a clock resting on the desk. "In fifteen minutes. He has the photo-shoot with me actually. I made Emi to agree on it. He'll be my uke."

"Ohoo." Aomine's eyebrow went up. This was a good payback of its own. "You're gonna beat the crap out of him for some magazine?"

"Basically." She shrugged nonchalantly. "His change of clothes isn't here yet. So this is gonna be tricky. One of you will have to get to his bag, take out the judogi, pepper it with the powder and put it back. But Ryouta usually doesn't leave his stuff lying around."

"So?" Aya asked.

"I'll need to put some make-up on him. I'll turn him towards the window, so he won't see you in the mirror. I like using the natural light if I can, so it's not gonna be strange. But it'll take only like three to five minutes." Hikaru joined in the explaining.

"I'll do it."

"You don't know how to properly fold a judogi." Aomine reminded her. "He'll know something is wrong."

"Will _you_ be quick enough?" She asked him.

"Who do you have me for, Sweetheart? I'll do it. You two just watch and learn."

"Why do I have a feeling this is gonna turn into a disaster?" Aya nudged Satsuki's elbow.

"I don't like to admit it… But I feel the same." The pinkette responded.

"When it'll be done. We'll use the photo-room number 6 on the third floor. It has a mirror glass. You can see the inside, but we can't see outside. It's used so our future employers or photographers can come and watch us, without stressing us too much, or if they want to go unnoticed." Aiko explained the last stage. "So you can go and watch and laugh."

######

"Shiracchi!" Kise walked into the room with a smile. He wasn't particularly happy about this photo-shoot, but it meant money. Shiracchi was already waiting for him and he had a jazz music playing in the background – just like usual. But then… "Oh, Aiko-nee-cchi. You're here too?"

"Yeah. We are doing this together after all."

"Why did you choose me?" He whined. "I don't want to get beaten. And it's for a woman's self-defence article…"

"So?"

"So which woman would mind _me_ attacking?! I'm sweet! Why wouldn't you choose someone more intimidating?" He complained in a childish, yet a self-confident tone.

"Aren't you overly confident? And who should I chose in your opinion?"

"Iwamura-san. Or Aominecchi!"

A vein popped on Aiko's forehead. "My boyfriend isn't scary or intimidating, and Aomine would rather learn to dance than do a photo-shoot for a magazine."

"I doubt that." He pouted.

"Would you two stop bickering and start getting ready?" Hikaru scolded them good heartily.

"Yeah. I'm changing first." Aiko said and headed towards the racks to use it as a changing screen.

"Yeah." Kise sighed and put his bag on the ground. He approached the mirrors and shrugged off his blazer. He neatly hung it over a chair. His necktie and shirt came off next. In a learned process he pinned up his hair.

######

The three pranksters were hiding behind the racks. Trying not to make any sound. Once Kise sat on the chair and Hikaru shielded his peripheral vision, Aiko took her judogi and went to change. She motioned for Aomine to get to it.

He took the powder from Aya and sneakily approached Kise's bag. His heart was beating like crazy, but he didn't mind the adrenaline. Until he found a problem. The bag was zipped up. And despite the music playing in the background, he couldn't open it up soundlessly. _Damn._ He swore inwardly.

"Ryouta?!" Aiko's voice almost caused him a heart-attack. "Did you bring me the tape I asked for?"

 _Did the girls really plan for everything?!_ Aomine thought in disbelief.

"Yeah. It's under the judogi. Just take it."

"Thanks!" She made several steps on the spot, so it sounded as if she approached the bag.

Aomine caught up quickly and unzipped it. Took out the judogi, peppered the inside of it with the powder and folded it back.

"The tape" Aya hissed at him.

"Hm?" Kise asked.

"Nothing." Aiko reacted, frowning at the redhead and the dork trying to be sneaky. "I think my hair is a total mess today!"

 _Oh._ He took the tape and put the judogi back inside.

He slowly shuffled back. Of course he had to graze a hanger with a heavy dress making it fall.

 _Shit!_ He swore inwardly.

######

Kise opened his eyes and turned towards the sound. Not seeing anything. "You are unusually clumsy today." He said and his golden orbs narrowed. He could feel that something was wrong. His instincts were telling him to be wary, but he had no idea of what.

"Ahahaha. Happens sometimes." Aiko laughed and picked the dress up.

Kise shrugged and got up. "All done. Your turn."

She was already dressed in her judogi and headed towards the chair.

"Where's the tape?" He asked. "I want to tape my fingers and toes, just in case."

Aiko sweatdropped. _Aomine has it!_ "I put it on the windowsill."

He nodded and headed to take his judogi.

######

"Give it here." Aya hissed into his ear. "I'll put it there. And don't you dare move a muscle." She ordered to both.

"I can –" Aomine wanted to protest but she covered his mouth with her palm and frowned at him. Those fierce red eyes tolerated no arguing at the moment.

He handed her the tape with a scowl, but didn't protest further.

She grabbed it and quickly, while Kise was still bent over his bag, moved towards the windowsill. She placed the tape there and wanted to leave, but she could hear Kise's footsteps approaching.

 _Crap!_ She snuggled into the clothes hanging on the closest rack and froze. Thankfully there was some red blouse, so her hair didn't scream 'this doesn't belong here!'. She knew that if she didn't want to get discovered she couldn't move a muscle, because she was taught it was the movement which caught attention as the first.

Kise was standing in front of her as his pants came off.

 _Just don't change your underwear too._ She prayed inwardly, though she kept her eyes opened – she needed to know what was going on. Blondes weren't her type, but when she omitted the hair and the face, Kise didn't look bad at all. Her prayers were heard, he didn't change his underwear, but he put on a jockstrap, just in case.

When he was all dressed up, he sat on the ground taping his toes. For a moment he lifted his head, and Aya would swear he was staring right into her face. She didn't dare to blink or to breathe or to move. Then he just shook his head and continued his taping.

"Let's go." Aiko called him. "You know Emi hates when we're late."

"Haaai!" He jumped up and headed after her.

When the three of them left, and the door clicked closed, Aya waited a few more seconds before she let out a heavy breath. "Fuuuuck!" She breathed out. "I thought he saw me there for a moment!"

"Aya-chan!" Satsuki sprang to her feet immediately. "You okay?"

"My heart is beating like crazy, but I'm fine. If I'm correct, he hasn't noticed, though I swear he stared right into my face for a second."

"Wait… You watched him change?"

"What? You've seen them all in a changing room in Teiko." The redhead shrugged. "And it's not like he was naked – naked. Don't even try to tell me you'd close your eyes or somethin'."

"Ah… well…" She blushed. "No." She admitted.

"Ohoooo…. So that's why you're always in a changing room with us?" Aomine teased both girls at the same time.

"Aomine-kuuuun!" Satsuki blushed and hid her face in her palms.

Aya laughed at the reaction. "We're girls, not saints, Honey-bun." That made the bluenette blush slightly, but before he could retort something, Aya continued. "And are you an idiot?! You should've given her the tape right away! Kise'll definitely notice she didn't tape anything."

Aomine shrugged. "Too late. He's already all dressed up in the powder."

"True." Aya nodded. "It should take like 3 minutes for it to take effect. Let's wait a moment and then we'll go."

######

"Ne?" Kise asked his sister as he followed her.

"What?"

"You'll think I'm crazy."

"I think that anyways, so?"

"I think I saw a girl. Stuck in the rack of clothes. And she looked so similar to Ayacchi."

"And what would a girl do there?" Aiko raised an eyebrow and struggled to keep a straight face.

"Dunno." He shrugged. "I probably imagined it." He said and scratched his itching neck.

Aiko had to hide a devious smirk. The itchy powder was starting to take effect.

######

"Like that! Stay still!" The photographer ordered. Aiko was holding Kise's neck in a choking grip and he needed a good shot.

Then he frowned. The boy didn't seem to be able to hold still. "Ryouta-kun! Focus! Why are you squirming so much today?" It was unusual for him to be so antsy.

"Ah! Sorry!" He said and bit the inside of his cheek in try to calm down. He felt like scratching his skin off. It was so damn uncomfortable. What the hell was going on?!

"Oh little brother, did something happen?" She asked with a smirk. "I thought you didn't want to get beaten more than absolutely necessary."

His eyes narrowed at her. "What have you done?" He asked suspiciously.

She blinked at him. "What are talking about? Is something wrong?"

"Stop chit-chating and get back to work!" The photographer reminded them.

"Haaai!" Aiko nodded and scratched her arm which came into contact with Ryouta's neck. _Oh god no…_ She thought desperately. Only then did she realise that by showing Jiu-jitsu moves, which sometimes required close physical contact, she'd get itchy powder on herself too. Or was there the itchy powder on the outer side of Ryouta's judogi? _Damn you Aomine!_

######

The three stood in front of the photo-room no. 6 laughing at the two siblings.

"This is awesome. I had no idea she'd get itchy too." Aomine said through laughter, but he knew all too well she would. He was a bit evil. The past few days he'd been a bundle of prickles and bad mood, but this distraction seemed to be working well.

"I had a suspicion." Aya said and stared at the laughing ace. She'd never seen Aomine laugh so naturally, his ever present frown was off of his face and it made him actually look his age. _He has a nice laugh._

Satsuki looked at the redhead with a knowing, kind smile. As if saying: _'See? He can be cute too.'_

"And I bet you peppered the outside of Ki-chan's judogi too." Satsuki said.

Aomine looked at her with a mischievous spark in his eyes. "I thought it might fun."

"Now you'll be hiding from Aiko in the sewers." Aya reminded him.

"Definitely worth it!"

######

"Are you itching too?" Kise asked his sister when she scratched her arms for the nth time.

She tried to laugh it off. "You're imagining things."

But her brother was sharp. He noticed Hikaru's discreet laughing fit. And the cogs in his head kept spinning. Aiko was behaving suspiciously. He started itching _after_ he got changed… There was something off about Shiracchi too, and the girl he imagined in the rack… Had he really imagined it? If not… Plus they were using the room no. 6, while he usually used the room no. 16 and Aiko the room no. 5, those didn't have the see-through mirror…

"Waaaaait a minute." He turned towards the door.

Before the three could run and hide, Kise yanked the door open. "Oi!" He jumped into the corridor and stared at his friends, dying of laughter.

"What are you doing here?!" He asked totally baffled.

Their laughing fit became even more uncontrollable when they saw the shocked expression on Kise's face.

He noticed the itchy powder in Satsuki's hands – for some reason she forgot to leave it in the room, and the show was too hilarious for her to leave. It all clicked. "Oh no you haven't." He shook his head.

"Oh yeah we have, Model-kun." Aya said and stared at him. "The pineapple pattern on your boxers is cute."

Kise gasped and blushed in an overly dramatic gesture. "So I didn't imagine you! Ayacchi! How could you?!" He whined, but his eyes had an amused sparkle in them.

"Aomineeeeeeeeeee!" Aiko ran out of the room in only her t-shirt and attacked him.

"Urgh!" He let out a grunt as Aiko threw him over her shoulder. Because of his laughing fit, she caught him by surprise.

And the mayhem started.

"This is war, Ryouta!" She shouted at him, keeping Aomine in check. "You little devil!" She growled at him as she tried to catch him into some of her typical holds. So far, Aomine was fighting her off pretty effectively. It was more difficult to wrestle when none of them wore a judogi – they wore nothing sturdy enough to grab onto.

Ryouta didn't need another nudge. He looked at the two girls –

"Satsuki, RUN!" Aya shouted and turned on her heel to run for it, not caring about Satsuki anymore. But she tripped over Aomine's outstretched leg which appeared out of nowhere.

"Oh, no you don't, Ayacchi!" Kise grabbed her elbow, pulling her back. She rammed back-first into his chest, and he held her tight with one of his arms. She could squirm and kick in his grip all she wanted, but he was way too strong.

Ryouta shrugged off one side of his judogi's top. Then, he took a breath to quickly move Ayacchi to his other arm without giving her a chance to run, because he knew she would find a way to slither away from him given the chance. When he managed to get out of his judogi's top, staying half-naked, he wrapped Ayacchi into it.

"Noooo!" She squealed, as Kise thoroughly rubbed his hand along her arms, back and waist: to get as much powder on her as possible.

Satsuki's eyes widened, she was so surprised she didn't try to run when Aya told her to and everything was happening so fast... But now, she didn't want to suffer the same fate as Aya. Everyone seemed occupied, so Satsuki tried to run for it. It had one obstacle: she had to get around Aomine and Aiko, who now turned into a ball of flying arms and legs, and who filled the entire space of the corridor.

"Stay where you are Momocchi!" Kise said in a dangerous voice. He took a step in Satsuki's direction, letting Aya go.

"No you don't." The redhead growled and jumped on his back. "Run! Don't let them get it!"

"Ah!" He hadn't expected that. He lost his balance under Aya's weight and toppled forward.

Aiko noticed the desperate girl trying to get past them and her eyes zoomed on the itchy powder the pinkette was holding.

Aomine, noticing Aiko's stare, shouted at Satsuki, "Just go! I'll hold her down."

"You think?" Aiko's growled and punched his lower ribs, not at all gently.

"Urgh." His body instinctively squirmed to the side, just to get punched in the chin.

Aiko turned around and grabbed Satsuki's ankle, as she tried to run around them. With a loud 'thud', the pinkette spread on the ground. Aiko climbed over her and yanked the itchy powder from her hands. She opened it and dumped part of its contents on Satsuki, into her hair and under her shirt.

"Oi!" Aomine crawled to his knees. He grabbed Aiko's leg and pulled her off of Satsuki. He didn't know she was now in possession of the itchy powder, he was just helping his friend.

With a quick round kick, still on her knees, she hit his shoulder making him fall backwards and with an incredible speed she got on top of him, dumping the powder under his t-shirt – ripping it in the process, over his face and hair. He squeezed his eyes and mouth shut in a desperate struggle to not get the powder in them.

"What are you doing, Ryouta?!" She turned to see his brother, who was totally tangled up with Aya and his own judogi. "Eh?!" She immediately went to help her useless brother, who got bested by a girl. Aomine's arm shooting out to catch her when –

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!" Emi thundered when she got off the lift with Sato-san closely following her.

All teenagers froze on the spot.

Hikaru and the photographer where laughing their heads off. They were leaning against the wall and watching the show. Some photos were taken, just to commemorate the prank.

"Uhm… Emi-nee. Ahahaha." Aiko was the first one go get up and dust off the powder she got covered with in the process. Not that it helped.

Satsuki and Aomine got up the next. His t-shirt was ripped in the front halfway to his stomach and Satuki's shirt got several missing buttons after fighting with Aiko.

It took a moment for Kise and Aya to untangle their limbs.

Aya's hair was a mess, at some point Kise tore out her hair tie, which came out with a strand of red hair. Her dress was ripped on a side of her thigh all the way to her hip, her cheeks were flushed from the effort she put into fighting with the blonde, but she was squeezing her lips not to laugh.

Kise had a bleeding scratch on his bare shoulder and a bruise already forming on his side, where Aya kicked him – he'd swear she knew exactly what she was doing. _At least she didn't bite._ He thought and picked up his judogi's top.

"You were supposed to work Aiko! Not to cause mayhem! That's why I don't like the two of you having a joint shoots!" Emi was in her late twenties, with long blonde hair tied into a high ponytail, she was dressed in a skirt-suit and high-heels. Compared to the sweaty, snickering and totally dishevelled teenagers she looked almost comically.

"The work is all done, Emi-san." The photographer said. "They can have some fun too, no?"

"Not like this! Get out! Go get changed, all of you! You look ridiculous." She spat out angrily and walked into the photo-room no.4, to check it out before the next photo-shooting.

Aiko stuck out her tongue after Emi. "She's a fun killer." She grumbled and started heading towards the lift. They really needed to change.

Aya scratched her neck and arms, she was starting to itch. When she saw that Aomine and Satsuki weren't better off, she couldn't help but laugh. "I'm glad she came, or you'd yank out more of my hair." She looked at Kise with a scold mixed with mischief.

"Ahahaha." He scratched the back of his neck sheepishly, and because it itched. "Sorry! I didn't mean to yank your hair out, but uhhh… Oi, you scratched me too, Ayacchi!" He accused her, pointing at the scratch.

Hikaru slapped Kise's shoulder. "Be glad she hasn't had a proper fight with her cousins or Taiga in years. Otherwise she'd best you. Martial art skills or not."

"WHAT?! You do jiu-jitsu too?!" Aya asked him with wide eyes.

Kise laughed. "I didn't want to tell you. Maybe I should've and you wouldn't try to fight me…. or scratch me…" He pouted.

"Robin wouldn't get discouraged by that… But, look at it positively Ryouta-kun… As Kouta would say –"

Aya slapped her palm across Hikaru's lips. "We're not curious what Kouta would say."

"Who's that?" The blonde asked curiously, tilting his head to a side.

"His perverted younger brother." Aomine said, scratching his chest. "Oi witch hag, you destroyed my t-shirt!"

"Ha?!" Aiko glared at him as they squeezed into the lift, ready to start another fight.

"Now, now." The photographer tried to calm them down. "Don't fight in here."

"And my shirt!" Satsuki added, pulling the shirt together to cover her chest.

"And Model-kun ripped my dress!" Aya complained too.

"YOU WHAT?!" Aomine glared at Kise. In the ruckus he hadn't noticed.

The blonde smirked deviously. "Oh, don't be jealous, Aominecchi. I bet you'll get to try it once." He teased, which only earned him a double punch into the ribs from Aomine _and_ Aya. What did it matter that they were both blushing…

Kise get out of the lift as first, coughing and spitting after taking the punches. "That's unfaiiir!"

"Well done." Aomine smirked at the girl, admiring the long fiery hair and ripped dress. Without thinking about it, he raised his fist and offered it to Aya.

She stared at it for a second and then she smirked too. "Well done." She nodded and fist bumped with him.

 _Eh?!_ Satsuki was staring at the gesture which Dai-chan had reserved solely for Tetsu-kun. _Well… He had no time to think about his superiority and unnecessary stuff…_ And she couldn't fight a gentle smile appearing on her face.

######

They all arrived to their homes in their uniforms, scratching themselves like crazy – Hikaru hadn't let them use the company's showers out of fun. After they took showers, washed their uniforms and clothes, they all received a mail with photos of their crazy fight.

"Seriously?" Taiga looked at it over Aya's shoulder. "I didn't know you were into blondes." He teased her when seeing the photo of Kise falling to his knees with Aya on his back.

"Shut up!"

Taiga laughed. "Let me see the rest."

They went over it. Taiga blushed, when he saw a part of Satsuki's bra peeking from her torn opened shirt and Aiko straddling the poor pinkette. And he laughed at Aomine's expression when Aiko was peppering him with the powder.

But… "If this gets to our father Aya…"

"Nah. I'm gonna trust Hikaru with this. He knows it can't get there."

"But you know…"

"He won't care anyways."

"It's you, fighting with a half-naked model, Aya. Without the pranking context and the other photos…" He said seriously.

She shrugged. "He'll think what he wants anyways. And stop fouling my mood, stinky! We did nothing of the sort **_and_** I had an awesome day!"

"Oh, okay. Then I won't tell you what I found out about Aomine's past."

"I want to know that."

Taiga stuck out his tongue at her. "Nope."

Another mail from Hikaru arrived. 'Just for you, Robin.' – it said and a picture of her and Aomine fist-bumping with bright grins was attached.

Taiga rolled his eyes. "Just start dating him already. I bet he won't turn you down."

"Go to hell."

* * *

 **A/N:** I hope you liked it. I'm not good with thinking up pranks, or pranking in general, but I sure as hell don't like cruel pranks, so I think an itchy powder could be enough :) Our two dorks are getting closer and closer, but you all know the match is right around the corner...

Let me know what you think but remember, reviews are appreciated but never necessary.

-S.


	26. Chapter 26: Broken promise

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone who followed and favourited and reviewed! It makes me very happy :)

Good news, I found some time to go through this again and post it almost according to my set schedule. Originally I wanted to post chapters 26 and 27 together, but I had no time to continue the story and I need to have some more chapters stored as a buffer until I finish the thesis.

Enjoy!

* * *

 _"I didn't like seeing you with him" he says. "I don't think I'd like seeing you with any other guy...beside me." **― Simone Elkeles, Chain Reaction**_

 _I do not try to dance better than anyone else. I only try to dance better than myself. **– Mikhail Baryshnikov**_

 _Humility is even more pleasing in people in whom arrogance would be understandable. **― Mokokoma Mokhonoana**_

 _One man can be a crucial ingredient on a team, but one man cannot make a team. **– Kareem Abdul-Jabbar**_

 _She was a girl who knew how to be happy even when she was sad. And that's important—you know. **― Marilyn Monroe**_

* * *

"Did you get the photos too?" Aya asked him when she walked into the class after a morning practise.

Aomine was dozing off, but he quickly shook it off. "Hmm? Oh, yeah." He felt strangely goofy after pulling off the prank. Sure, getting home covered with itchy powder had been a terrible experience, but somehow, it had made him feel better.

In the turmoil of his confused and contradictory emotions, something good was sprouting. Something that felt so right. Something that was worth it. And it was Kagami Aya who brought it into his life. By this point he guessed it probably wasn't a crush anymore. But he wasn't sure at all. He had nothing to compare it with. She wasn't that simple. She wasn't naïve. She wasn't desperately searching for a boyfriend like some girls in their class. And he had no idea what was going on inside of her head. What she thought of him… And to some point, it actually worried him.

He stared at her, trying to guess her thoughts. _I had no idea I'd be the one to ever chicken out…_

But he could guess nothing at all, she chuckled and a happy smile settled on her face. "The one where you're pulling Aiko's cheek is awesome."She said.

He smirked; maybe he could try provoking her a bit? "Heh, the one where she's ripping my t-shirt looks really desperate. I wonder if her dear boyfriend saw that." There was something that flashed in her eyes, but it was gone before he could make his guess. He was completely new to this strange feeling he had.

"Knowing Aiko, even though I know her for just two days… I think they laughed at it together. Taiga teased me over the picture with Kise to no ends!"

Was she teasing him? Or did she want to see his reaction? "You didn't seem to mind it."

He'd received the photos in the evening. At first, he hadn't wanted to see them at all. But then… Satsuki had called him if he'd seen the picture of Kise and Aya and he'd gotten curious. Even Aiko had written him a message to tease him: Kise'd probably told her about his crush, or she'd guessed it somehow. Either way, Aiko knew. The message had said: 'Thought she said blondes are not her type…'. He'd gone through the photos, and he'd known exactly which one she'd meant. Or maybe two. The one where she was jumping on Kise's back making him topple forward. And then the one which had made him feel like punching Kise's nose, for enjoying the fight with the redhead. On that picture, she was basically straddling the blonde's hips trying to pull the itchy judogi's top over his head, while he held her wrists trying to keep her at bay. Her dress had been already torn then, showing off her entire right thigh all the way up to her hip. He'd been pissed off, jealous and envious at the same time. And then he'd imagined himself at the blonde's place and it'd been near impossible to fall asleep.

He had to fight off a blush. _If only she knew…_

"I wasn't particularly thinking or caring about it in the midst of the fight." She shrugged and then her eyes stared at him mischievously. "Oh… Did it make you jealous, Honey-bun?" She teased quietly, so that only he could hear. "Or do you want to have a photo with me too?"

And there went his tries not to blush. His cheeks heated up, and he knew his tanned skin wouldn't hide it from her sharp eyes staring right at him. "Ah… Uhm… Yea… No! … I mean… No! 'f course not!" He struggled with words like an idiot. _She's a devil! Kagami: 100, me:0_

She laughed at his reaction. "But don't worry; we do have a picture together." She smiled and a subtle blush appeared on her face too.

It made him blink. "Ha? What picture?" _I didn't wrestle with you…_

"That's a secret." She told him as if wanting to show him and then changing her mind in the last second.

"Not fair."

She chuckled. "Life's not fair… And I have one favour to ask of you." All the previous mischievousness was gone from her voice and expression.

His eyes narrowed in suspicion. "What is it?" He asked carefully, all his flush gone.

"Don't share those pictures with anyone, please. Hikaru knows and I've already asked Satsuki and Kise and Aiko. Show it if you want, but don't send it to anyone."

"Why?" He wanted to know the reasons. Not the reasons behind the not-sharing – he wouldn't want that either, but the reasons behind her sudden seriousness.

She looked out of the window, resting her cheek against a palm. "Let's say I've had a bad experience with this." She looked back at him. And before he could ask further she added. "Maybe I'll tell you someday." Her smile didn't quite reach her eyes this time. "And I can't possibly have my father winding up seeing it."

"Oh." He could imagine. "You'd be done for…"

There wasn't a speck of humour in her laugh. "Trust me… If it were just me who'd be done for I wouldn't care, Honey-bun."

######

 _Happening around the same time:_

"Ne, Ryuu?" Kano leaned over to his friend. "Did something happen?"

"Eh? What do you mean?"

"Look at those two." He pointed at Aomine and Aya, who were discussing something. "There is something… blooming around them…"

"He looks the same to me." Ishii shrugged, though Aya looked a notch happier than usual.

"The same? Dude you've just missed on seeing him blushing! I didn't think it was possible in his case."

"Huh? Aomine doesn't blush. Have you seen those magazines of his?"

Kano blushed and looked away.

"Uhm… I heard they pranked Kise-san yesterday." Kiku peeped, finally not stuttering around the team anymore. "Maybe that's it?"

"They what?" Both boys snapped their eyes at her. "How do you know that, Kiku-chan?"

"Ah well… I shared a phone call in the evening with Aya and Satsuki-chan."

"Oh… So that's it… But why would they prank him?"

Kiku shrugged. "I don't know really. Something about a video?"

######

"Aomine-kun!" Satsuki caught him near the shoe lockers before he could depart home.

He rolled his eyes before turning around to face her. He had a good idea what she could want. "What?"

"Where are you going?"

"Home, obviously."

"Come to practise!" She demanded. "We're facing Tetsu-kun on Saturday! That's only four days left, today included! You can't skip **_now_**!"

"And why not?" He asked in a bored voice and frowned. Why did she have to bring that up? He was feeling quite fine the whole day, not thinking about an unnecessary stuff… Until now.

"It's Tetsu-kun! I can't predict him at all!" _And he promised me they'd win!_

"Who's the strongest in our team?"

She frowned, knowing where this conversation was heading, but not able to contradict him. "Ah… You."

"How many points did I score in the last game?" He repeated the same questions he'd asked Wakamatsu the day he kicked him.

Her frown deepened. "94." She said reluctantly. She didn't want to feed his ego, but it was the truth.

He raised an eyebrow at her and a cocky smirk appeared on his face. "See? I'll win. Anything else you have to say?"

"It's Tetsu-kun and Aya-chan's brother! Can't you at least act a little bit serious about it all?!" She threw her arms up in a desperate gesture. It made her wonder how Aya-chan was coping with this attitude of his, because for Aya-chan, it'd been more personal than any other match.

"So you want me to get even better to make their defeat even worse than it's gonna be?"

That was partially his reason for missing out so many practises. If he got even better, the sport he loved would become even more boring. So far, he hadn't met anyone who'd stood his equal, and it scared him. Aya was awesome when it came to speed and tricks and not giving up, but she couldn't win against him in basketball. He really wanted to see her, but… at the same time he had no reason to discourage his own teammates. Except the few idiots like Kano, his teammates didn't even want to go up against him during practises, so what was the point? As much as he knew, they were steadily getting better anyways, and it would make him feel even number if anyone quit because of him again, as it had happened in Teiko before.

She stared at him as if reading his thought process. "I want you to be serious about it!"

"Yeah, yeah. Good luck with the practise." He turned on his heel and walked away, leaving the fuming Satsuki to herself.

######

Aomine's phone rang in the evening. "What do you want?" He growled at his friend.

"Aominecchi! How cold! I get you're jealous… BUT! It wasn't my intention to get straddled by Ayacchi! I'm innocent in this one. Don't be angry?!" The blonde whined dramatically.

A vein popped on his forehead and he hung up. _Bastard._

The phone rang again and he ignored it, staring at the ceiling. But Kise was unbelievably persistent. The phone kept ringing and ringing and ringing for so long that Daiki couldn't ignore it anymore.

"What?!" He barked.

 _"Ah. You've picked up! Awesome!"_

"What do you want?" He repeated the question irritably.

 _"Your next match is against Kurokocchi and Kagamicchi, right?"_

"So?"

 _"Just be careful. Kagamicchi is not bad at all."_

"Why is everyone fretting over it, hah?!" Now he was starting to get really pissed off. "The only one who can beat me is me! Not you, not Midorima and definitely not Kagami."

 _"If you think so…"_ He could literally feel Kise's shrug and that foxy smile of his. _"But don't forget. Kagamicchi is Ayacchi's brother."_

"I know."

 _"Ah well then... That's all. Have a nice night Aominecchi. And don't be too jealous."_ Kise chuckled and hung up.

"Urgh!" Daiki almost threw the phone out of the window.

* * *

"Where did he go again?" Aya asked Kano during a lunch break. If she'd known she'd have to look for Aomine she wouldn't have brought him a bento.

"Don't ask me Aya-chan. He just left."

"I saw him heading upstairs. Sorry I didn't stop him. I'm sorry. I didn't know you'd look for him. Sorry." Sakurai said.

"The rooftop, huh?"

"Did something sit on his nose again?" Kano asked, because in the past few days the ace went from aggressive to tolerable and even friendly to his usual grumpy and prickly self.

Aya sighed and shook her head. "I have no idea. Athletes tend to be worked up before a competition but he's… I swear his mood swings these days are worse than a woman on her period." She grabbed both lunches and left the classroom.

"Is she really going to look for him?"

"I'm sorry!"

Kano sighed. "It's not your fault, Sakurai. So stop apologising already." He then turned to his best friend. "Ryuu, let's play some one-on-one!"

"Eh? Now?" He blinked at Kano. Then he shook his head and stared at his half-eaten lunch. "Sure, why not. Wanna join, Sakurai?"

"If it's not a trouble."

They both sighed. "Why would it be a trouble, _you_ are the regular, not us! Come on!"

"Uhm, can I join too?"

"Eeeeh?! Kiku-chan?! What happened?"

"Aah, uuhm… Aya's been trying to teach me to not trip over myself that much lately… So uhm…"

Kano grinned. "Since the party, huh? Geeeez, Wakamatsu-senpai would be beside himself if he knew!"

"D-d-don't you dare tell him!" She hissed. She wasn't ready to tell Wakamatsu, she's been trying to learn how to play basketball with her zero leg coordination.

"Wait up! I'm going with you!" Aya ran after her friends.

"Eh? Weren't you looking for Aomine?" Ishii asked eyeing the two bento boxes she was still carrying.

"I've changed my mind. I did lose a bet, but that doesn't make me his lapdog. If he wants my lunches he'll have to get them himself." She shrugged. She wasn't going to get angry over this. If Aomine wanted to be alone for now, then so be it.

"That's our Aya-chan!" Kano patted her shoulder good heartily and grinned at her.

She shook her head and had to smile. "Sure is!" _But sometimes I need a reminder._

Lately, she was too preoccupied by Aomine's troubles, work and extra dancing practises that she felt like she neglected her other friends. She wasn't sure she liked the extension of the effect Aomine Daiki had on her. At first she was just curious about this Aomine Daiki phenomenon. But after she'd seen sides of him not everyone got to see, gentle and caring sides, though he desperately tried to hide it… She knew… Being in love with and trying to understand someone as complicated and as contradictory as Aomine was energy consuming. But for some reason, she felt it was worth it.

She was aware that her relationship with Aomine was different from what she had with the others. Special in a way. Or at least she liked to think that. But despite all that, she couldn't be so sure what he thought about her. And because of all the things on her plate, she didn't have much time to deal with it.

######

"Why didn't you bring me my lunch?" Aomine complained after school.

She raised an eyebrow at him. "I did. It's not my fault you disappeared the moment the lunch break started."

"You know where I went."

"With you it's never too sure. And besides… I lost a bet; I have **_not_** become your personal maid." Her reddish eyes stared at him with a scold.

"Too bad. I wouldn't mind having _you_ as a personal maid, Sweetheart."

She raised an eyebrow at him and leaned closer over his desk. "You're playing with fire now, my dear." She warned him in a sweet voice with a daring edge to it. "I have enough to do as it is; don't expect me to look for you every day. Anything else you want to add?" _And we're back to normal in one day._

He opened his mouth to retort, but closed them immediately after. There was nothing he could say that would be safe enough. He liked bickering with her, but he didn't really want her to hate him.

"Good choice." She nodded, and pulled his lunch out of her bag and handed it over. "Don't forget it next time."

######

"How's Taiga's leg doing?" Katsunori asked her during the practise.

The boys were playing mini matches, and because it was only two days until the match, Aya decided to observe them. There were things one could notice only when standing at sidelines. And if she joined now, she'd only hinder them.

"Hmm… I think it's getting better. He should be fine for the match."

"Who do you think is going to win?"

"Honestly? I think Touou has it pretty much in the pocket already. But I believe they will give us trouble and that the match will certainly be interesting and worth it." She sighed. "I don't like to admit it, but Taiga is still nowhere near Aomine's level, plus the injured leg and Satsuki's research…"

Katsunori raised an eyebrow at her. "Have you told that to Taiga?"

"We talked about it, in a way. I said if he wins he wins, if he loses he loses, either way he'll learn something important. It's not necessary to tell him _'you'll lose'_. My team is Touou; it's obvious who I want to win more."

He pulled at his fringe and nodded. "So we'll need Aomine."

"We'll need Aomine." She agreed.

"Why don't you talk to the boys?"

Aya gave him a confused look. "What do you mean? I talk with them daily…?"

"About winning the championships… Or who your father is? I'm actually surprised no one has questioned it yet. I don't think we'd have any connection if it wasn't for Haruka and Kyou."

"Kagami is not that unique name and besides… Why do you think I told them to call me by my name on the day one?" She smirked and shrugged. "If they don't repeat my family name that often, it's not that questionable."

He was shaking his head in disbelief. The girl had it well thought out. "Why don't you want them to know?"

"What would it change? The whole school would know and I'd suddenly become a unicorn. Or wait, did you think I was an arrogant bastard who'd want all the attention?"

"Ahaha… No… Of course not."

She gave him an unimpressed look. "Really…"

He scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. "Well, I didn't see you or hear from you in years. And Haruka still ignores all the calls and e-mails I send him. So I thought you'd be exactly like Aomine was when I first met him. I was proven wrong in the first few days, but I still don't get why you keep it a secret. You love performing – attention, no?"

"I love performing. I don't like when people observe my every step in my everyday life. And once they know, it's hard to avoid that kind of _'stalking'_. And again… What would it change?"

"They'd know you better. They'd get why you can rein in on Aomine. By the way, when exactly did you tell him?" He asked curiously.

"I don't know. I don't remember saying it to him directly, and yet he claims I had."

"And about Haruka?"

"He hasn't figured it out yet, though Satsuki knows, so I s'pose it's only a matter of time now." She shrugged, she knew about Satsuki's love for gossips, she just hoped the pinkette would keep quiet at least about something.

"Then I'm surprised it's not all over the team yet. But listen… They've started to question how good you are and all… Maybe it'd be better if you tell them yourself, so they won't feel betrayed."

"Betrayed? I haven't lied."

"Maybe not, but you purposefully haven't told them things. They are your friends, at least some of them."

She stared at the boys for a moment and then she sighed. "… I'll think about it."

######

Not practising was like a torture for Taiga, mainly when the coach forced him to sit by and watch. He was playing around with a ball, spinning it on his fingers, or just throwing it up in the air. He was feeling antsy and considering going out to the outside court. Thinking about Aomine's superior skills didn't make it easier in the slightest.

Thankfully, before he could seriously leave, Aya came home.

"Tadaima." She greeted him as she jumped out of her shoes and undid her ribbon.

"Okaeri', I thought you'd stay over practise." He said sheepishly, sitting on the couch fully dressed and ready to leave.

Her eyes immediately narrowed in suspicion. "What were you planning?"

He gulped and discreetly hid a ball behind his back. "Nothing."

Not as discreetly as he'd wanted.

"Taiga?"

"Okaaaay!... Maybe I wanted to stop by the courts. Just to throw in some! I wouldn't've jumped at all! I swear!"

Aya sighed and scratched her head. "I swear you are never gonna learn. We live on the 14th floor, the lift is still not working and probably not going to anytime soon. Your leg is injured and you've already went down and up the stairs once. Do you really want to lose that much?"

"I'm not gonna lose! I've promised that to Kuroko!" He answered immediately, standing up to enhance the importance of the promise.

"Then keep to that promise and **_stay put_**. I mean it."

"It doesn't hurt that much today, so I thought… Maybe… A little bit."

" _A little bit_ would be your end Taiga. Please, don't damage your muscle more than it already is. Even if it doesn't hurt as much anymore, it's still strained. It needs time!"

Taiga pouted. "Says a girl who won a competition when the skin on the soles of her feet was torn and peeled off. Or her toe nail was missing… Really."

"It was nothing that could turn into a serious or permanent injury, and you know it."

"…" He slumped back onto the couch.

Aya nodded to herself. "Good that we understand each other." She unbuttoned her shirt and headed to her room to change into more comfortable clothes. "What's for dinner?!"

"Eh? You haven't told me to cook it."

"Then let's make something together. What do you want?"

"I'm not that hungry… But I'd like something with fruits. Something sweet."

"Fruits with yoghurt? Or something more sophisticated?" She came back to the kitchen and took out a knife to cut whatever fruit they had.

"That can do." He nodded and shuffled to the counter to help her.

They worked in a comfortable silence, until they had a huge bowl full of cut fresh fruits. Even if Taiga wasn't 'that hungry', he could still eat an unbelievable amount of food.

"Katsu asked me to talk with my boys… About my championships..." She said with a sigh.

"You still haven't?" He raised an eyebrow at her.

"Have you talked with your team about our father?"

"'f course not. They expect a whole lot from me as it is. If they knew it'd only add pressure. I don't want that, I don't think I can measure up to him just yet."

 **"This is so weird."** They said in unison and sighed.

"I mean, I should've told them long time ago, it's just… I don't know. I don't want them to think I'm something special, when I'm not." Aya mused staring at her hands.

"You just won some world championships… It's easy, anyone can do it. Tcs… nothing special." He said sarcastically and took out white yoghurt from the fridge.

She punched his shoulder. "But yes! If one trains enough! It's not like I know everything. I'm not perfect. There are so many things to improve, so many dances out there I haven't tried yet, some I haven't heard about at all."

"You are seriously scary. Anyone with your experience would be so full of themselves."

"I can be too."

"…Only if you decide you need to act like a bitch and pull out that mask."

She shrugged. "Sometimes it's needed. … How should I tell them anyways? Like 'by the way I won a couple of world championships?'"

"Why not? It could be funny. But really… you want to tell them tomorrow? One day before the match?"

"Probably not. I need them focused on Saturday."

"We've been researched, right?"

"Into the smallest details. Yes."

Taiga frowned and stuffed his mouth with yoghurt and fruits. "We haven't done that… I just watched the matches I could get. But Aomine seemed… slacking off."

"Because he was. He shouldn't do that while facing Kuroko. Or so I hope."

"Do we have any chance?"

"Of course you do! There is no such match with 0 chances to win. Satsuki can't analyse Kuroko at all. And she doesn't have much data on you either. I wouldn't sell off my brother. So… You do have a chance."

* * *

"Tche! We have the match tomorrow and Ahomine hasn't come to practise once! Why the hell is he still going to play?!" Yamaoka protested after hearing that Aomine should play as a starter in the match against Seirin.

"Because we'll need him." Imayoshi said calmly. "He is the best after all."

"He is too full of himself if you ask me! It's not fair."

Imayoshi took a deep breath to answer without hitting his teammate, because this banter was going on for some minutes. And the coach didn't seem prone to react at all.

"Life's not fair. Get over it." Aya barked, annoyed by the argument. She knew it wasn't fair, but Aomine had what the others didn't, and in this match, he'd be really needed.

He turned to her with a furious expression. "And why are you still protecting him?! What are you to him anyways? His babysitter?!" He shouted at her and took a step closer with each sentence.

She didn't waver and remained glued to her spot. She tried to have a truce with this third year, but Yamaoka always had the comments, always argued… He was getting on her nerves so damn much.

"Maybe I am." She shrugged with a dry chuckle. "And look… This might not be fair, but if you have a time to argue and complain… why don't you train some more to get better, huh?!" She asked coldly. "I don't remember you coming to all practises or staying over-practise. Ever. If there is anyone who could complain it's the guys who actually stay here every day. Not you." Her eyes were staring at him

"Oi, oi." Wakamatsu raised his hands in a peaceful gesture, trying to calm the atmosphere. But both ignored him.

"You little girl," Yamaoka jabbed his finger towards her and leaned down to be on eye level with her, "have no right to talk like **_this_** with your _senpai_. Learn where your place is already."

A vein popped on her forehead. "Well then, tell me. Where is my place in your opinion?" She asked venomously. Arguing with this idiot was below her.

"You're a mere manager. You carry water bottles and towels. Do researches. More like a maid, really." His lips twisted into a smirk. "Don't get all high just because some of them respect you for whatever reasons."

"Aomine you mean~?" Imayoshi provoked him a bit, which only earned him a glare from Susa. The captain knew that Aya was more than capable of handling herself. Still, he didn't like where this was heading. Then again… Yamaoka needed a reality check yet again.

"Oi, what are you saying?!" Wakamatsu grabbed Yamaoka's shoulder, to pull him away from Aya, just in case the third year decided to go for a slap or something.

"A mere manager, eh?" She asked quietly. It served like a slap and hurt flashed in her reddish eyes for a moment. She was doing so damn much for the bunch of boys and there he was, saying it was basically all unappreciated? "What the hell?"

But Yamaoka shrugged the center off, and smirked at the girl. "Eeeeh? Have you thought we were all friends here? In this team, we don't care about character, _Sweetheart._ " He mockingly used the nickname Aomine had been using for so long.

She didn't hear Katsunori, as he tried to calm the situation down. She knew the Touou's team was like that. He didn't have to remind her. She was patient and composed, but even she had her limits. And right now, those limits got exceeded. Her blood boiled; it'd been a long time since someone had behaved like this towards her. She was already out of practice of how to deal with it calmly and gracefully. Or maybe she just needed to let out the steam. Her fist curled and she punched Yamaoka's stomach. He would _not_ look down on her.

A sharp pain shot through his body as he bent forward retching.

"Now when you are at my level, listen closely." She was almost growling into his ear, her eyes burning with anger. "You know _nothing_ about me. And I've been trying to be nice, but if you want a war… Want me to show you what it means to be _my_ enemy, _dear senpai_?"

The threat sounded so real and wicked that it made his blood freeze. Kagami Aya could be scary; he'd learned that already, but that she could be this terrifying…

"STOP IT! BOTH OF YOU!" Katsunori thundered at them, because no one had been listening to him before.

Aya took a step back and opened her fist several times – giving a proper punch sure hurt. "He deserved it." She shrugged.

"That's not a reason to get violent."

"I didn't hear you helping in any away, so what did you expect? That I'll quietly listen to his insults, then smile and leave like usual. Sorry, Katsu, my patience ran out this time." She turned to leave. "Oh, and senpai?"

Yamaoka's eyes widened in surprise.

"A little advice and a warning from the 'lowlife maid'… Next time, I'll break your nose." She grabbed the said water bottles to go wash them. She stopped in the door for a moment, "Sorry guys, didn't want you to see that, but well…" She shrugged, then smiled apologetically and then left.

"And this is why we respect her. If you kept your opinions to yourself… Well…" Imayoshi said to Yamaoka with a smile and patted his shoulder. "Don't forget to come tomorrow. The match starts at five in the afternoon."

"Keh." He slapped away the captain's arm and stomped to the changing room.

Katsunori was just staring after her. He should've stepped in sooner. He'd never particularly cared about the relationships inside the team and maybe that was a mistake.

######

Aomine's phone chimed in the evening. He was out with the dogs, trying to not think about the upcoming match too much. _What does Kise want again?_ He thought exasperatedly. But to his surprise it was a message from Aya.

'Just be there and _please_ don't be late tomorrow. 'kay?'

True, they didn't have much time to talk in the past few days. And he hadn't shown up for any practise, so their time spent together was limited to classes only. No wonders she wrote him a message. And he didn't really mind getting a message from her.

'Don't worry. I'll be there.'

He typed back.

* * *

"HUH?! AOMINE ISN'T HERE YET?!" Satsuki shouted when she learned this fact. She was taking care of paperwork and only arrived at the changing room now.

Imayoshi sighed. "We can't reach him through his phone. He won't pick up."

"I'm sorry! I should've made sure he was here…!" Sakurai apologised immediately.

"I'll try calling him again!" She said, determined to get through to him.

"Try it if you want, but he isn't picking up at all." Aya said with a shrug. She wasn't even angry anymore, just disappointed. If he'd done it to Taiga alone, she'd swallow it without much trouble, but to Kuroko… His former shadow and a close friend. She hadn't thought Aomine would do something like this, and that's what saddened her.

"Aya-chan! I'm so sorry! I know it's important for you and he's just… Argh! He is an idiot!"

"You've got nothing to apologise for, right? Don't worry. I'll go to join Kiku and the others." She got up and headed out. "Oh, would you mind if I stop by Seirin's changing room? I'd like to see how Taiga's doing."

Imayoshi smiled at her. "Sure. We don't mind. He's your twin after all." He could see the disappointment in her eyes though she was smiling and trying her best to hide it. Maybe it would help if she could see her brother.

"Thanks, capt'n."

She left, followed closely by Satsuki who was already dialling Aomine's number. "I'm going to kill him!" The pinkette was muttering.

 _"Hm?"_ Aomine answered with a yawn, but Satsuki didn't hear him right away.

"Aya-chan! I'm sure he's on his way!" Satsuki called after her friend.

Aya looked at her over her shoulder with a half-smile; she didn't feel like pretending in front of Satsuki at the moment. "I don't really care anymore."

 _"Oh, crap…"_ Aomine mutter after overhearing Satsuki, but he couldn't hear Aya's answer. He glanced at the clock. _Fuck! I overslept!_

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING OUTSIDE?! THE MATCH IS GOING TO START! Please tell me you're on the way!" Satsuki yelled at him the moment she noticed he'd picked up.

 _"I'm at school. I overslept."_ He said hurriedly.

"What the hell are you doing at school on Saturday?!" She hissed furiously.

 _"Forgot my magazine… And fell asleep on the rooftop."_

"Overslept?!" Imayoshi took Satsuki's phone when he came out to check with her. "Aomine! How long will it take you to get here?"

 _"Oh, Imayoshi? Maybe before the second half… I guess."_ The stadium wasn't that far away. If he hurried, he could make it in 20 minutes, more or less.

"You serious?! Our opponent is Seirin!"

 _"Don't get so worked up."_ Aomine forced an arrogant chuckle, but his heart sank. He'd failed the redhead. Again. She was probably furious. _"Even twenty minutes are way too much for the small fries of Seirin. Well, work hard in the first half."_ He said and hung up.

"I can't handle him… And there I've thought Aya was a good influence…" Imayoshi shook his head. "We'll have to try our best in the first half without him. At least Yamaoka will shut up about not being able to start…"

######

"Hey!" Aya barged into the Seirin's changing room without knocking.

"What are you doing here?" Taiga asked her in surprise. He hadn't thought she would or could come.

"I've come to tape your leg." She said with a smile.

Taiga narrowed his eyes at her. "What's going on? Did something happen?" He asked immediately, deciphering Aya's fake smile. She could fool him if she'd tried, but she wasn't trying now.

"Aomine's not here. And god knows if he's going to show up at all…" She shrugged and a smile disappeared from her face. "What do I say? I'm so sorry guys. I've tried to nudge him to come for sure."

"Tche." Taiga felt like punching the guy. _If he appears, I'll wipe the floor with him._ He thought, because he hated seeing his sister dejected. "We'll win for sure. So he can mope later."

"Sure you will." She chuckled. "Now, let me tape your leg, Tai."

"It doesn't hurt. I don't need it!" He protested. "Showing up with a taped leg would make me look like a fragile idiot. I don't want them to know."

She rolled her eyes. "Taping is mainly to _prevent_ injuries. I don't think you are fully healed, and if it reoccurs again during the match it'll be too late to tape it. Or rather… it won't help much. Why do you think I taped my feet every practise for years, huh? Still do, by the way."

"I. Don't. Need. It." He said, accentuating every single word.

"Stubborn mule." She shook her head. "Just like Tatsuya. And look where it got him."

"To Yosen." He retorted. "But! U-uh. Don't start with that." He warned her.

"Whatever. I've warned you, Taiga." She looked at Riko. "If he gets injured, force him to stay on the bench. 'kay?"

"OI! WHAT –" Taiga protested but Riko jumped in.

"He should be fine, Aya."

"I'll believe your word, Riko. Well… That's all I wanted here. Good luck guys. Go get 'em! Or us! Whatever." She cheered them with a smile and left.

"She's like a storm." Hyuuga commented.

Riko was staring at the door too. "Well… Now then."

######

"Ah, Takao-kun!" Aya waved him when she spotted him walking opposite her with his team. Well, his team minus Midorima.

"Aya-chan! Hello!"

"Who's that?" Miyaji asked immediately. "Your girlfriend?"

"No, no, no." He laughed. "It's my friend, right?"

"Right. I'm Kagami Aya." She bowed. "I'm the twin sister of the Seirin's number 10 and Touou's second manager." She gave them a wider description, so there wouldn't be any misunderstandings.

"Oh! I'm Miyaji Kiyoshi. These are the captain Ootsubo Taisuke and Kimura Shinsuke. Nice to meet you!" They all bowed to the girl, they just met.

"I know you all, of course." She smiled. "But it's nice to meet you in person."

"Who do you think is going to win?" Ootsubo asked curiously.

"Since Aomine isn't here, I can't tell for sure. Both teams have a chance." She shrugged, and before they could ask anything, she looked at Takao: "Where did you lose Shin-chan?"

"He said he didn't want to come." Takao pouted. "But Airi and Daiki are somewhere here, if I'm correct. They sure got into dating quickly."

"The big brother approved." She chuckled. "And I bet Midorima is somewhere here. I'd bet money on it."

Takao smirked at her. This could be fun. "Oh, would you?"

"What are your conditions?"

"If you find him, send me a photo and Kimura-senpai will give you pineapples from his shop –"

"Oi, why are you dragging me into this?" Kimura protested.

"So it's fun." Takao smiled. "And if you don't find him, you'll come to Shuutoku and be our one-day manager. What do you say?"

Aya pretended to think about it for a minute and then she nodded. "Deal." She shook hands with Takao. "Anyways, I'm going to my team, and then I'll look for Shin-chan. Have a nice day!"

"It was nice meeting you, Aya-chan!" Takao waved her.

"How do you know so many people?" Miyaji asked his younger teammate.

Takao shrugged. "I keep my eyes and ears open? If you try it senpai, you might even find a girlfriend. Finally~" He said teasingly and avoided a slap aimed at the back of his head.

######

She didn't think that Midorima would be already there so she headed to the rest of her team and Kiku.

"Hey. I'm here." She greeted them and slumped to her seat in the first row. "Thanks for saving me the spot."

"It's fine. So? How are things going?" Ishii asked, as they didn't go to the changing room at all. It wasn't necessary.

"Aomine's not here. And Taiga refused to have his leg taped, so… Nothing out of ordinary."

"He's not here yet?!" Kano asked with wide eyes. "But I thought he'd definitely come for this one!"

"Me too." Aya said with a sigh and looked at the court. The players just came out.

######

"They sure have a presence." Hyuuga said when they entered the court.

Taiga didn't care much. He nodded to Katsunori and Satsuki in greeting. And his eyes scanned all the players. Aya talked about her team at home, but she mainly talked about those who were in the class with her, so he had only a vague idea of how good were the second and third years.

"Uhm. Excuse me. Is Aomine coming at all?" He asked a tall blonde.

"Ah?" Wakamatsu turned to face him with a frown and then blinked in recognition. "You must be Taiga…" _They sure look similar._ "Well, he's late. And I don't know if he comes or not. That selfish bastard." He rumbled and shrugged. "Sorry."

"Seriously?!"

Even Kuroko wasn't happy to hear this. Most of all, he wanted to beat Aomine.

"Sorry for the inconvenience, Taiga-kun. We're a bit troubled too." Imayoshi joined the conversation. "But he should be here for the second half. We're just an opening act. Please, don't go too hard on us." He said with a sheepish smile, but he was riling them up and teasing them. He loved the stunned expressions on their faces.

######

"What strategy is Seirin going to use now?" Naito asked the redhead. She was the only one who personally knew the entire Seirin's team.

"They'll try to create a huge gap from the very beginning. They don't have much of a choice. When Aomine comes, it won't be easy at all. And they know it. Plus Taiga's angry at him, so he'll try to get as many points as he possibly can."

"But they've been researched."

"Even if Satsuki's research and intuition are outstanding, you are forgetting one thing. Players do evolve during the match, in more ways than can be predicted… _And_ she can't predict Kuroko-kun _and_ the data on Taiga are basically nonexistent, except those few matches." Aya shrugged. "Quite a lot unknowns in the equation, don't you think?"

"Hmmm…." Naito rubbed his chin in a deep thought. "This is definitely going to be interesting. What do you think about Meisei vs. Senshinkan?"

Aya blinked at him, she wasn't interested in that match at all. The winner was already set. "Senshinkan is the winner. Meisei's not a bad school, but they're nowhere near the kings."

"That makes Seirin a black horse, right?" Kano asked with a sparkle in his eyes.

Ishii shook his head. It was so easy to get Kano excited for something. "If they win against us, then yes. If not, then we are the black horse. Touou's become one of the top eight in the past two – three years, right? We're still relatively new."

"Basically yes." Aya nodded.

But Kano wasn't paying attention to them anymore. He and Kiku were glued to the railing, staring at Taiga and Kousuke ready to go for the tip-off. "Oh, they're gonna start!"

######

The ball was thrown and Taiga leaped up a split second later. Wakamatsu stole it for Touou. It wasn't because Wakamatsu was taller or jumped higher; Taiga just didn't have enough experience in this.

To Seirin's surprise, Touou started off with a quick attack. They caught up, but Imayoshi had his attack plan already though out and set. He passed to Sakurai without looking at the boy, who scored immediately, uttering an apology.

 _His shooting motion is so fast! And did he really just say 'sorry'?!_ Hyuuga though, watching the opposing first year in shock. As a captain, and a shooting guard, he should take it back!

All the players of Seirin were thinking that Touou was strong. They weren't underestimated. They weren't taken lightly as a new school. Even Taiga had to admit that Katsunori's team was strong. _He drills them fundamentals, and Aya teaches them balance… 'f course they'd be strong!_

Hyuuga sighed, as he stared at Imayoshi. "You're wicked. What did you mean when you told us not to be too hard on you, huh?!"

"Ha?" Imayoshi blinked at him. "I didn't lie though. When Aomine comes, you'll get it. Compared to him, we're nothing. Like I said, this is just an opening."

And indeed, Touou wasn't holding back in the slightest. They did what they were best at – a quick start – stealing as many points as they could. The most of their opponents couldn't handle them. And even if Seirin had their run-and-gun style, they couldn't keep up, not when they'd been researched so thoroughly.

"BRING IT ON!" Wakamatsu shouted as he stole Seirin's rebound. And with another loud yell, he threw it over the half-court to Imayoshi.

The captain caught it, with a slight difficulty; Wakamatsu's passes could be too powerful, and sighed. "Always yelling so loudly…"

Izuki ran to stop him, but failed miserably. He had no idea that Touou's captain used double clutch. "Wha– Double clutch?" He asked incredulously.

Imayoshi smiled at him. "You wanted to open the lead because Aomine is late, right? Sorry, but you must've misunderstood us. Compared to Aomine, we really are just an opening act. We alone are still stronger than you." _Though I said that…_ He looked at the score board, but it wasn't up to his tastes. Only 10 – 4 in 4 minutes. Touou usually did better than that...

"Sorry!" Sakurai shouted as he shot another three pointer.

 _Crap! I can't block it! He shots at the same time as he jumps! And if you're sorry, stop attacking!_ Hyuuga was getting irritated by the first year he was guarding.

"Crap!" Taiga knew that the shot was going to miss, but Wakamatsu and Susa where there sooner than him, which left him too far away from the basket to get the ball once it bounced out.

"Oh no! Sorry!" Sakurai shouted at the senpais, feeling embarrassed and frightened by his failure of a shot. But Susa got the ball and scored instead.

 _These guys… Aya was right._ Taiga thought, watching Touou play. _They don't worry about their teammates, and rarely glance at them, let alone worry for them. Both the guards and the forwards play one-on-one… Every player decides the next step by himself and makes a full use of his own abilities._

"So we can still predict something…" Izuki mused. "I get it."

"Not really." Imayoshi smiled at him slyly. "Our team is different. All the members are the cream of the crop, with ability and pride. We've been through a lot. I think it's quite handy. And playing with you, a team based on cooperation, this will be interesting… Izuki-kun~"

Izuki got the ball. "Cooperation? Seirin's style has always been everybody attacking together!" He cleared for the opposing captain and got past him, using Taiga as a screen.

The ball circled almost all of the Seirin players, and it finally got to Hyuuga. He glared at Sakurai, which made the poor boy shrink back. "We don't plan on losing this. Go tell your captain that, you apologetic mushroom!"

"Huh?!" Sakurai shivered under Hyuuga's gaze. _Apologetic mushroom? But I didn't say anything!_

Imayoshi had the ball next. Without waiting for Izuki to catch up, he passed cross-court to Wakamatsu. "Well, let's see which is better. Teamwork vs. personal ability~" He hummed provocatively.

Izuki smirked at him. "Aren't you forgetting someone? There's someone who doesn't go at once with everyone."

Imayoshi's eyes widened as he focused on Wakamatsu again. Kuroko was already at the center's heels. _What are you doing here?!_ Wakamatsu thought; surprised by the ghostly boy appearing at his side.

Kuroko tried to jump and get the pass. But he was way too short for that.

"Damn! Because you do something you're not used to idiot!" Taiga scolded him, and jumped to get the ball and rescue his shadow. The jump he had to make was incredible.

"HIGH!" It made Wakamatsu stare with his mouth agape.

"Good job Kagami, and Kuroko(?)" Izuki praised them and took the ball.

"What's with that wimpy jump? Don't jump if you can't catch it!" Taiga scolded Kuroko again.

"I could've gotten it." He protested.

"Lies!" He frowned at him. "That's not like you at all. It's Touou. Are you asleep?" He asked, because so far, Kuroko hadn't been active much. And they needed him if they were to succeed.

That made Kuroko smile. "But… I could've gotten it." He repeated.

"Lies!"

"Shut up!" Wakamatsu snapped at them. "Stop taunting me!"

######

"Ah well…" Katsunori pulled at his fringe. "They're indeed a formidable team. No wonders they got this far."

"Shall we call a time out?" Tada asked.

"Nah, it's not necessary. I'm just finally seeing the real thing. I'm pleasantly surprised, that's all. And besides… They were researched."

"Yep!" Satsuki said happily. "I know them all. And everyone read it. It's about time it really starts showing."

######

"Satsuki's research really is dangerous." Aya mused when Seirin started to get into trouble. They couldn't move freely, because they were being predicted. The only one, who managed to move around relatively freely and help the others, was Kuroko, and partially Taiga. "Though…"

"Kuroko-kun gets the ball and Taiga-kun scores…" Naito mused. "Pretty efficient if you ask me. But they can't rely on this for too long."

The first quarter ended with Touou in the lead 25 – 21. "The difference is small." Ishii frowned. "The score in general is. Don't we usually have around 40 points by the end of the first quarter?"

"It can't be helped. Both teams are good." Aya shrugged and stared at Taiga with a frown. It was only slight, but... _Did he just limp for a moment?_ "The next will be… Hmmm… Seirin will focus on Taiga and Kuroko-kun. And we'll focus on stopping them, as Satsuki had the smallest amount of data on the two." She chuckled. "The same strategy…"

"I'm sooo interested. Right, Kiku-chan? It's like Wakamatsu-senpai can't handle Taiga at all."

"They are not that different when it comes to strength." Kiku pouted slightly. She considered Wakamatsu better.

Aya laughed. "True. But Wakamatsu-senpai can't jump that high. Anyways, I'm going to walk around a bit. I need to find Midorima… If he's here."

"Eh? Don't you want to watch?" Kano blinked at her.

"I will. Don't worry. And keep the spot for me please. I should be back by the end of the second quarter."

Aya got up and left. She wouldn't say it, but she couldn't watch Taiga getting injured all over again. She was disappointed in Aomine, and if she saw Taiga forcing himself, she'd be totally out of it. _Well now… If I were Midorima, where would I be?_ She laughed inwardly at the thought. _It's not like you know him…_

She wandered around, listening to the ball's thumping and shoes squeaking and then the buzzer announcing a player's substitution. She didn't have to look; she knew it was Taiga being subbed out. She clenched her teeth. _I've told you…_

"Without Kagamicchi they can't guard the center at all! They're just too short for that." She could hear Kise's voice, and it surprised her. She glanced in the direction, thinking he was with Kasamatsu-senpai again, but to her surprise, she found Midorima standing there with the blonde.

"With the four second years, everything was analysed by Momoi. They're screwed without Kagami." Midorima said calmly, but he was kind of rooting for Seirin in this one.

"Tch… This is baaad." Kise whined.

Aya took out her phone and took a picture of the two, before they could notice her presence, and sent it over to Takao with a text 'What did I tell you?'.

"He's definitely fuming." She sighed and joined the two. "I told him to tape it before the match…"

"Ayacchi! Hello! I wondered where you were sitting. I wanted to look for you, but then I stumbled upon Midorimacchi, and stayed here."

"Hey." She smiled at both. "It's nice to see you again, Shin-chan~ Takao and the others were sad you haven't joined them… I wonder… Is it a problem if I tell them you're here?"

Midorima's eyes narrowed at her. "Don't do that."

"Ups." She chuckled. "I might already have. There were free pineapples in it."

Midorima shook his head in exasperation. "Unbelievable."

"Huh, huh? Since when do you two know each other?!"

"The prelims?" Aya asked with a shrug.

"You're an idiot." Midorima told him at the same time.

######

"The point gap is getting wider." Someone said, and it made Taiga growl, while Riko was taping his legs. He wanted to go out there, to tear Touou apart, and to get as many points as he could.

"Calm down Kagami! Trust them a bit!"

"I know! I just…"

Riko taped both of Taiga's legs, just in case. It should've been done at the beginning, like Aya had said. _I'm a failure of a coach… And she even warned us! I'm sorry Aya._

"Done." She slapped Taiga's knee. "It should be fine for the match. You can go."

She didn't have to say it twice, Taiga was already tying his shoelaces and pulling off his club t-shirt, which he was wearing over his jersey. "Okay! Thanks!"

"… I'm sorry…" She said quietly. She couldn't help it.

"Eh?" Taiga turned to face the small girl (even though their coach was scary, she was still a small girl). She was still kneeling and staring at her hands helplessly.

"I really don't want to send out an injured player. But without you we have no chance to win. I know that basketball is a team sport, but… Because I'm lacking I can't bring out the best of every player. I can only rely on an injured player. I really hate myself for not being able to do anything… And Aya even told us to tape you before the match! I should've listened… I'm sorry."

"Errr… Uhm... What?" He blinked. Hearing the coach saying all that creeped him out. "My sister is on a different level entirely and besides… You do a lot as it is. You're our coach, you give us directions, take care of us, tape us up… It's a lot. You do a lot. Anyways… If you only said 'sorry', there would be no problem but…"

Riko smirked, but his words encouraged her. _He is a huge puppy…_ "… Did you think you could impress me by saying cool stuff? Get out there! Go get 'em!"

Taiga smirked back at her. "That sounds much better! Ossu!"

 _So I'll have just one last minute of this quarter huh?_ He thought as he was about to sub in.

"Yo!" Aomine's voice sounded awfully close as the boy flung his arm around Taiga's shoulders, catching him off guard and by surprise. "You seem better. I guess I can have a little fun today!"

"…!" Taiga slapped Aomine's hand away. "Aomine!"

"Aomine-kun!" Satsuki called out to him in a scolding voice.

"Hai, hai. I'm here." He said lazily, refraining to think about the redhead sitting somewhere in the spectator's area. He couldn't think about her if was to keep his façade.

"Finally!" Imayoshi called out to him. "Hurry up and get ready to play!"

"Eh? Aren't you guys winning already? And there's only one minute left!" He protested, but then a shiver ran down his spine and he turned around to face the coach.

Katsunori glared at him with a dangerous smirk. "Get out there!" He said simply.

"Eh... I guess I have no choice…" He mumbled and took off the t-shirt he wore over his jersey.

Yamaoka glared at him as he went to sit on the bench. "So you came to please your maid?" He said as he passed by the ace.

Aomine had an urge to punch him, he didn't need the translation of whom he meant by the _'maid'_ , but he couldn't do that on the court, so he just glared at the boy. "I'll warn you once. I'll punch you next, _senpai_. Keep that in mind."

Tada laughed from the bench. "Aya-chan told him the same thing yesterday!"

"Not quite. She punched him first." Someone corrected him, but Aomine wasn't paying attention to his team anymore.

"Tch…" He shook his head and looked at Kuroko. "Well then… Let's battle it out!" He calmly faced Kuroko's determined gaze. It surprised him how calm he was about it. And there he'd been worked up for the past few days. Or rather… He still didn't want to face Kuroko, but he had to do it. He came into peace with that.

 _His presence is like Aya's, like father's._ Taiga stared at the tanned boy. _He's even stronger than the opponents I faced in the States… Can I beat that? No! I can't doubt myself here. I have to beat him!_

"It's been a while, Tetsu. You've been doing pretty good, eh?" He asked before he'd step onto the court and the game would continue. "You look very determined."

"Yes… I promised Momoi-chan."

Aomine smirked at that. _Of course you did._ "I get the gist of what you're saying, but…" Those light blue eyes were staring at him with an intensity that made him feel uneasy. But it didn't matter, he had to win. "It's a matter of action. Let's talk about it after you beat me!"

"Sure." Kuroko said calmly.

"That is… If you can do it." He said to Taiga as he got onto the court.

"You're annoying me… I'll show you!" _For Aya too… Even if my muscles tear apart…_

#######

"So he's here." Aya said blankly. "I wonder what he said to Taiga, because I don't like the way he looks now."

"Ayacchi…?" Kise asked carefully, feeling that something was off. "I'm sure Aominecchi had a reason to be late."

"Don't even **_try_** to defend him." She raised a hand to stop Kise. "He promised…" She said quietly staring at Aomine.

 _Oh… You screwed up, Aominecchi…_ "Uhm… You think Kagamicchi will be okay?" He tried to change the topic.

Aya laughed humourlessly. "With his leg injured again? I give it 10 minutes, and if Riko won't make him sit out, **_I will_**. I know he'd play the whole match, but I won't watch him self-destroy."

Midorima was staring between the two. He might've been dense, but Kise was behaving differently around her, and as strange as it was, the blonde actually cared, without any ulterior motive.

"Isolation…" Midorima muttered, staring at the court, where the game was starting again.

"Of course they'd use it." Aya almost rolled her eyes. "It's a game between the two top players, if Taiga loses here, it'll have a huge impact on the entire Seirin and the flow of the game… I'm going back to my boys for now. I might be back." She said, turned on her heel and headed to her spot.

######

Aomine was standing opposite Taiga in a relaxed stance. He hadn't warmed up at all. He couldn't go all out from the start, or he could injure himself. _Gee'… it should be fine anyways. Not like I'll need to go all out…_

In a split second he moved left, and then with a crossover he returned back and went right, confusing the hell out of Taiga and passing by him. With a smooth turnover he passed by Hyuuga, who just blinked in surprise, unable to react to his speed and jumped to dunk.

"AAARGH!" Taiga jumped up with a roar – of motivation and pain – and slapped the ball away, surprising Aomine.

"EH?" _He caught up in the mere seconds after they all froze? Wait… Did he just **jump** all the way here?!_ Aomine though, completely baffled. How come that Taiga couldn't do anything when he'd challenged him back then? What changed?

"Quick attack!" Izuki ordered when he caught the ball.

"What a slow attack!" Wakamatsu retorted as they stopped Seirin's senpais. "You should've started two days ago!"

But to everyone's surprise, Kuroko got the ball, or rather, he punched it with his palm, to accelerate it and avoid anyone stealing it. It was a pass only Kagami could catch, or the generation of miracles. It was too powerful for an ordinary player.

"GO KAGAMIII!" His team cheered him up, because he was so close!

"Tche!" Aomine grunted as he caught up and slapped the ball away; though it certainly got him a fright there. To think that Kagami Taiga wouldn't be as bad as he'd thought…

 _Shit! I thought he was too far away!_ Taiga thought. _He's fast!_

The buzzer went off, announcing the end of the second quarter and the mid-game 10 minute break. The stats were 49 to 39 for Touou.

"Eh?" Aomine frowned. "I planned to score a few shots while getting warmed up. What the heck..." He scratched his ear staring at the Seirin's players. "Not bad, eh? Hey! After seeing you 10 points behind I thought it'd be horrible."

"Oi, Aomine!" Wakamatsu shouted at him angrily. "Play seriously! Getting blocked on your first shot…"

"What?" He sighed. "I can't play seriously right from the start."

"Damn you!"

"... But in the second half… Maybe I will." He said with his typical smirk.

######

"Are you not going to the changing room?" Ishii asked Aya, when they got up to go report what they'd seen from above, and she didn't seem willing to go.

"I don't want to see him now." She said, and everyone knew she meant Aomine. "It wouldn't end well."

Ishii nodded. "Should I pass some message?"

Aya squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breath. She hated doing this. "Tell them to focus on Taiga, to corner him. His legs won't hold up much longer. 10 minutes top, and then he's out." _I'm a terrible sister._ But she knew Riko wouldn't let her ace player self destruct; no matter how much they needed him.

"You sure you want to do that?" Kiku asked, seeing the conflict in those reddish eyes was unusual.

"Yes." She said firmly and got up. "I'll go get some air. I'll be back by the start of the third quarter."

She walked out to have a cigarette. No one in her team needed to know about her bad habit. It was the first time she felt conflicted about what to do. She'd never gone easy on her opponents, even if they were her best friends or family. She'd always felt that respecting her opponents meant not holding back, no matter what, and she hated to lose anyways. But right now…

"Haaaa… He doesn't deserve to win." She sighed as she watched the smoke being carried away by the evening's breeze.

"I thought I saw wrong the last time… But you really do smoke." Kise's voice disturbed her thoughts and startled her.

"Don't scare me like that, Model-kun."

"Ah, sorry Ayacchi. I didn't mean to startle you." He scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. And then he smiled at her with an understanding in his yellow eyes. All of his goofiness was gone. "I get what you're thinking."

She shrugged. "I don't really want to talk." The tip of the cigarette burned bright red as she inhaled the nicotine.

Kise watched her in curiosity. "Why do you smoke anyways? You do sports… did professionally, so…"

"It calms me down. I don't really remember how it started…" She shrugged.

They were quiet for a moment. He leaned against the wall next to her and stared into nowhere. For some reason, he didn't want her to feel down. In the short time they knew each other, she'd become his dear friend.

"Kagamicchi's gonna lose, right?" He asked sadly. He wanted to believe the opposite, really, but…

"I guess so. And for the first time, I wish he'd really, really win. Aomine doesn't deserve to win this one. Not after coming late." She took out the cigarette against a litter bin. "Instead of being late, he rather shouldn't have come at all." She said resentfully.

"I think he regrets it, Ayacchi. I don't think he did it intentionally."

"And yet he did… I talked with him about this before, Kise, I'm not gonna repeat myself."

"So you won't forgive him?"

"Urgh… I haven't said _that_. I'm not that angry, okay?! I'm just disappointed. I thought better about him. I thought he understood what it meant to respect someone. And he'd just…" She threw her arms up desperately. She wanted another cigarette, but she didn't have enough time. "I guess I was wrong. And stop always defending him. You'd be pissed off if he was late to a match against you, wouldn't you?"

A vein popped on Kise's forehead at the thought. "I'd kill him for that."

"Pffft…" She laughed at his expression. "I didn't know you could make a face like that."

He grinned at her. _Mission accomplished._ It was strange seeing the redhead sad. She was so good at finding little things to smile for, and a smile suited her more. He wondered if Aominecchi had ever seen her dejected like this.

"We should head back, if we want to see the match."

######

 ** _Touou's changing room:_**

"Ryou, did you bring what I asked of you?" Aomine asked the shorter boy with a rather scary expression.

"Y-yes!" Sakurai answered timidly, and took out the honey soaked lemons.

Aomine gobbled up half of it. "Mhm… They taste good!"

"AOMINE, you weren't in the match more than a minute! Why do you even need the energy supplement?!" Wakamatsu shouted at him. "And Sakurai! Why are you making food for him?! You're not his manager! Pass it here! I'm the tired one!" He snatched the food from Sakurai, and started gobbling it up just like Aomine. "Tastes good!" He praised, then turned to Aomine and added: "And nothing more for you!"

"I've had enough…" Aomine said lazily.

"WHAT?!"

"Oi! Don't gobble the lemons like that! We want some too!" Imayoshi scolded his vice-captain.

"It's okay – I prepared everyone's share!" Satsuki said with a smile and took out her box. She'd tried, really…

"Nice, thanks!" Imayoshi smiled at her. There was nothing to mess up with honey soaked lemons, right?

He paled when he looked at it. Satsuki didn't slice the lemons at all… "Oi, Sakurai! Do you have some more?"

"I'm sorry… It's all."

"Oh, Satsuki can't even make a proper tea, you know?" Aomine said unimpressed by the pinkette's fail. That's why he asked Sakurai after all.

"This isn't even cooking! What's with the whole lemons?!" Several guys protested at once.

"What?" Satsuki was dejected, but… _I should've expected this…_ She sighed, not knowing that the same scene was happening in the Seirin's changing room.

"I've made some too." Kiku peeped up when she and the others walked into the changing room. "I've brought Aya's share too. We have plenty lemons, if you want." She said with a smile and handed over the two boxes she carried.

"An angel!" Imayoshi sang and it made Kiku blush and look away.

"Oi!" Wakamatsu scolded the captain.

Katsunori was just shaking his head at the ruckus over the lemons. He clapped to get their attention. "Listen up! It's too early to relax. They're not willing to give this up, so in the second half –"

"Just pass the ball to me!" Aomine interrupted him. He was surprised that Kagami wasn't there, she'd never ditch on them like this, and he had a bad feeling it was his fault. No, it was certainly his fault. "I'll go warm up a little." He said and turned on his heel to leave.

"Oi, WAIT!" Wakamatsu stopped him.

"What? I'll score all the points we need. That's enough, right?" He said cockily, but the usual bored undertone was missing. And Imayoshi wasn't the only one who noticed, he stared at their ace perplexedly.

"Damn you!"

"… Aomine…" Katsunori sighed. "I'm glad to see that you know what your role is, but…" He looked at the boys who came from the spectator's area. "Anything interesting?"

Ishii shrugged and glared at Aomine. He thought they were past the antagonism, but… "Not really."

"Did Aya say anything?" Katsunori asked with a raised eyebrow, because he knew there must've been something. "Where is she anyways?"

Ishii sighed. "She went to get some air, I guess. She said to corner Taiga, because his legs are still hurt. She said he had like 10 minutes top and he'd be out."

Katsunori nodded. "I thought so. But I needed a confirmation. She knows Taiga better than anyone." He pulled at his fringe, hoping that Seirin's coach was mature enough and wouldn't let his godkid self-destruct. "Okay then. We'll go with Aomine as the game maker. Go warm up now!"

"Haaaai!" Aomine said and left.

Satsuki ran after him, leaving the rest of the team to argue it out with the coach. "Aomine! To be late for an important match like this! What were you thinking?! Our opponent is Tetsu's team! You've got to –"

"Shut up!" He interrupted her harshly, not turning to face her. "I know! I'm regretting it already. I've misjudged them." He said, stretching his arms.

"Eh?" Satsuki blinked at him. _What?_

"I should've come earlier." _Good she didn't come here… I don't think I could face those eyes of hers now…_

######

Seirin decided to go with Kagami as the game maker. Kuroko had to sit out, though it'd been a hard fight to persuade him to stay on the bench.

"Kagami-kun." Kuroko came to talk with his light when they were re-entering the court.

"Hm? You cooled your head now?"

"Yes. Anyways, I haven't met him for some time, but he looks like he's improved a lot, just like Kise-kun and Midorima-kun. I have no idea what will happen next. So, please, be careful."

"Huh?" Taiga smirked. "It's nice to hear that from you."

Without a single word, Aomine got all the attention, once he strolled onto the court all warmed up, with a dangerous aura surrounding him.

 _This time he's serious._ "Yo!" Taiga smirked. "Done with warming up?"

"Heh, resist until the last second – if you can!"

* * *

 **A/N:** I know this chapter was a bit grim (next one is gonna be in similar atmosphere), but that's how it's supposed to be. I hope I didn't overdo Aya/Yamaoka conflict... And ah well... I hope I didn't overdo it in general.

Anyways, let me know what you think and remember, reviews are appreciated but never necessary.

-S.


	27. Chapter 27: Losing and winning

**A/N:** My master thesis is finaly done! Now I only have to present and vindicate it in three weeks. o.o

Thanks to everyone who followed, favourited and reviewed! It makes me happy :)

So... Here is the next chapter, according to my schedule :) I should have a bit of a free time now, so maybe there'll be a continuation of Kiku's story too (she's kind of drifting away from this and maybe the next two chapters, if I remember correctly)

* * *

 _What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight - it's the size of the fight in the dog **.― Dwight D. Eisenhower**_

 _"Heroes aren't always the ones who win," she said. "They're the ones who lose, sometimes. But they keep fighting, they keep coming back. They don't give up. That's what makes them heroes." **― Cassandra Clare, City of Heavenly Fire**_

 _It's easy to believe in something when you win all the time...The losses are what define a man's faith. **― Brandon Sanderson, The Well of Ascension**_

 _You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it. **― Maya Angelou**_

 _To me, Fearless is not the absense of fear. It's not being completely unafraid. To me, Fearless is having fears. Fearless is having doubts. Lots of them. To me, Fearless is living in spite of those things that scare you to death. **― Taylor Swift**_

 _Siblings: children of the same parents, each of whom is perfectly normal until they get together. **― Sam Levenson**_

 _People protect what they love. **– Jacques Yves Cousteau**_

 _Love is the strongest and most fragile thing we have in life **. – Vanessa Paradis**_

* * *

"So Kurokocchi's benched. As I've expected." Kise said as he returned to Midorima with Aya at tow.

"It's not the time to relax. But he can't help it; he couldn't rest when Aomine wasn't here…" Midorima said and stared at the two, unimpressed about their obvious friendship. He didn't understand why the redhead would befriend someone like Kise. Or rather… he didn't get why she was so calm and unimpressed around the model. Most of the girls would get the wrong impression. He didn't get it, but he wouldn't pry.

"But it's a risky move for Seirin. I feel that something might happen."

"It might indeed." Aya said staring at her brother. "It feels like he's ready to kill him."

######

Taiga and Aomine were facing each other right from the start. And Aomine was in the possession of the ball.

 _That's a nice aura._ Aomine thought as he stared at his opponent. _It's different from the time we played at the park, but… It's not enough!_

Without faking, he dashed past Taiga, who didn't react to the fast change of pace.

"Damn!" He grunted, and when he turned around to catch up, Aomine was already below the basket, where two of his senpai's were meant to defend, but it was no use. _I have to make it!_

Aomine stopped abruptly, far enough so they wouldn't be able to stop him, and jumped backwards into a fade away. No one could match up to his speed and change of pace.

He made the shot but Taiga was there, almost managing to block him.

"Crap!" Taiga swore. Be it one millisecond sooner, he would've stopped him.

 _Impossible!_ Aomine stared at Taiga in shock. _I was even faster than the last time… this guy…_

Without a slightest hesitation Taiga turned around and bolted to the other side to counter attack. He didn't care about the ball; he knew it would come to him. He believed his teammates would deliver. And indeed, Hyuuga grabbed the ball and passed it to the ace.

"Tch." Aomine turned on his heel and chased after Kagami.

"Eh?!" Taiga turned to look at him when he blocked him. _I can't shake him off my back no matter how fast I am?!_

"You think such a slow counter attack would work on me? Don't worry, I won't let you succeed." _…but… Is this even possible? Didn't he just jump from the free throw_ _line? Don't tell me he was trying to dunk from there… Oi, oi, who do think you are?_ There weren't many players who could do that. _He_ couldn't do that. And Kagami just went for it, unconsciously, desperately, but he would've made it. And Aomine knew that. It didn't make him feel uneasy, at least not for now. He knew he wouldn't lose, but he couldn't give Kagami another chance like this.

"A-ah, this is boring. Playing proper basketball… doesn't fit my personality." He said with a smirk. _I'll show you some of my tricks, I guess…_

"Huh?" Taiga blinked at him. He didn't get what Aomine meant. But the bluenette's aura changed, and a shiver ran down Taiga's spine.

The moment Aomine got the ball again, he understood. Even if he knew the speed and tricks, and thought he could stop it… He couldn't. "EH?!" Aomine ruled the game, he teased him with tricks, and a lot of unnecessary movement. _That's…_ Aomine made Taiga's legs tangle, and the latter fell on his butt. _The flexible streetball! So that's what Aya meant… I can't even remain standing?_

Three of the Seirin's players tried to stop him. And once he was behind the basket they thought they did, but Aomine shot it anyways, not even looking at the hoop. And he made it.

######

Aya just stared at it in disbelief. "What the hell? Is this the first time he got really serious? Or is he just mocking them?"

"Hm?" Kise blinked at her. "You've never seen that?" He wouldn't believe that Aominecchi hadn't shown her that.

"Well yeah, he did that against Kirisaki Daiichi, when they pissed him off, but he usually doesn't go this far. I can't predict him at all." She said and stared at the game. She loved this unpredictable and ever-changing style of his. She really did. Even if her brother was losing… _I'm a terrible sister…_

"Well… that's because, in all sports there is an ideal set of basic movements, thought out and refined through history." Midorima started, "because of those basic movements it's possible to predict your opponent. You can create a tactics for offence and defence, you can strategise. But Aomine played basketball before he knew about those basics; he messed around in the streets, played with adults… For him, a free and flexible style is the most natural choice. He never had regular, non-changing movements. His basketball is limitless, because guards can never learn from playing against him. He is the trump card of the generation of miracles."

"Wow… thanks for the exhaustive explanation. I wouldn't have known without you." She chuckled. "I'm just a manager of the Touou's team… What do I know, right, Shin-chan?"

Midorima glared at the redhead, while Kise started laughing. She was hilarious.

The longer Aomine played the better his plays were getting. Aya, by now, knew he was a slow starter, he needed to run warm. She was disappointed, sad, he didn't deserve to win this game, but she couldn't take her eyes off of him. Aomine's basketball was enchanting, unique. And she couldn't imagine him ever losing in basketball.

"They can't do anything about him. None of them…" Kise said dejectedly. "But Kagamicchi…" He narrowed his eyes when Aomine passed Hyuuga, and jump into another fade-away. He couldn't possibly change his shot then. And Taiga jumped to stop him. "Incredible!" Kise gasped. "That's higher than all of his previous jumps!"

"Aomine will make it anyways." She said.

######

"Yeah, yeah. You jump unnaturally high. But I'm already bored of that." Aomine said as he shot, flying almost parallel with the ground.

Taiga clenched his teeth. _Damn! I can't predict him at all. I have to find something I do better than him! I have no chance in speed… So maybe… Height. As long as he can't jump that high, I'll score!_ He thought and jumped despite the pain that spread through his legs.

Aomine knocked the ball down before Taiga could reach his pinnacle.

"?!"

"Sorry, but you're too slow. I knocked it down reflexively." He was now in the possession of the ball so he turned around and sprang towards Seirin's basket. Kagami was at his heels, but he couldn't catch up. He was faster than Kagami even while dribbling.

"What the hell?! Only Aomine is getting the ball and the spotlight!" Wakamatsu shouted angrily. "We just keep running back and forth!"

Aomine rolled his eyes upon hearing this. _No one asks you to run back and forth, Bakamatsu…_

Aomine jumped to shoot, when Taiga rammed into his back. _That desperate, huh?_ It made him waver, but he instinctively brought the ball down and threw it from behind his back. It was so damn uncomfortable and straining on his elbow that he didn't like doing it too often, but he wasn't going to lose the points.

A referee blew a whistle, announcing a foul.

Taiga was staring at him wide-eyed. _Am I really this useless against him? I've beaten Kise and Midorima… I thought… I had a feeling we could do it. But was I too naïve? He is unbeatable!_

The ball was in; Aomine scored two points and got one free throw for being fouled while shooting.

After making his free throw, he turned to face the baffled Kagami. "Hey… There's no way you only have this much in store. Your team has to be better." He said spinning the ball on his finger. "The only one who can beat me one-on-one is me myself. You can't do it alone." He walked towards the Seirin's bench. "Come on, get out here, Tetsu. Let's duel."

"I'm going." Kuroko said. He knew the coach would allow. Seirin was 20 points behind now, they needed him.

"Seirin, member change!" Referee announced and Kuroko got in.

Taiga turned to his shadow. "… Sorry, it was more tiring than I thought." _I can't beat him…_

"I don't get why you're apologising."

"Ha?"

"Didn't we plan to fight together? If it was that simple to win, nobody would need to work hard."

"Whatever." Taiga growled, annoyed that Kuroko was basically scolding him. He looked up to the spectators' area, and held up his fist. His eyes instinctively found his sister. He just knew where she was.

Aomine looked at him incredulously, but then followed his gaze, and he found the redhead accompanied by Kise and Midorima. He couldn't see their faces clearly from that distance, but he knew they were there. And it made him wonder just how Taiga could find her in the crowd, because he'd look for her near the rest of the Touou's team, not on the other side.

She held her fist in the similar way. She didn't shout anything, but Taiga understood loud and clear. She wanted Seirin to win. And he could guess just how perplexed she felt about this.

"Sorry." He said to Aomine. "I can't lose here."

"Heh… I don't plan to lose either."

The moment the game started, Hyuuga scored a three pointer thanks to Kuroko's and Taiga's assistance. Seirin slowly started getting points they couldn't seem to get before. And it was all thanks to Kuroko's invisibility and ability to steal passes of their opponents. They still had about three minutes to the end of the third quarter.

 _Haaa… It really is different when he plays._ Aomine thought nostalgically. "You haven't changed at all, Tetsu." Aomine looked down on him. "How disappointing. You think you can beat me just like that?"

Kuroko frowned at him. "That's exactly what I think. This is my style."

 _He can easily change the flow of the game…_ Daiki kept watching Kuroko. He needed to beat him. He needed to get rid of his regrets. This was the only way he knew. He'd destroyed it before; he just needed to finish his job. _She'd surely hate you for this…_ His eyes travelled to the redhead for a moment, and he knew she caught his quick glance.

"Sorry… But I know everything about your basketball. Misdirection, huh?" He spotted the moment when Tetsu wanted to send the accelerating pass to Taiga – the only player who could catch it, and forgetting one very important detail... "Tch. Who do you think caught the most of your passes out of all the people you played with?"

Tetsu punched the ball and Aomine caught it with ease. "Your pass will never get through."

The shocked expression on Tetsu's face made his stomach tighten, but… Once he got the ball he got past the three second years, and jumped to score. And even if Taiga and Tetsu tried to stop him, he just bumped into them mid-air, full weight, making both of them fall down. He hadn't planned on doing it, but oh well… It happened.

Aomine was frowning at them, not offering them help. "What a pity… You've never changed the way you play since the junior high… No change, means no improvement. In the end, your basketball can't defeat me." _She'd hate you for looking down on them like this… even though she can't hear… I'm not worth it._

######

"Please tell me he will help them up." Aya said wishfully, though she already knew it wouldn't happen. And the disappointment kept piling up.

"Don't be delusional." Midorima said. "You know how he is, don't you?"

"Yeah. I do." She sighed. _And this is not it… What the hell are you doing, Aomine Daiki?_

Kise knew Aominecchi better than others… "I don't think he's happy about doing this, really…"

Aya raised an eyebrow at him questioningly.

"Well, he is how he is, but isn't this too much? I guess he just wants to completely separate the bond he had with Kurokocchi. And this is his way of doing it… I mean…" He couldn't fully comprehend what was going on inside Aomine's head right now, but this was what he thought it might've been.

"Burning bridges…" Aya muttered.

From then on, in the fourth quarter, the match turned rather one sided. Taiga was trying the best to hide the pain, and fend Aomine off, but the point gap widened to 82 – 51, and kept widening, as Aomine was catching more and more of Kuroko's passes.

When he tried to keep up with Aomine, who shot while turning around, he made a movement which send an excruciating pain through his right leg. He definitely pulled something maybe even torn something in there. He bit his tongue not to shout in pain and took a deep breath. _You have to finish this!_

"TAIGA!" He could hear Aya's voice from above, and he cursed. _FUCK! Of course she'd notice!_

Riko reacted immediately too. She could see it the moment Taiga took another step and barely put any weight on the injured leg. And his other one wasn't better off.

"Seirin, member change!"

He squeezed his eyes shut, trying not to hear what he knew he would.

"KAGAMI!" Riko called out to him.

"What…" He didn't want to. "AGAIN?! There's nothing wrong with the taping!"

"Just get out." Tsuchida-senpai told him calmly.

"I'M FINE! AND IF I'M OUT, THE GAME… RIGHT NOW…" He wasn't even sure what he was saying, he just didn't want to get out.

"SHUT THE HELL UP! AND GET OUT!" Riko yelled back at him and he could hear Aya's voice echoing the same words. Everyone was staring at the dispute.

Katsunori was ready to step in if Taiga protested more, but at the end it wasn't needed. With his head hung down, Taiga walked towards the Seirin's bench without another word and slumped down with a towel on top of his head. His legs were shaking, and he wasn't sure how he would go to the changing room, let alone home.

Riko was frowning. _He's done for. I can't use him anymore and the tournament isn't even over…_

"Kagami looks scary." Wakamatsu said to Sakurai, staring at Taiga. "He looks furious, ready to kill."

"Eh?" Sakurai looked in Taiga's direction and shivered. The raging aura emanating from him was scary.

"All the players guarding Aomine lose their will at the end. To be honest even I wouldn't know what to do if I was up against him. But even when Taiga is defeated like this… He radiates rage. At a time when the others usually give up, he's stronger than ever. This is the first time I see someone like that." Wakamatsu explained himself.

Overhearing this, Aomine stole a glance at Kagami Taiga. And indeed… The loud center, who annoyed him to no ends was right. Kagami Taiga wanted to be out there, to play. He had to admit, Kagami deserved his respect, just like his sister. The twins were amazing. _Worthy opponents indeed…_

With Taiga out, the game was quickly decided. Seirin didn't score much and the point gap widened even more. Five minutes to the end and there was a 40 point difference.

"The winners and losers were determined faster than I thought." Aomine said to Kuroko with a smirk. The words he'd say next would destroy that bridge once and for all. "Your passes are useless, your stamina gone, and Kagami's benched. Everyone's hopes are tattered, and even you are just another tired member of the team. I won this one Tetsu."

"It's not over yet, Aomine-kun." The ghostly boy protested. He sucked when it came to giving up.

"Your chances are not better than one in a million. You can't win by one amazing counter attack." _Why is he still…?_ Aomine didn't get it. He couldn't break Tetsu.

"…when the possibility of winning is 0, that's because the players gave up. Even if the others think it's meaningless, it's disgusting for me to quit, even when the possibility **_is_** 0\. And so… I'll never give up."

Aomine stared at him with wide eyes. What was he doing wrong? He just wanted to separate the ties. Why could Tetsu still have such an impact on him? Why did Aya have to show up in his life? Why was he even thinking about the redhead in the middle of the match?! _FUCK! I'm messed up._

Taiga nodded to Kuroko's words. That was what he needed to hear. That was what the entire Seirin needed to hear.

 _Heh… I guess we can't substitute him. How could we lose in attitude to a bunch of freshmen?_ Hyuuga thought and glanced at their bench, where everyone seemed so dejected. _And so what if we lose?_ "HEY! GUYS?!" He shouted at them. "Are you dead or something?! I can't hear you! FIGHT UNTIL THE END!"

And with that, Seirin's bench came to life again; they started to cheer their teammates, who hadn't given up. Taiga shouting the loudest of them all.

"Heh… I agree with one thing you said, Tetsu." Aomine said with something Kuroko couldn't decipher, glimmering in his dark eyes. "Giving up easily is stupid."

The Seirin's struggle looked terrible, but they lost gracefully.112 to a mere 55. A terrible defeat for the new team like Seirin. But… No one gave up, no one cried, and they took the defeat with their heads held high.

"I'm proud of them." Aya said with a nod. "In the end, it was a good match."

"Let's hope this won't affect Seirin's next two games." Midorima said gravely, he had a bad feeling about this defeat. Kuroko'd acted way too weird in his opinion.

"It will…" Aya nodded seriously. "Taiga won't be able to play at all, and with this defeat… Maybe they'll win against Meisei, at least they should, but they won't win against Senshinkan. To pass further, you need 2 wins."

"You don't seem to mind it too much." Kise pointed out.

"My team won, I'm happy for them. And Seirin learned an important lesson as well. They'll get better thanks to this." She was speaking out of experience. Loses had been a very important part of her life too and she knew that without them, she would've never valued wins so much. "I'll go to my team now, I guess I should be there."

######

 ** _Touou's changing room:_**

"ALRIGHT! WE COMPLETELY DESTROYED OUR FIRST OPPONENTS! WE WOOON!" Wakamatsu shouted the moment the door of the changing room closed shut.

Everyone else sighed in annoyance at the loudness of the center.

"Just shut up." Imayoshi scolded him exasperatedly.

"Huh?!" Wakamatsu shuddered, the tone captain had used was scary. Really scary.

"We're here!" Kano barged in, followed by the others. "Congratulations! You were awesome~! We wooon!" He said happily, ignoring Wakamatsu signing him to shut up.

"Seriously? You too?" Imayoshi sighed… as if one loudmouth wasn't enough.

"Where's Aya?" Katsunori asked them. "I thought she was with you."

"Ah…" Ishii scratched the back of his neck. "I don't know. She hasn't returned since the break."

"Bad habits coming back, eh?" Katsunori sighed; Taiga had told him about her occasional smoking which had started last summer.

"What?" Kano asked confusedly.

"Nah, it's nothing." He muttered as a reply. "Alright! Hurry up so you can rest as soon as possible. Think about the mistakes you made this game, and be ready for tomorrow's match!"

"Haaai!"

Majority of the boys was already changing to go home, when one of the third years, who kept a low profile when Aya was around, spoke up. "And we thought Seirin was soooo strong. Especially their no.11, he was incredibly weak and there he was, trying to fight in the very end. He probably has some mental issue, or what... I mean, isn't it better to give up earlier?"

And that made Aomine, who was trying to calm down despite Wakamatsu's shouts, snap. He spun on his heel, grabbed the boy's collar and slammed him against a locker. The boy let out a strangled sound.

"A bastard, who's benched, should SHUT THE FUCK UP!" He yelled at him furiously, the idiot knew nothing about Tetsu, or him, or what was going on during the match.

"OI! Aomine! STOP IT!" Wakamatsu and Ishii yelled in unison ready to pull the ace from the senpai if necessary.

"Tche!" He clicked his tongue, and let go, turning around to storm out. It was dangerous for him to stay any longer. He couldn't face Kagami, should she appear.

And just when he opened the door to get the hell out, he almost ran her over.

"Whoah!" Aya blinked in surprise when she almost got hit by the door and then ran over by Aomine. She just barely avoided him on sheer instinct.

They stared at each other for a second, both too stunned to move. She didn't seem angry, but he didn't want to stay long enough to find out. He turned around to leave.

And she didn't stop him. She was disappointed, but she couldn't be really angry. It might've been Kise's insight, but she couldn't hate Aomine for what he'd done. Sure, she wasn't in the mood to talk with him and she would make him boil in his own juice for couple of days by not approaching him first, but…

"Oh, Aya! Where've you been?" Katsunori asked her with a raised eyebrow.

"Ehm… with Kise, and Midorima I guess… I met them by a chance. Sorry?" She shrugged sheepishly. "Anyways! Why the long faces? You've won! Congratulations! You've had a good match today!" She cheered them with a smile.

"You too?" Imayoshi raised an eyebrow at her, but he had to wonder what the girl was made of. Her brother had just lost and injured himself, the guy she liked had been late, acted terrible and almost ran her over without even saying sorry… And there she was, smiling at them, and it wasn't a fake smile, he would've known that.

"What's wrong with cheering my team on? Or being happy about a win, captain?"

"It was obvious we were going to win."

Her smile turned into a smirk. "It sure didn't look like it until Aomine's arrival~"

######

"Let's go Kuroko. Senpais have already left." Taiga said, forcing himself to stand up.

He had to re-tape his legs, in the magical way Aya had taught him the other day, just to be able to get up and walk. Of course the atmosphere had been heavy, and it wasn't just because they had lost, but because he'd gotten injured. He knew he was out of the other two matches, and he had a bad feeling about Kuroko. The boy had been way too surprised when Aomine had caught his passes. _Shouldn't he have expected that?_ He kept thinking over and over again. If he were to face Tatsuya, he'd expect him to know all of his moves already – they'd played together for years…

"…" Kuroko didn't respond. He kept staring at his feet. _We've lost because of me… I haven't changed? How am I supposed to do that?_

Taiga sighed. "I guess this is our limit." He noticed how Kuroko tensed, but he had to say it. Now he understood what Aya had been subtly telling him all this time. He needed to get stronger – on his own. And Kuroko needed to know. "Honestly, I thought we'd play pretty well, but in the end, it was still a shit-play. Against his sheer skills… _Just_ cooperation isn't enough to win."

Kuroko was still not saying anything. Taiga waited for a moment, and then he turned to leave. There was nothing else to say. He lost, just as much as Kuroko; there was no point in licking each other's wounds, or pitying themselves.

Not everything was lost yet, and even if they'd lose the next two matches, there was still the Winter cup. And the only thing he could think of, was practising again… _Well, after I heal…_

"Really…" He muttered when he entered the main hall just in time to catch up with the entire Touou's team minus Aomine. He was glad he didn't have to see that guy at the moment.

"How's your leg?!" Aya asked him immediately.

"Fine." He grunted and a vein popped on his forehead. "I could've finished the match, you know?!"

"No, you couldn't."

"Yes, I could."

"No, you couldn't."

"I could."

"You couldn't."

"Could."

"Couldn't"

"Stop it!" Katsunori jumped in, or the two could continue forever. "It doesn't matter anymore."

 **"It does!"** Both turned to him.

"I'm not getting dragged into that argument." He said exasperatedly.

"I've never seen them like this." Kano whispered to Ishii. He'd never thought that Aya-chan had a childish side like this. "It's hilarious."

"I guess, they are more composed, usually…" He whispered back.

"I think they're both behaving like idiots." Naito joined, not at all quietly

 **"What?!"** The twins turned their burning reddish eyes at him, but he just rolled his, not caring about it.

"You're going to a hospital, Taiga." Katsunori announced.

"U-uh. No way in hell." He protested and took a step back.

"You should have it checked." Aya joined the coach. She'd sleep better if she knew Taiga wasn't seriously injured.

"Then you're coming with me."

"U-uh." Aya shook her head with her arms raised up in front of her in a protective gesture. "No way. I'm not."

"Oh, yes you are. Don't be a coward, Robin." Taiga smirked, enjoying this. Normally, he'd worry – he knew Aya was terrified of hospitals, to the point of getting panic attacks – but right now… Well, he had a need to be the mean one for a change.

"I'm not! I can't! Go with Katsu!"

"I won't. If you want me to get checked up, you'll come with me."

He could see the struggle in her eyes, but then she straightened up and made up her mind. "Fine." _I'll so regret this._

"I'll give you a ride." Katsunori offered himself, as he'd arrived by car.

######

 _Oh god…_ Aya stared at the hospital building. She felt nauseous just thinking about going inside. She'd never liked hospitals, but ever since her mother had died and they'd spent two weeks in a hospital with another little kid, who hadn't made it… She just couldn't stand hospitals. It haunted her. The little kid haunted her. Not that she'd ever told that to anyone… And whenever she had to visit a doctor, she always chose private ones, residing in unhospital-like buildings.

"You comin', or what?" Taiga nudged her, and looked over his shoulder. "No time to be frozen on the spot, sis'. I want to be done here already."

"R-right!" She blinked, clenched her fists and started moving. _One foot in front of another. One step at a time. You can do it._ She thought.

"It's the first time I see her staring at her feet while walking." Katsunori said quietly, she was so quiet the entire ride that it made him worried. "What happened, Taiga?"

"We've been in a hospital after mom died, you know that right? And there was that kid… Ah, well… She'd always been scared of hospitals, and after that, she can't stand them at all." He said with a shrug. "But she needs to get over it, we aren't kids anymore."

"You sure she'll be all right?"

"…" He looked over his shoulder at his sister, who suddenly looked like she'd shrunk. She was grabbing at the scar on her shoulder and chewing on her bottom lip. "…I hope…"

"What was with that pause?" Katsunori asked him with a raised eyebrow. He looked over his shoulder too. _I didn't know she'd be this scared…_

"…" Suddenly he felt bad for forcing her. Oh how he hated seeing her like this. "Gee'. Come on!" He stuck out his hand for Aya to hold onto. "It's not like you to be scared, Robin."

"Eh?" She looked at Taiga's hand and then his annoyed expression. "It's not like I can help it…" She muttered.

"Just take my hand. No one's gonna eat you." He barked at her.

After a small hesitation, she let go of her scar and grabbed Taiga's hand, with the strength of a drowning person catching a straw. A tiny smile appeared on her face, but she still couldn't look up. "Thanks…"

He could barely hear her voice. _She won't be able to sleep tonight…_

The smell of a disinfectant filled her nose, and it made her stomach turn. She could hear the sounds of the hospital, patients talking with doctors, announcements to doctors aired through a hospital radio. She squeezed her eyes shut, and let Taiga drag her whenever they needed to go. If only she could tune it all out...

"Sit here, and wait for me." Taiga said and made sure she listened. She nodded and did as he told her.

Katsunori sat beside her, surprised by her behaviour. He hadn't thought that Aya had a weakness like this. She looked so fragile, and Katsunori didn't know what to do to comfort her. But despite that, she was fighting the fear, trying to keep her calm. When Taiga went in, she brought her legs up and hugged her knees.

 _It's gonna be fine. Taiga'll be out in no time. Just calm down… Calm down…_ She felt so helpless. She knew she the fear was irrational, and her behaviour was pathetic, but she couldn't help it. The face of that kid they couldn't help kept flashing in her head. _Just go away… Please!_ She thought desperately.

"So?" Katsunori asked him when Taiga got out.

"A pulled muscle in my right leg, and overstrain in my left… I'm completely grounded for the next two weeks. And then I'll have to follow some regimen to get fine quickly." He grunted, and showed the report and the regimen he got to Katsunori, who read through it quickly.

"Hmm… I'm surprised you've managed to play that long… Show that to your coach, she'll know how to put you back together when you're healed. Tora is a sports trainer after all. He's teaching her everything he knows."

"Yeah… Her father is also a former player." He sighed, and looked at Aya. "You shouldn't put your feet on the bench." He said kindly, and touched her shoulders. "Let's get out of here, 'kay?" He wasn't particularly fond of hospitals either, but he could keep it together.

She nodded, and reached to take his hand again.

Taiga noticed how sweaty and cold her hands were, but he didn't care. He pulled her up, and started leading her out. _At least she didn't faint this time…_ He thought relieved.

"Sorry… I'm really pathetic." She said the moment they got out. With trembling hands she pulled out her cigarettes. She stuck one between her lips, but she couldn't flick on the lighter – it was a difficult task to do with trembling fingers.

Taiga sighed and took the lighter from her. He hated when she smoked, but right now… He lightened it up for her and held it up.

"Thanks… Sorry."

"Stop apologizing. I'm glad you came out on your own feet, really."

"You're seriously not concerned about smoking in front of me?" Katsunori asked her baffled.

It was the last thing she was concerned about at the moment. "Why? You gonna scold me?" She asked and deeply inhaled the nicotine. She could feel how the stress and fear were being pushed out of her system. She hated that feeling the most, and yet, she couldn't help it. It was so irrational, yet so strong.

"Eh…" He pulled at his fringe in surprise. "Well I probably should."

"But you aren't going to, right?"

Katsunori sighed. _It's hard to deal with them…_ "I think you know very well it's not healthy, and you don't need my speech. Just try to tune it down to minimum."

"Yeah. I'm doing that… But hospitals…"

"Right… There is something I need to discuss with you." He changed the topic to get her interest. Originally, he planned on keeping it to himself, and not getting Aya involved, but… Maybe it could help her?

"Yes?"

"Masako e-mailed me this morning. She has a girl who's willing to become a manager of the Yosen's team, but she doesn't want to be bothered by explaining stuff to her." He rolled his eyes, this was so like Masako. "And she asked me if I would lend her one of mine, to teach the girl… I don't think I want to do that, and even if, I can't send Momoi out there – her parents would probably kill me."

"Since my parents are not around… You want me to go up to Akita?" She asked in disbelief. "For how long?"

"How long will it take you to teach the girl everything she needs to know?"

"A week? Four days? I'm not sure. Depends on how quick she's gonna learn."

"Tatsuya's probably there by now too, right?" Taiga asked nonchalantly to remind his sister what she was getting herself into.

"Oh… I guess… He told me he wanted to stay in America for the first week of holidays, but I guess he should've arrived around 16th June. To avoid remedial classes in the summer."

"So… Will you go?"

"Do you not want me to? I can stay at home with you if you want."

"Wha'?! I'm not scared to be alone or anything!"

"I haven't said that." She chuckled, her previous fear forgotten and replaced by another. Was she okay to face Tatsuya?

"You can decline if you want." Katsunori shrugged. "I'd like to refuse Masako, really."

"You two have a thing, eh?" Aya teased him. "But I guess… I'll go. Suzume's there. I haven't seen her since the last summer, and I might stay at her place for a couple of days." She already started planning her 'business trip', Katsunori offered. She missed Suzume, the only real friend, except Kiku and Satsuki, she had and trusted among girls. And she probably needed to take a break from Aomine for a few days.

"Ah right… I forgot that Suzu moved to Akita!" Taiga blurted out, with a faint blush. It wasn't like he was in love with the girl, but she was his friend and she was pretty and she used to dance with him in those ridiculous summer training camps he was forced to attend.

Aya smiled at him. "Why don't you come with me then? I bet she'd be happy to see both of us."

"… I don't want to see Tatsuya."

"You two still at it? Urgh… Just talk it out already."

"It's not that easy…"

"Hell yeah it is!"

"What's that about?" Katsunori asked curiously.

"Nothing…" Taiga grumbled with a pout. "None of your business."

Katsunori sighed. "Whatever you say. Get in the car already. I want to go home."

When the twins got home, Aya called Suzume about the trip up north.

 _"Aya?"_ Suzume asked surprised. _"Hey! How're you doing? It's been some time since we heard each other. What's up?"_

"You can't imagine how glad I am to hear you. Finally." She smiled. "Can you speak right now?"

 _"Oh, yeah! Mom's not here, so it's safe! I'm living with my grandparents now; I guess I've told you that in one of the e-mails."_

"Of course! I wasn't sure about it, but now that I hear you… you sound happier."

 _"Well, what do I tell you? My mom has a screw loose. I've never gotten along with her. Though I miss my dad. Wait, did you just put me on a speaker?"_

"Yeah, Taiga'll be out of the shower in no time. I guess you don't mind talking with him too."

"Yo!" Taiga greeted her.

 _"Speak about the devil."_ The girl chuckled. _"How was your match, Tiger? I heard you had one today."_

"Ah… We lost. I couldn't beat Aya's crush."

"Taigaa!"

 _"Ooooh? You finally have someone new who caught your attention?"_

"Errr… I guess, though he can be a jerk at times."

The three of them talked about lots of things; there was a lot to catch up on. At the end, Aya and Suzume made a deal about her staying over at Suzume's house.

######

Daiki was unbelievably quiet during the dinner. He was genuinely surprised that both of his parents were at home to eat dinner together. It was a rare occurrence, or maybe he'd been skipping on family dinners for some time.

"I heard from Satsuki that you won." Daisuke told him. "Congratulations."

"Yeah." He muttered and gobbled up half of his food.

Michiko looked at her son worriedly, and then at her husband. _'Isn't-he-supposed-to-be-happy?'_ She asked wordlessly.

 _'He-should.'_

 _'What's-going-on?'_

 _'Don't-ask-me.'_ He shrugged. Then he took a deep breath, to either completely destroy his son's mood or get some answers. "Did you argue with Kagami-chan?"

Daiki shot him a glare. But those icy blue eyes were burning a hole in his forehead. "…Not really. But I did play against her brother and Tetsu. And won." He said mechanically. He didn't want to talk about it, but when his usually easy-going father got into investigative mood, there was no running away. He knew that much.

"Oh…" He knew about Tetsu, but he hadn't known what had happened there. "Was she angry at you for that?"

"Dunno. I haven't talked with her."

"Why would she be angry?" Michiko asked. "Her team won, right?"

Daisuke sighed. "Isn't it always more complicated than that?"

Daiki shrugged. At the moment he felt nothing. He wasn't happy about the win, and he wasn't disappointed by it. Who would right? He didn't really want to go for the match tomorrow, but it was Senshinkan, and Imayoshi had been fussing about it.

"Ne… I wanted to ask this sooner, but…" Daisuke started again, rubbing his chin in thought. "Is there any relation between Kagami-chan and her brother and the Kagami twins from the former national team?"

"Huh?!" Aomine almost dropped his chopsticks. He looked at his father with wide eyes.

"Don't tell me… It has never crossed you mind?!"

"What?" Michiko looked at her husband and then at her son; she wasn't really a sports fan, so she had no idea what the two were talking about. "Is her father famous or somethin'?" She asked curiously.

"I don't know!" Daiki barked at her, still too shocked to process this. "It could only be the same name." He tried to deny it. It wasn't possible, or was it? And if yes, how come he didn't know?

"Maybe… But doesn't she resemble him? The red hair and all?"

Now that he thought about… Aya did resemble them in a way, but Kagami Taiga was the spitting image of them. "What the fuck…?" He muttered under his breath. He should've known.

When he'd started playing basketball as a kid, he hadn't been interested in the official matches or anything, but once he'd started watching them (after he'd met Satsuki), the Kagami twins were his idols for some time. His playing style was very similar to one of the Kagami twins. _Why didn't she tell me?!_

"Kagami-chan hasn't told you?" Michiko asked worriedly. That sure must've stung.

Daiki chuckled dryly. "She rarely talks about herself."

"She must have a reason for that." Daisuke tried to calm it down, and glared at his wife to stop provoking Daiki, though she meant well… "You know her better than me, Daiki."

"I wonder if do…" He said, staring into his plate. "Thanks for the food. I'll take the dogs out." He put dishes into sink and went to grab leashes.

"Did I say something unnecessary?" Michiko asked staring after her son.

Daisuke sighed. "Maybe…? I don't know what kind of relationship those two have, or what kind of a girl she really is. Daiki rarely talks about himself too, so I wonder why he is so surprised…"

"Well… If you're in love, then you want to know everything, right?"

"So he is in love?"

"Of course he is! I just hope she won't break his heart…"

"Or vice versa…" Daisuke muttered. "With his attitude it might happen too, you know?"

"As much as I hate to admit it as a mother… You're right. Aaaah, I wanna meet her!" She groaned in frustration.

"Patience dear, eventually you will." He chuckled and started washing the dishes.

######

"Satsuki?" Daiki asked when she picked up. He was staring at the night's sky, unable to see the stars. But it was his form of relaxation.

 _"Yeah? What's up? Are you ditching tomorrow?"_ She asked emotionlessly, giving him a cold shoulder.

"Tch." He clicked his tongue. "No. I'll come… I just…"

 _"Wait… Did something happen? Where are you?"_

"In the park with the dogs…" He rolled his eyes at the sudden panicked tone. "Nothing happened."

 _"Then spill it! It's not like you to call first. What's bothering you?"_

"Do you know about Kagami's father?"

 _"Ah… Yeah… She had a photo of the former team in her house. Don't tell me!"_ She gasped. _"You haven't figured it out till now?"_

He frowned. "Why haven't you told me a thing?!"

 _"I thought you knew."_

"Did she tell you?" He asked, praying the answer would be 'no'.

 _"Of course not! I've told you… I saw the photo. And when I accused her of not saying anything, Taiga-kun said his team didn't know either… Well, it's something they don't boast about, because not many people remember the former team and it's not their accomplishment. And maybe it's only my intuition, but I think Aya-chan doesn't have a good relationship with her father."_

"… Actually… I think so too."

 _"Wait, she talked with you about her father and didn't mention who he was?"_

"Wha'? No!" He protested immediately. "When she asked me not to share the photos, she said it couldn't get to her father. But the face she made…"

 _"Hehehe… So you notice her that much, huh?"_ She teased him. _"Ne, I've been wondering… I think… I think I knew Aya-chan before."_

"What?"

 _"I can't say from where or how… But I have the feeling, I knew her before. Long time ago. Is it stupid?"_

"Yeah. It is. Why don't you just ask her?"

 _"I can't ask her that! She said she had the same feeling some time ago and that she'd tell me when she remembered, but… I thought she was making fun. Now I wonder… I might pay another visit to her house. Maybe if I talk with her mom, I'll get a whiff of it."_

"Good luck with that." He said dryly and scratched Shiro's head who came to nuzzle against his leg. "Their mother is dead."

 _"WHAT?!"_ She shouted and then there was silence for couple of seconds.

"So you didn't know." He assumed, and felt a bit better. There were things even Satsuki didn't know.

 _"And you did… So that's why she never talks about her mom and always makes that face when I complain about arguing with my mom. Oh god, I was so insensitive!"_

"And that's why she doesn't talk about stuff…" He muttered. Maybe he could understand her a bit after all. "Don't change your behaviour now, or she'll kill me for telling you. I've done enough as it is." He sighed. Why was he even discussing this with Satsuki?

 _"She wouldn't hate you."_ She sounded 100% certain about it.

"Keh. I wonder about that."

 _"Oh… Aya-chan's calling. Sorry, but I'm interested!"_ She hung up without hesitation.

Aomine sighed and put the phone into his pocket. No matter how much Satsuki was annoying, she was his best friend. After talking with her, he felt better about everything.

Fifteen minutes later, when he was on his way home, Satsuki called him again.

"Yeah?" He asked lazily, wondering what it could be.

 _"Aya-chan's going to Akita on Monday evening! Araki-sensei wants her to teach their new manager about what to do and how to handle the boys."_

"Is that even possible? I mean… It's strange, no? Why doesn't the coach teach her pupil alone?"

 _"I asked that too, but she said she didn't mind because her friend is there, and she could stay at her place. But…"_

"But what?"

He'd swear that Satsuki was pulling his leg now. _"…Her ex is already there, she was kinda anxious about facing him. I don't know much about him, but I'm rooting for you, you know."_

Her last sentence made him freeze on his spot. Akari stopped immediately, but Shiro and Kurome made strange sounds when he suddenly pulled them back. "Wha'? What did you say just now? We're friends… I'm not… It's not…" He stuttered.

 _"Oh don't lie to yourself, Daiki. You like her! Nothing wrong with that. I'm surprised you haven't tried anything yet…"_

"She wouldn't want of me, and anyways. If she rejects me then everything will be ruined!" _I don't want to ruin this…_

Satsuki sighed exasperatedly. _"Well, whatever. It's your business. Just don't be too disappointed if they wind up together again."_ She spat out and hung up.

 _Stupid._ He rolled his eyes. And there went his good feeling. But what could he do? He wasn't her boyfriend and he shouldn't have known. It was him who had come late and messed up. He couldn't just come up to her and say 'don't go', or anything… Not without admitting he liked her out loud, and making a fool out of himself.

* * *

"Oh, this time you're on time?" Yamaoka provoked Aomine when the latter strolled into the changing room five minutes before they needed to go out.

"Shut up." He muttered and lumped on the closest bench. He glanced at Aya, but her expression was unreadable. He couldn't guess what she was thinking at all. But something was definitely off about her.

Someone rapped at the door, and then Taiga appeared. "Hey, sorry, for barging in." He said, feeling uncomfortable under all the eyes staring at him. Though when he caught Aomine's gaze he glared at him.

"What's up?" Aya asked him surprised, eyeing a steaming paper cup Taiga was holding.

"I thought it might help you." He walked towards her and handed her the steaming cup.

 _His walking is off._ Aomine thought. _And what's that?_

Aya carefully smelled the liquid. "Eh? A 'good dreams tea'? I haven't had it for so long."

He smiled at her sheepishly. "Sorry for the yesterday."

"What happened?" Katsunori asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Nothing serious, really." Aya replied immediately, she hadn't remembered much of it after all and she definitely didn't want her team to know.

"She had a night terror. My fault." Taiga said with a shrug, he was way more honest than his sister, ignoring the Touou's team.

Aomine's eyes stared at her after hearing this, but she immediately broke off the eye contact. "Would you shut up?!" She punched Taiga's ribs, and bit her lower lip to hide an embarrassed blush which settled on her face. This was the worst. Her team didn't need to know that she sometimes still suffered night terrors or nightmares. It was so lame.

"Ouch!" He rubbed the spot. "And there I am trying to be nice."

"That bad, huh?" Katsunori asked. "Sorry, I guess. I should've realised that."

"You couldn't, Katsu. She wouldn't talk about it with you no matter what. With anyone… So…"

"So now you're blurting it out to everyone! Real great! Remind me dear brother… Why do I still love you?" Aya glared at him dangerously. He instinctively took a few steps back. Then she just sighed exasperatedly and shook her head. "It's not anyone's fault. Thanks for thinking about me, Tai. But really… We live together, careful about pissing me off."

"Eeek…" He shuddered and then pouted. "Just don't cause Suzu a heart attack, while you'll be there."

"Suzu can handle me."

Taiga raised an eyebrow at that. "I'll give her a call to not let you out of her sight."

"Worrywart. You can come with me, you know."

"Want us to argue again?" He really didn't want to see Tatsuya, but at the same time he worried for Aya.

She rolled her eyes. "Cowards."

A vein popped on his forehead. "Burn in hell."

"One day I will." She said with a smirk. "Shouldn't you be with your team? I bet Kuroko might use some encouragement."

Taiga opened his mouth to retort, but then closed them. Entire Touou stared at him and he suddenly felt uncomfortable again.

Aya's eyes widened. She'd forgotten to ask about the rest of the Seirin yesterday. "Don't tell me you guys are not speaking."

"Nothing to speak about, really…" He muttered.

"I'm not gonna butt in this time, but I hope you know what you're doing."

Taiga nodded, and turned to leave. "Good luck."

"Thanks!" Wakamatsu reacted immediately. He was strangely fond of the boy.

"Oh…" He turned to Aya again. "I'll join your practise with Senri tonight."

She smiled brightly. "Thanks! You're a saviour."

Taiga chuckled. "Whose? Yours or his?"

"His of course!" She called after him as the door closed shut. She shook her head and chuckled, staring at the tea.

"So night terrors, huh?" Yamaoka sneered. "Do you wet your bed too?" He asked mockingly. He'd been terrified of her and yet so angry since the previous day that he couldn't really think of possible consequences. _As if she would fulfill the threat, tche…_

Surprisingly it wasn't Aya or Aomine who reacted. The usually calm and lax Katsunori grabbed the boy's collar and pulled him down to his eye level, glaring at him. "You know nothing about her." He growled. "Insult her one more time, you stupid brat and **_I_** will break your nose." _I should've stepped in earlier… Better late than never…_

Yamaoka almost pissed himself. The coach looked super scary when pissed off to that extent. "S-s-sorry…" The boy uttered.

Katsunori raised an eyebrow. "Oh? You are not sitting on the bench today. Ishii! Get into your jersey."

"Hai!" Ishii nodded immediately. This was a side of their coach they saw for the first time.

"And you." He let go of Yamaoka's collar. "Get out of my sight!"

Without another word the boy disappeared from the changing room.

"Woah…" Aya blinked at Katsu. "I didn't know you had it in you."

He frowned at her. "He crossed the line. And this time, you'd get him into infirmary, that'd be a waste of your tea."

She smiled at him, a tad sadly, her own father wouldn't have done that for her. "Thanks."

After that, Satsuki gave everyone a short strategy speech and they departed to the court.

The match against Senshinkan was boring for Aomine. There was no one like Kagami Taiga and he wasn't even half as serious as in the game against Seirin, but everyone gave up after the second half. Even Aya was getting bored watching the game. And Senshinkan were supposed to be one of the kings… They definitely didn't stand up to that name anymore. Aomine switched out in the last quarter, so Ishii would get to play some and she couldn't blame him. The points he got for Touou were enough to keep them in lead no matter what, and Ishii wasn't half that bad. In the end, Touou won 105 to 31.

Because the Seirin's game was going on simultaneously, Aya watched bits of it too. And she had to sadly admit, that Seirin without Taiga was struggling. Kuroko's passes lost its accuracy, as If Aomine had robbed him of his previous abilities. But Aya knew it wasn't Aomine's fault; Kuroko just hadn't come into peace with his loss, and was messing up a game they could've won otherwise. He was subbed out soon enough, but Seirin didn't manage to win. And by 1 measly point they lost.

* * *

The last game of the final league was on the Monday's morning. Kiku couldn't attend as she wasn't a part of the basketball club and couldn't skip school for such a reason. Wakamatsu missed her there, but it couldn't have been helped. At least Aomine arrived on time once again.

But there was a strange atmosphere between him and Aya. She wasn't talking with him, and he didn't seem eager to start a conversation either. It was so unusual for the duo.

"Ne? Don't you think you should talk with her?" Wakamatsu asked him calmly when Aya left the changing room to find good seats. He really didn't want to argue with Aomine today.

"Heh?" Aomine's stormy eyes snapped at him. "It's none of your business." He barked.

Imayoshi sighed. "But it is, Aomine. When the two of you aren't speaking it's weird for all of us. Maybe it's none of our business, but it influences us."

"What do you know?"

"Something~ I'm the captain, Aomine, I try to figure out stuff." He smirked.

A shiver ran down Aomine's spine. Just what exactly did Imayoshi know? He didn't like the idea of someone else knowing stuff about Aya. He felt strangely privileged that she talked with him about things no one else seemed to know. Perhaps she paid more attention to him then to the others? And he liked the idea.

######

The match was yet another boring one. They won against Meisei 156 to 47 and Aomine only played the first two quarters, as it was pointless for him to remain in the match any longer. He'd been substituted by Ishii, who was finally given another chance to try and play in an official match. Some third years weren't happy about the coach's ideas, but Katsunori knew what he was doing. The third years would be soon focusing more on studying than basketball and he needed to pay more attention to the first and second years, who were to be the team's core for the next year.

"So where are we going anyways?" Aya asked. It was unusual for their team to go somewhere after a victory. She felt that winning was already natural for Touou, so they had no need to hang out as a team. The fact that they were heading somewhere together _after_ a match, was rather strange.

"A ramen restaurant." Imayoshi announced. "It looks like it's going to rain and we want to skip school, so a party is quite a nice idea for today, don't you think~?" He asked with a sly smile.

"I'm not sure I like your tone."

He just smiled at her knowingly.

She blinked at him and stopped for a moment. She didn't like the way Imayoshi had talked to her just know. Like he knew something she didn't want them to know. She didn't like that side of their captain.

And then a group of apparently foreign boys passing by them caught her attention.

 _"And then I went to that competition where Aya was… Gosh, that girl is really something else! Too bad she quit. I so wanted to try and dance with her, but she probably doesn't even know my name."_

 _"Hey Sebastian! Why would you think I don't know your name?!"_ She reacted to their English immediately. She recognised the boy and also his friends. They were dancers she knew from the world ranking competitions. They'd usually ended up around 15th – 20th place every time and even that was a huge success.

 _"Eh?!"_ The group of boys stopped and turned to face the girl speaking to them in perfect English. They hadn't expected anyone to understand them properly let alone answer. And she was surrounded by a quite tall squad which looked like some serious sport's team. _"No freakin' way! So you've gone to Japan?! Oh wait, you are a halfie with a family here! But hey… How do you know my name?"_

The team stopped too, staring at the exchange. They could understand some parts and bits, definitely not everything. Aomine was staring at the boy with hostility. _Sebastian_ as she'd called him was a tall, relatively good looking guy. And because she was teaching him and the other first years, they were already used to her accent and rhythm of speech. They could pretty much understand her, but the boy had a different accent, making it difficult for them

Aya rolled her eyes. _"What do you take me for really? I organize the camp, I notice people around me."_

 _"Heee… Interesting! Are you going to watch the competition tomorrow?"_

 _"No. I wanted to go and have a look, but I'm off to Akita. I have other responsibilities now. But don't worry, I'll watch the recordings of it."_

 _"Too bad then."_ He mused and rubbed his chin. _"I thought you were someone who'd never quit. I know that those articles 'bout you were lies, so it surprised me that it got you that much."_

 _"I didn't quit because of that. I won the last champs because of that." _She snorted and smirked. _"How's Ray anyways? I heard he had a new partner?"_

 _"They're not here. I haven't seen them competing in quite some time. Anyways…"_ He looked around looking all the guys up and down. _"Is this a sport's club?"_

 _"Basketball. Yeah. We've just won a match so we're going to celebrate a bit."_

 _"So a basketball now, huh? You've always played that in your free time."_ He said with a smile. _"But… You sure you don't want to come back?"_ He asked and his voice sounded tempting. He outstretched his arm for Aya to take. _"I'd gladly accept you as my partner."_

 _"And what about your current one?"_

 _"I don't care. You're much better."_

She smiled and took his hand, letting him spin her around and then do a basic 10 second samba routine. Sebastian's lead wasn't bad, she had to admit that much, but he wasn't a partner for her. Aya knew he'd never be able to catch up with her.

 _"Well."_ She looked at him with a polite smile and pushed him away almost violently. _"I appreciate the sentiment, but I'm not interested. I'm not going back. And I don't want you as a partner."_ She said.

 _"Hmph. Not that I'd leave Vera. I just wanted to see your reaction."_ He snorted, unwilling to admit his hurt ego. _"Have a nice day, Aya."_

 _"Have a nice day too."_ She said coldly and stared at his leaving back.

"Who was that?" Satsuki asked curiously.

Aya sighed. "No one important. I know him from a couple of events."

"But you just danced with him~" Imayoshi smirked. "You sure he was no one important?"

She shot a glare at the captain. "Yes! I dance. I know a lot of people because of that."

"And he is here, in Tokyo, for an event?" He asked, provoking the redhead.

"Yeah."

"What kind of event?" Kano asked curiously, his green eyes sparkling.

"A competition." She said coldly. _Why the hell didn't I ignore him?!_ She thought desperately.

"You competed?" Several guys asked at once.

Aya took a deep breath, catching Katsunori's knowing look and glared at him. _I'm not telling them. Do it yourself, if you want…_ "I tried. Got some wins, but then my partner got incapacitated and so we called it quits."

There were some more questions, which she turned down, cleverly avoiding spilling the beans. She knew she should tell them. She was aware they'd feel betrayed if she didn't, but… After all that had happened in the past days, she wasn't really in the mood to dig in her past. She knew it'd come, eventually, but not yet.

"So you tried, eh?" Aomine asked her with a raised eyebrow.

"Go to hell." She muttered and paced up to align with Katsunori and discuss Taiga's possible exercises.

"Serves you right." Satsuki gave Aomine a scolding look.

"Tch."

They all ended up in a ramen restaurant, talking about the match, and wondering what kind of opponents they'd face further on. The first years were excited and happy they got to play.

Aya and Aomine ended up sitting next to each other, by some 'accident', she suspected was actually Imayoshi's plot. And the captain kept staring at her with that unreadable expression of his. _Just what exactly do you know?_ She wanted to ask, but kept her mouth shut. Maybe she should've told them, but the topic and Sebastian seemed to be already forgotten.

The ramen she got was delicious. She didn't get to eat it often, so she was enjoying herself. And she could see that the others were more than content with the food as well.

Aomine was stuffing his cheeks next to her and he was actually cute. He didn't give a damn about the others. When he was finished with his third bowl, he sighed contently and folded his hands over his stomach. He was thinking of getting another one – in couple of minutes.

"Just so you know…" It was Aya who spoke to him first after she was done eating. She kept her voice down, so no one would notice. "I'm not angry with you… I just believed your promise. And you fucked up."

 _That hurt._ He thought, because she didn't even look at him. _But you had it coming… genius._

At the end there was only the four of them staying: Aya, Aomine, Katsunori and Satsuki. Satsuki still had some time before she'd go visit her father and bring him food into a hospital, where he worked as a surgeon. And Aomine was finishing like the seventh bowl of ramen. He felt strange staying behind with them but he was hungry.

Katsunori pulled at his fringe and started. "About Akita–"

"I have it all set already." Aya said immediately. "I'm taking a plane at 7. I'll be staying at Suzume's place and I called to Araki-sensei. It's fine."

"You sure have it well thought out."

"Katsu… It's nothing. I'm visiting a friend. Don't worry. I'll be fine."

"You can charge the school for your plane ticked and all the other expenses." He told her.

"I'd need receipts from everything. That's too troublesome." She grumbled. "It's partly a personal trip, so I don't really care."

Katsunori opened his mouth to say something, but then he closed it.

Aya was watching him with a teasing sparkle in her eyes. "Seriously. I'll be fine. Don't worry 'bout me more than my father." She reached for Katsunori's palm and squeezed it. "I'm a big girl already, 'kay? I'll handle it."

"Urgh." He rolled his eyes and shrugged off her palm. "Whatever." He got up, and took his blazer. "I'll go over to Hiroto's. If there is some problem, call me." The kids grew on him. As much as he didn't want to get too close, he cared.

"…and you'll fly on the devil's tail to save me." She teased him good-heartily. "Once more. I'll be fine. And don't get too drunk. You're teaching tomorrow."

"You're a terrible kid, Robin."

"I know." She smirked and waved him good-bye. "But you love me anyways." She muttered for herself and then, with another sigh she got up too. "I guess I should get going. I need to pack." She wasn't paying attention to Aomine or Satsuki all that much. They were like a background hum.

"Ah! Crap!" Satsuki sprang up. "I need to run too! Anyways! Aomine-kun I need you to pick up chocolates for me!"

"What?!" He carked at her. "What are you talking about?"

"For, uhm, my mom's birthday! I totally forgot and that's her favourite brand."

"Go yourself. Or go tomorrow." He protested. He didn't know when did Satsuki's mother have a birthday, but he would swear the pinkette was lying.

"I need it tomorrow! And I don't have the time. The shop closes at six! And it's near the xx park." **[A/N: I have no idea about an address]**

"And where the hell is that?" He asked irritated.

"Near my house." Aya said. "Near the gym I train at. I can show you." She said exasperatedly. Completely seeing through Satsuki's on the spot created scheme, but she was willing to go along with it. For one reason or another, she wanted to spend some time with Aomine alone. They needed to talk.

"Yes! Thank you!" The pinkette said and ran off.

"OI! Satsuki!" He called after her desperately.

"Come on." Aya said and headed out, while typing a message to Satsuki: 'I know what you've done here.'

######

Aomine was following her silently. It was weird and awkward, and he had no idea if he should talk with her or not, or what. He fucked up. She'd told him that, but…

"Ne?" He tried when he couldn't stand the silence.

"Yes?" She looked at him by the corner of her eye. She'd been waiting for him to speak up first.

He gulped. Solving relationship problems, in whatever kind of relationship, was freaking embarrassing. "How much have I fucked up?"

"I wonder…"

When it looked like she wouldn't tell him anything more, he opened his mouth again, but she turned around and stared at him, stealing his words away.

"I believed in you! Kuroko-kun is or was your close friend. You promised you'd be there _on time_. And I actually believed you! Just how stupid am I?! I'm not angry at you, really. I'm angry at myself! Because I can't be angry at you! Urgh! And I still loved _your_ game! I'm a terrible sister!" She wasn't making any sense at all. "You didn't deserve to win that one. I shouldn't have trusted you."

Aomine was blinking at her sudden outburst in utmost astonishment. _She loved my game? I mocked them for god's sake… What is she even saying?_ _But…_ _She regrets believing me?_ That felt terrible. He might've won three matches, but it couldn't measure up to losing Aya's trust. The little of it he'd had. She was one of the very few people who still believed in him, and there he was, ruining it all again. He'd overslept, it hadn't been intentional, but if he took it as seriously as he should have, it wouldn't have happened.

"I seriously feel like punching you." She muttered, and turned around to lead the way towards the shop.

"And that's the definition of _'I'm angry at you.'_ , Sweetheart." He blurted out with a smirk and regretted it right after.

"Seriously?!" She turned around and glared at him.

To her surprise he stretched his arms wide. "Feel free to do it."

Her eyebrows went up and she was seriously considering his offer. She could land a good punch if she wanted to.

He could feel her hesitation as she eyed him up and down, carefully choosing a spot to hit. Her eyes stopped at his crotch for a moment and he shuddered at the thought. Then his nose and then his abs. And then she sighed.

"Nah… You wouldn't look good with a broken nose and I'd probably damage my fist on your abs." _And I wouldn't hit your crotch…_ She concluded her observation and started walking again.

 _I seriously do love her._ The thought appeared in his head and he quickly shooed it away. She amazed him and made him worry at the same time. What was it about the nightmares? Who were those guys? What articles? He wanted to know everything. And yet, it wasn't the right time to ask any of that.

"Then what should I do?" He asked quietly, aligning his step with hers.

"Huh?" She blinked at him.

"What should I do to make it right again?" He repeated his question, looking everywhere but her. He felt mortified. But when he imagined he wouldn't see her for the rest of the week and there would be no chance to speak with her…

He'd always been straightforward, and beating around the bush, or thinking about what the others might think wasn't his style. He had a problem with Aya. He'd talked with Satsuki a bit, but the main person involved was Aya. If he wanted to make up with her, he should ask her what to do, right? That was his logic at least… because no one knew her better than herself.

Aya was speechless. The arrogant Aomine Daiki, who had royally fucked up, was asking _her_ how to make it right?! After she told him she hadn't trusted him anymore?! But he was talking with her directly, trying to figure out what to do. She could tell he was embarrassed, and at the same time, he was stupidly brave and frank. And more than anything, she could see that he was really worried over it, really trying to reach out, to fix things.

"I don't know." She said after a moment of thought. "Honestly…" She needed to give him a proper answer. "Right now I need an Aomine-free week to clear my head. And then we'll see. I could say _'don't let me down again',_ or something, but… it would pressure you, and give false hopes to me. So… I don't really know what you can do."

He nodded, he was confused, but if she didn't know, she didn't know.

They reached the shop and he bought whatever she gave him. Then he stopped and stared at one package of cookies.

"What?" She asked him curiously.

He picked it up and shoved it into her hands. "Buy this for Murasakibara. If you want to survive near him, bribe him with food. And tell that to your ex too." He said with a frown.

She smirked. "Thanks for the advice. And don't worry. I'm not planning to repeat the same mistakes with Tatsuya~" She teased.

"I haven't said anything." He pouted, averted his eyes.

* * *

 **A/N:** Well... I hope I didn't overdo it (again) and that I didn't overlook any mistakes - if yes, sorry (it's half past midnight in my country). Next chapter - we'll get a trip to Akita and see some chemistry of the Yosen's team (a bit of it at least.) What do you think? Is it wise for Aya to go and face Tatsuya? ...

Let me know what you think but remember, reviews are appreciated but never necessary.

-S.


	28. Chapter 28: Giant and dwarf

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone who followed, favourited and reviewed! :)

Here's the little Akita adventure, not much of Aomine in this one, but... Enjoy!

* * *

 _I love seeing new places and meeting new people. I'm sort of addicted to travelling. **– Erin Heatherton**_

 _Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea. **– Robert A. Heinlein**_

 _When you loved someone and had to let them go, there will always be that small part of yourself that whispers, "What was it that you wanted and why didn't you fight for it?" **― Shannon L. Alder**_

 _I would rather have a body full of scars and a head full of memories than a life of regrets and perfect skin. **― Atticus Poetry, Love Her Wild**_

 _You live as long as you dance. **– Rudolf Nureyev**_

 _If you care about somebody, you should want them to be happy. Even if you wind up being left out. ― **Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower**_

 _Be brave. Take risks. Nothing can substitute experience. – **Paulo Coelho**_

* * *

 ** _Few days earlier in Yosen's gym:_**

"Eh? And who's that?" Murasakibara asked lazily, pointing at the boy standing next to him. He was a lot shorter than him, with grey eyes and the left half of his face was covered by his long fringe all the way to the corner of his mouth. But the boy had a comparable aura to Kise-chin, maybe? Atsushi was staring at him, trying to figure out where he'd seen him before.

"I'm Himuro Tatsuya. We are in the same class, Murasakibara-kun." He repeated for the third time that day with a sigh. It was getting on his nerves, but he needed to somehow befriend the giant, who had everything Tatsuya'd ever lacked. Being new somewhere was sure difficult, and he was there all alone.

"Hm…" Atsushi frowned at him. "Boooring."

A vein popped on Tatsuya's forehead and he bit his tongue not to retort anything rude.

"Ahaha. Don't take him too seriously; he is like this with everyone. I'm Fukui Kensuke, the vice-captain. I'm glad someone like you showed up."

"Nice to meet you." Tatsuya replied politely and shook hands with him. "I'm glad you took me in so late in the season."

"But of course! You just won't play in the Interhigh. We already started it with the team we have, and it would be weird to suddenly bench someone… Aaanyways, I guess our current shooting guard, Muri-kun," Fukui pointed at the said boy, who turned around and bowed slightly before continuing his shooting. "will quit after the Interhigh to study, so the position will free itself for you."

Tatsuya nodded. It wasn't his intention to create a crack in the team. And he didn't mind waiting. His shoulder wasn't feeling that well lately. "I understand."

"Oh, hello! So you're the famed Himuro Tatsuya, coach talked about." A huge hand landed on Tatsuya's shoulder and he turned around. A huge guy, shorter than Murasakibara, but bulkier, with a split chin and sideburns was staring down at him.

 _He looks like a gorilla… Scary._ Tatsuya thought, but kept his poker face. "Hey. You must be the captain."

"Okamura Kenichi. Welcome to Yosen's team." He rumbled. "Fukui will take care of you and tell you everything necessary."

"It'll be my pleasure~ I bet the girls are all over you with your looks, eh?" Fukui teased.

"Ah…" Tatsuya chuckled sheepishly. "I don't do it purposely. It's troublesome, really."

"Don't mind. Maybe I'll finally get a girlfriend thanks to that!"

 _Let's hope so…_ Tatsuya thought, hoping that his natural popularity with the opposite gender won't cause him problems on the team.

The coach wasn't there yet, so the practise was lead by Okamura. Tatsuya got into it quickly. It was different from the usual outside practises he'd had with Alex, but it wasn't bad at all. Yosen was a defensive team, which meant his abilities in defence would have to improve a lot, and at the same time he provided the team with an explosive offensive power – something their current shooting guard lacked as he noticed. He also noticed that the giant wasn't interested in the practise much, he kept complaining nonstop, sometimes taking breaks to eat snacks, and on top of it all, while they were playing mini matches (which Tatsuya watched from the sidelines for the time being) Atsushi hadn't moved away from his basket for a second, perfectly guarding it but never joining the offence.

Araki-sensei walked into the gym with a shinai resting against her shoulder at the end of their practise, followed by a little girl. "That's enough!" She called out to them and waited until they'd assemble. "I see you've managed without me, kids! There were things I had to take care of. And I'd like to introduce someone to you."

The girl stepped forward, her chocolate brown eyes shining with a curiosity, excitement and the smallest of fears. She was just 148cm tall, so she had to crane her neck to stare at all the tall guys around her.

"Hey fellas! I'm Hironaka Sumire, class 2-1. I wanna be your lady-manager-san!" She said and grinned.

"An angel." Fukui sighed.

"A manager?! Someone wants to be our manager?!" Okamura asked his teammates. "Am I dreaming?" He said teary eyed. "Finally someone!"

"Who forced you to do that?" Liu asked unemotionally.

"Ah, chibi-chan. Do you have something sweet?" Murasakibara asked and bent down to look at her face properly.

A vein popped on Sumire's forehead. "What did you say, you giant troll?" She hissed and slapped her palm across Atsushi's mouth. She was sensitive about her height, which kind of made her a perfect target for jokes.

"Ha?!" He glared at her and straightened up. "What's with the rabid squirrel, Masa-chin? I don't like her."

The coach glared at him and hit his shoulder with the shinai. "What did I tell you about calling me Masa-chin, hah?!"

"I ain't a rabid squirrel, you fukin' giant!" Sumire joined Araki-sensei.

 _Whoa… Where have I arrived?!_ Tatsuya blinked between the arguing people desperately. Praying this wasn't the norm.

* * *

"Aya! Hey!" Suzume was waving at her the moment she came got into the waiting hall on the Akita's airport.

A wide grin settled on Aya's face. Yes, this was what she needed at the moment. She quickened her pace and launched herself into the girl's arms, pulling her into a hug.

"Did you grow again?" She asked teasingly, when she barely reached Suzume's collar bones.

Suzume frowned down at her. "Don't even talk about it. I'm 190 cm now, and I seriously hope it stopped." She grunted. Being so tall as a girl in Japan was like a punishment. There were barely any attractive guys taller than her, and she always stood out.

"Oh. You're the same height as Taiga then!"

"So no high-heels in the summer training camp." She sighed. "I get it."

"Are your grandparents really okay with me staying over?"

"Of course! Maybe they'll ask you to help around the shop a bit, but I figured you won't mind anyways." Suzume shrugged and headed out to catch a bus. "Welcome to Akita." She added with a bright smile.

"Wait, wait, wait. What shop?" Aya had to run a few steps to catch up with Suzume's long legs and quick pace.

"A sweets shop in a spooky, old, yet awesome, neighbourhood. Haven't I told you? Even I'd had no idea about it until I moved here."

"No! You haven't. What else do I not know?!"

"Ahahaha." Suzume laughed. "We'll have plenty time to catch up tonight. I s'pose you weren't planning to sleep, right? I'll introduce you to my grandparents and Yomi. You know, my childhood number one best friend?"

"Yes, yes. I'm so excited~!" Aya jumped in her step and the girls boarded a bus.

They chatted about trivia the entire way. And once they arrived at the street where Suzume lived Aya stared at the old houses framing the street. "Whooooa! This is amazing!"

"Yeah, I know, right? Come on, we had ours a bit rebuilt though… The height is sure an issue here."

Aya blinked at her in confusion, but followed with a hyped spring in her step. She loved seeing new places, meeting new people, it made feel joyful and happy. This is what she'd needed. Maybe she'd have no time to visit any tourist destinations, but she didn't care. When she noticed a glass window with displayed cakes, she understood. The inscription carved into the wood above the door said 'Moriyama's sweets kingdom'. It was already closed for the day, but Suzume unlocked the door and walked into the cozy shop.

A doorbell jingled, announcing their arrival. "Hey! We're home!" Suzume called out.

"Come to the kitchen!" A woman's voice answered them.

"Aya! Come on." Suzume nudged her after several minutes, but the redhead was drooling over several brands of chocolate, and then running towards a coffee rack, and then across the shop to check out the solid candies and lollipops.

"This is heaven!" She exclaimed with a childish glee. She loved how the interior looked, not too big, not too small, just perfect. Everything seemed to be made out of dark wood. At the back were several beautifully carved tables – probably for the regular patrons. "It's amazing!"

A deep chuckle interrupted her staring. "Oh!" She immediately turned around, and stared at a huge man around his sixties, who came into the room. "I'm sorry for my rudeness." Aya bowed immediately with a chuckle.

"It's all right! I'm more than glad to see happy faces of my customers!" He chuckled. "You must be Kagami Aya-chan. We've heard a lot about you. I'm Moriyama Naoto. Come on in, the dinner is ready."

They had to cross a big kitchen with six ovens and a huge middle "table" where the sweets and cakes were prepared. Everything in here looked somewhat strange, but Aya couldn't figure out why. After the shop's kitchen, there was a narrow corridor ending with a tiny hall, where they took off their shoes, and entered the residential part of the house.

There she met Suzume's grandmother, Saeru, who was already serving a dinner for them all. Aya was always good in talking with people, so the conversation at the table flowed naturally. She was asking about the shop a lot, and the grandparents were asking about her school and championships and all. And surprisingly she didn't mind.

"Oh!" She clapped her hands when she figured what was weird about the house.

"What is it?" Saeru asked her curiously.

"The house… Everything is adjusted to your height!" She blurted out. "That's amazing!"

"Well, we are kind of a family of giants." Saeru laughed. With her 189 cm, she stood only 7 cm shorter than her husband and 1 cm shorter than her granddaughter.

* * *

"Mornin' Yomi!" Suzume greeted her friend, who was waiting for them in the morning, so she could meet up with Aya.

"Good morning." She greeted them. "Sorry I couldn't join your night discussions, but I kinda fell asleep with the little ones." She scratched the back of her neck sheepishly, and eyed Aya up and down.

Aya watched the girl with curiosity too, mainly the two coloured hair. The lower half of Yomi's pitch black hair was dyed electric blue, and it looked awesome. In combination with her blue eyes, it gave the girl an air of magic. She wasn't surprised that Yomi was about 10 cm taller than her. Ever since she'd come to Akita, she felt like a dwarf. Everyone she knew was taller than her; need to say, she wasn't exactly a short girl herself. And she hadn't even met the Yosen's team of titans.

"That's fine. I'm Kagami Aya. It's nice to meet you."

"Endo Yomi. Nice to meet you too. You have nice uniforms in Touou!" She said and ran around Aya curiously. "I seriously hate my sailor uniform. I want to hurry up and go to Yosen too."

"Ah well… I wanted to wear my casual clothes, but Araki-sensei said I should properly wear my school's uniform."

"You don't like it?" Yomi asked and adjusted her glasses. "It's cool though."

"Thanks, I just don't like wearing it more than necessary. Anyways, I heard you play volleyball too, which position?" Aya asked curiously, because looking at Yomi's expression she'd never guess the girl was in a sports club.

"I'm a wing spiker and a receiving specialist, you can say… But I'm no match for Suzu." She said staring at her feet.

Suzume ruffled her hair. "What are you saying? Last year, we met in Tokyo, in the final match of the spring tournament."

"And I still lost, even if your knee was hurting. I could barely get any spike through; you either blocked it or received it." Yomi pouted. "But I can only get better, so I'll become a good and reliable teammate to you, once we are finally in the same school."

"Ah, right, you lived in Miyagi till recently, right?" Aya asked looking at Suzume. "Didn't you have a boyfriend there?" During the night, they mostly discussed Tatsuya, and Aya felt bad for not asking Suzume about her troubles.

"Yeah, we broke up. And mom sent me off here to cure my 'volleyball filled brain'…" She rolled her eyes. "She's never wanted me to play volley and she knew Yosen didn't have a strong team whatsoever, or, I believe she thought there was none. I guess she had it well thought out. My team right now… they suck. And what's worse, they're not even trying to get better. You can't play volleyball alone. What's the point of such a club then?"

"When I join, it'll get better! I think one or two girls from my team want to attend Yosen too. So, we'll build a new team quickly." Yomi said enthusiastically.

"I wonder about that."

Yomi parted halfway and the girls arrived at Yosen. Suzume accompanied the redhead to Araki-sensei's office, as she had no idea where she should go to, and went to her class. She could hear whispers about Tatsuya all over, but she didn't care one bit. She knew everything relevant from Aya, and couldn't care less about the stupid rumours. Well, despite that she was indeed curious what ruckus was Aya's presence going to cause in this usually calm and steady institution.

######

"Aomine-kun?!" Satsuki asked in surprise when Aomine strolled into the gym for the morning practise.

"What?" He asked her. "I feel like practising, any problem with that?"

She hid her smile. "No problem at all."

"Did your mom enjoy the chocolates?" He asked with a dangerous undertone.

"Ahahaha. Yes! Of course she did! Thanks for fetching it for me!" She answered awkwardly and looked everywhere but Aomine. She hadn't done the trick smoothly at all; she'd just thought it out on spot.

"You're unbelievable." He shook his head, totally seeing through her.

"Well, you at least talked with Aya-chan! Nothing wrong with that."

"Hai, hai." He sighed and looked around, partially hoping that the redhead would miraculously appear. "She really went away."

"Just for a couple of days, Dai-chan." She teased him with a smile. "She'll be back in no time."

He rolled his eyes and joined the running boys. He had no freakin' idea why he would come to practises when Aya wasn't even there, but he really felt like working out. Maybe he'd been sitting on his butt for too long. Certainly, the other two matches were boring as hell for him, but… Kagami Taiga was a threat. Maybe the boy had a long way to go, but what if that was exactly someone Aomine was looking for all over. If so, then he couldn't just stay still. And further in the Interhigh, he was about to face his former teammates, at least some of them. _'Don't let me down again'… was what she really wanted to say, eh?_ He thought, knowing she had camouflaged it, like always, to protect herself from another disappointment and to give him a backdoor. _Then I guess I will try to keep that one._

######

"Let me introduce a student who came here for a couple of days to advise the boys' basketball team." A teacher said with a sigh and pointed at Aya, standing in front of everyone in her Touou uniform.

"I'm Kagami Aya. It's nice to meet you all." She said with a friendly smile and her eyes rested on Tatsuya, who was keeping his poker face, but his visible eye was screaming 'shock'. Then she stared at Murasakibara, who was secretly munching on an Umaibo right behind Tatsuya.

"Go take the seat at the back." The teacher said unimpressed and a boring history lesson started.

Aya had to try her hardest not to fall asleep, and suddenly she felt grateful for their sensei, because this one was so monotonous he'd make watching paint dry seem fun in comparison.

"Tatsuya! Hey!" She came to his desk and hugged him briefly. _"Long time no see."_ She switched to English just to confuse the hell out of everyone in the class. She was supposed to be there only until Friday, she could handle the girls' glare-daggers for that long.

He could've felt how her heart was pounding. _She must be just as unsure how to face me as I am…_ _"Long time to see indeed, Robin. What are you doing here? You didn't warn me you'd be coming."_

 _"Ah well… Araki-sensei asked me to teach your manager about what to do… She doesn't want to be bothered by that."_

 _"The little swearing demon you mean? I guess she'd be fine without your help too."_

 _"A swearing demon?"_ Aya raised an eyebrow at that.

 _"Yeah. You'll get it once you meet Hironaka-san."_

 _"I'm interested."_

"And you are?" Murasakibara turned around to ask. It might have taken him a long time to remember Muro-chin, but the boy was his friend. He sure as hell wasn't sharing him with a stranger who just came like a flood.

"Kagami Aya." She smiled at him. "You must be Murasakibara Atsushi-kun, right?"

He nodded and glared at her. How did she know his name? And what the hell had she talked with Muro-chin about?

"Oh, wait!" She lifted her finger and turned to her bag, rummaging through its contents. "I have something for you!"

"Eh? For me?" He asked curiously, tilting his head.

"Yeah!" She said and triumphantly pulled out two packages of cookies. The one Aomine had recommended and a one she bought in Suzume's shop in the morning – or left the money at the counter when she took it. "Here you go. I thought you might like it." She presented her treats to Atsushi.

He stared at it for a moment. Then stared at Aya for another, and suddenly she looked much friendlier. "Thank youuu, Aya-chin." He said and took the packages.

"Eh? Aya-chin?" She tilted her head; she hadn't been warned about a nickname.

Atsushi nodded seriously. " 'cause you brought me sweets." He explained.

 _"Seriously?"_ Tatsuya asked and stared at Aya. _"That's all I needed to do? It took me days 'till he remembered me!" _He complained, knowing that Atsushi sucked in English and couldn't understand a thing.

 _"Yeah, our ace told me to tell you about it. I guess you arrived earlier than I've expected. You should've given me a call or something, you know."_ She rather didn't mention Aomine's name as she had no idea what kind of relationship he'd had with Atsushi and she didn't want to fuck up right in the beginning. And she also knew that Tatsuya would cooperate. They might've not been dating anymore, but they were still friends.

"Could you switch to a normal language?" Atsushi asked lazily, munching on his new treat he'd just received.

"English is a normal language." Aya smirked at him. "But okay. So how is the new manager?"

"Ah. A rabid squirrel." He replied immediately. "A chibi-chan. A pipsqueak."

"Atsushi." Tatsuya scolded him with a look. "It's rude to talk about other person like that."

"So?" The giant shrugged. "She didn't bring me anything so far."

"So you only like people who bring you something?"

He shrugged again and munched on another cookie. "Where'd you get it?"

"This one is from a chocolate shop near my house in Tokyo. And this is from a sweets shop here, in Akita. Why?"

"Hmmm… Which sweets shop?" He asked curiously. He still hadn't discovered all sweets shops in the vicinity and he was always for looking for another one. You know, just in case. What if something happened to all the shops he knew? He needed backups. And backups on backups.

Aya scratched her cheek sheepishly. "Ah… I don't really remember the address." She'd promised Suzume she would definitely not give out the address to her schoolmates. It was Suzume's little secret and safe ground, and Aya wasn't the one give out such things.

"Useless." He muttered and didn't pay any more attention to her.

She raised an eyebrow at Tatsuya. _'Seriously?!'_ She meant.

Tatsuya just shrugged. He didn't completely get the giant yet either.

The school day went on peacefully. Aya vanished during a lunch break to eat with Suzume. The tall girl wasn't into socializing much and she didn't feel like personally meeting with Tatsuya or Atsushi, so they found a quiet hidden corner of the school where they ate their lunches.

To Aya's surprise, she was handling the situation with Tatsuya pretty well. She didn't have to pretend anything. The ring hanging on her neck felt a bit heavier than usual, or she was just noticing its presence a bit more, but it was fine. She was fine. The lovely looks Tatsuya was getting from other girls didn't disturb her and she could speak with him normally. She wondered how he was feeling. Usually she could read his feelings in his eyes, but that day, his poker face was more unreadable than ever and even his eyes were playing tricks on her.

"Hello." She greeted the basketball club and Araki-sensei as she walked into the gym in the afternoon. "I'm Kagami Aya. I'm here to help your new manager." _And to get info on you in the process…._ "Please take care of me for the next couple of days."

"Another girl?!" Someone asked in disbelief.

"And from a different school!"

"Look at that figure."

"This is too much for us in such a short time span…"

Aya had to withhold a chuckle. _Poor boys…_ But they were indeed giants. At least three of them were over 2 meters tall, and the rest of them weren't left in the dust. _My neck will hurt from constantly looking up at them..._ She caught Tatsuya's glance and his eyes were smiling at her. She really didn't get him at the moment.

"Oh, a big-booby person!" Sumire glanced at Aya from behind the coach. "Nice to meet you! I'm Hironaka Sumire."

She blinked at the tiny girl, shorter than Kiku, who was exactly on the eye level with her boobs. "Please call me Aya." She said with a smile.

"Nah. You're a big-booby person." Sumire shrugged with a smirk. "I'll call you that."

A vein popped on her forehead. "Oh?" She opened her mouth to say something like 'Okay chibi-chan' but Tatsuya gave her a 'don't go there' look. "… What should I call you then?"

Sumire's eyes narrowed. The redhead had just dodged a bullet. "Whatever you want."

"Fine. You'll be Hero then."

"Eh, that's not even a nickname." The girl pouted, it was just a shortening of her name.

"Oh but it is. In English it is." Aya smiled and fought an urge to ruffle the girl's bob cut hair. "Okay then. Let's get started." She crossed her arms over her chest and stepped aside. As much as she wanted to join the practise, her sole purpose was to explain everything she knew to Hero.

"I see. You know your role here, Kagami-san." Araki-sensei stood next to the girls. "Katsunori warned me you might join them."

Aya scratched her head with a sheepish smile. "Honestly, I'd love to join them, but eh… You really have a team of titans, sensei."

"The bigger the better." Masako nodded. "But the new one, he's really a good material. Thanks for the recommendation. Though he needs to work some on his defence."

Aya's eyes trailed Tatsuya, they were just warming up and she was really curious how much he'd improved in the months they hadn't seen each other. "That might be true. He is more of the offensive type of player."

Masako stared at the redhead for a moment, trying to guess what kind of relationship was between the two. But then she shrugged, it was none of her business. "Okay guys!" She shouted and went on to describe their training regimen for the day.

As Aya figured out, the tiny girl had no previous experience with basketball and she didn't know much about the sport. Therefore, she had to teach everything, starting with explaining the basic rules, what was important to notice, how to take proper notes, how to prevent strains and so on.

"Whoah…" After the official practise had finished, Sumire had several pages of notes and so much information that her head was definitely going to hurt. "That's a lot of stuff I need to do! I thought we just take care of the drinks and towels." She said as the boys started cleaning up the gym.

Aya gave her a sideways glance. "Wanna give up? You still have a chance to do so." _Gee' why do I sound like Imayoshi-senpai?_

"Fuck no! You've come all the way from a friggin' Tokyo, because of me! I'm not givin' up."

 _A swearing little demon. Tatsuya said it well._ "Why did you choose to become a manager in your second year?"

Sumire glanced at her looking as if she wanted to joke, but then she sighed. "Allrigh' I'll tell ya my sad li'l story." She stared at the boys still practising and her eyes got a distant look in them. "I want to be of use to someone." She admitted. "I was in track and field club since elementary. Long distance runs were my specialty… You might think that with my height I can't run properly, but…"

"It's about stamina, not the length of your legs." Aya smiled at the girl encouragingly.

"Yeah. I'm small but I'm tough." She said flexing her biceps. She chuckled at it. "Last autumn I was practisin' like crazy for this upcomin' race. I don't even know how it happened but I tore my Achilles tendon, went to surgery. Can't really run anymore." She said with a longing expression. "But! There's no time to dwell in self-pity! I needed to do somethin' and this club seemed to be in a need of a manager, as everyone's fuckin' scared of them. So I thought… Why not?"

"Hmmm… Nice motivation you have there, Hero. Though one detail. You can still run, if you take it slowly at the beginning." Aya suddenly felt like protecting this girl. _I've chosen the right nickname._ Hero was rude and straightforward, but she was coming from a good place and Aya could feel that.

"Nah. I've already decided. I want to be the best manager they could ever have."

This time, Aya couldn't help it and ruffled the girl's hair. "And I'll help you become one." She grinned widely. "Promise."

"You're gonna fry my brain in these four days, big-booby-chan, but I really like you."

The redhead sighed. "Aya. My name's Aya."

"I'll see what I can do 'bout that." She grinned too and turned to grab the bottles to go wash them. "Uff." She wavered when a wall of muscle rammed into her shoulder.

"Ah, chibi. I couldn't see you there." Atsushi muttered wiping his face.

Sumire bristled and elbow punched the giant's stomach. "Then open yer eyes, ya purple elephant!"

"HA?!" He bent down to stare at her face. "What did you just say?"

"Open your eyes, you purple elephant." Sumire repeated coldly staring right into the lavender eyes of the giant. She wasn't scared of any of them and definitely not of this arrogant prick.

 _Whoa… A Chihuahua yapping at a Great Dane._

"I know what you're thinking." Tatsuya's voice came from behind her, and he was awfully close, interrupting her thought process. "And they are always like that."

"Don't scare me, Tatsuya." Aya barked and turned around.

He chuckled. "Want me to walk you to wherever you're staying at?"

"No thanks. Suzume's waiting for me at the school gates."

Tatsuya sighed. "And there I thought we could play some one-on-one." It wasn't as strange to behave normally as he'd originally thought. Aya was already over him, he knew, and if he didn't want to cause her trouble he should act like he was too. But… Not causing her trouble… Was it really what he wanted?

She studied his expression closely, she wasn't sure what she was looking for, but she felt like she needed to keep her guard up. It made her feel slightly uneasy. _Since when have I ever kept my guard up around him? Strange…_ "Tomorrow. We'll play tomorrow." She promised nonetheless.

* * *

She brought cookies for Atsushi the next day too and started speaking with the other people in the class. Her natural cheerfulness and friendliness pulled everyone in.

"Hmmm… She's too bright." Atsushi pointed out and munched on his cookies. "But she brings me sweets, so she can't be bad."

Tatsuya was watching her with a smile and a slightly nostalgic look in his eyes.

"You know her well, right?" The giant asked, noticing the subtle change in Tatsuya's expression. He didn't really care about the people around him, but he wasn't stupid. And Muro-chin was his next door neighbour and classmate and he had caught his interest a bit. _Because he is similar to Kise-chin…_

"I guess she made it pretty obvious yesterday." He sighed and looked at Atsushi. "I've known her for years. We're best friends, you could say…"

"Hmmm…."

"And we used to date." Aya added coming from behind him, but no one else seemed to pay attention to her anymore.

"Eh?" Both of them snapped their heads at her.

She chuckled. "What? It's not like it's a secret or anything."

The honesty in which she'd said it made Tatsuya blush and he shook his head. "I seriously can't handle you."

"Never could~" She teased. "So, Atsushi-kun… I can call you that, right? You family name is too long."

"Ah, yeah." He nodded. It never bothered him what people called him and he was shortening the others' names too, so he couldn't really protest.

"How tall are you exactly?"

He blinked at the sudden question. "208 cm."

"And you're still 15?"

Atsushi nodded.

"Unbelievable. Didn't you have any spine problems when you shot up? I mean… you must've grown in a really short time period."

"Eh… well… it hurt a lot. But I had no serious problems."

"Hmm…"

"How tall is Taiga?" Tatsuya asked suddenly. The last time he'd seen Taiga, he was around his height, but now he wondered.

"190 cm. I guess he'll grow a bit more, but probably not too much."

"Is he in the Interhigh?" He continued almost urgently.

"No. They didn't pass the final league during the weekend. They lost their first match against my team and it dragged with them."

"Dragged?" Tatsuya's eyebrow shot up. He wanted a further explanation.

"It's Mine-chin." Atsushi said lazily. " 'f course it would drag. Even I can't shut him down completely."

 _Useful info. So Mine-chin, huh?_ "That. And Taiga had been injured before the match, hadn't fully healed, because he's an idiot like **_you_**." Her eyes were pinned into Tatsuya's. "In our match he pulled a muscle in the beginning of the fourth quarter. And why do you even ask? I thought you guys were in an argument."

"That's…"

"Tch… Cowards. Both of you."

"Aya. It's more complicated than that. He –" But Aya's palm covered his mouth.

"Don't. I've heard that. I've told you where I stand, you won't persuade me otherwise and I'm not arguing with you about this again."

Tatsuya frowned but nodded.

"Good we understand each other."

######

"So that was a layup right?" Hero asked Aya during the practise.

"Yep. Fukui-senpai is pretty good at layups."

"Hm."

"What?" Aya turned to look at the girl.

"He's pretty cool." She said with a faint blush. "I mean… Standin' his own among all the giant players, leadin' their attacks... That's cool."

"That's the role of a point guard. He needs the others to trust him the most. It's a huge responsibility too, but he seems to be doing a really good job."

"And why is the elephant not movin' at all? It irritates me!"

"He is guarding the basket. Apparently he can guard everything inside the three-point line and is too lazy to run around." _But I wonder if it's just that…_ She tapped her pen against the notebook in a thought. 'Not attacking? Why?' she wrote and circled it.

"You're takin' more notes than yesterday."

"You see Hero, I'm here to help you, but I'm also here to do a research on them. We might as well face you guys in the Interhigh. Which reminds me, that's also one of our jobs. They need to train, and we need to gather information for them."

"Huh… So a big-booby-chan is a spy. I knew you're not all goody-goody."

Aya shrugged. "Be glad it's me and not Satsuki. She's much better at this."

"She another manager of Touou?"

"Yep."

"Big-boobs too?"

"F-cup if I remember correctly."

"Whaaaa'?! That's fuckin' crazy! You guys are scary." Hero pouted and stared down at her B-cups.

"If you want I'll gladly trade." Aya grinned at her. "But be happy with what you have, it's much easier for you to sleep on your stomach or get a cute lingerie."

Sumire shook her head and focused on the boys again. She needed to learn everything fast. The next day she was supposed to have Fukui-san as her supervisor, because she needed to learn personal stats and measurements of the guys, and no matter how good Aya was this wasn't her team. There were things the redhead couldn't have known.

"Hmmm…" Aya bit her thumb as she observed Tatsuya. He was moving smoothly, using perfectly polished orthodox basketball – a polar opposite of Aomine's over-the-top streetball style. It was nice watching him, because he made it look so easy. _He's polished it to the point of almost erasing unnecessary movements… Perfect fakes… Even if I predict it, I might not be able to react in time._ But she knew he wasn't showing everything. And it was either because he didn't want to, or because his shoulder was feeling strange again. "Keep an eye on Tatsuya for me please."

"Hm?"

"Fukui won't tell you much as Tatsuya's just transferred, but he tends to overtrain and overstrain himself. His shoulder was dislocated twice already, so it might happen again. He won't say it, but he needs encouragement. And he is a good liar. If you're not sure what he thinks, look into his eyes. It'll take time, but you'll learn to read him eventually."

"So it's true then, huh?"

Aya looked at her curiously. "What?"

"It's all over the school. You were datin'. You might not be here for long but watch your back. Crushin' girls in fanclubs can be vicious."

"Oh? Yeah. We did, and I know. You don't have to tell me about it." _So someone in the class **was** listening after all. And it took them only a few hours to spread it… I'm impressed. _"So… Tell me, Hero, how did they twist it?"

"One story was that you cheated on him and he broke up with you. Another says that he couldn't fulfill your selfish wishes and you kicked him out. And then there is one sayin' that your parents didn't approve, but you're still secretly goin' out. It all makes you look like the bitch of the story though. I'm tellin' ya. Viiiiscious. But I guess none of that is true, right?"

She rolled her eyes. _Of course I'm the bitch of the story. They all like **him** not me._ "Creativity and fantasy don't have limits."

"I'm surprised you're talkin' normally."

"We'd been best friends before we started dating. No reason to throw it out just because we didn't work out as a couple." She shrugged. "Besides, both of us are good actors."

######

"Tche! Lower your centre of gravity, dammit!" Aomine scolded the two of them for the nth time that day. "How many times do I need to repeat myself?"

"Well sorry!" Kano whined. "You are just tall!"

Arai was on a verge of vomiting, because ever since he and Kano had been assigned to guard against Aomine he didn't give them a chance to rest at all. It was unbelievably difficult; trying to keep up with the ace, but Aomine was barking orders and correcting their stances; he wasn't nice about it but it was helpful. Not that they would be able to stop him with that…

"Tch. That's exactly why you need to lower it!" And it seemed that Kano had this problem only when facing him. _Tch…_

Kano took a deep breath. It was hard to do what Aomine wanted, but if Aya-chan was there, she'd probably bark the same orders. "I wanna try again!" He said.

"What?" Arai asked with wide eyes and his stomach turned.

Aomine frowned at him. "If you're gonna puke you should take a break."

He nodded. "Sorry Kano. I'll go get a drink."

Kano patted his shoulder in understanding. "Sure thing. I don't want to clean the floor after you again." He teased and laughed when Arai rolled his eyes at him.

"So?" Aomine raised an eyebrow. "You sure you wanna take me on alone?"

"Yeah, why not?"

Katsunori was just staring at the simultaneous mini matches taking place along the gym. No one else besides the first years was willing to go against Aomine. Maybe Wakamatsu, but that had almost ended up in a fight, so he'd banned them playing one-on-one. Either way, he was surprised about Aomine's change of attitude and he had a suspicion it'd somehow been Aya's job.

######

"Eh? Your ball handling got much better!" Tatsuya blinked at Aya's improvement. It was the second time she scored against him. And now the stats were 2:5 for him.

"I've told you I train with them." She chuckled and dashed past him.

He caught up and tried to steal from her, but she didn't let him. Aya's entire rhythm had changed since they'd last played together and Tatsuya couldn't quite get used to it. She'd always been using her natural speed and some sort of mixture of streetball and orthodox basketball, but there was something else.

She took a quick step back, entering a shooting motion, which made Tatsuya jump and just as he leapt up she smirked, ran past him and shot a layup, gaining another point.

"I thought you jumped!" Tatsuya exclaimed catching the ball – it was his offence next.

"I did ballet dear. I just stood on my toes there."

His eyes widened. "You're mixing dancing in?" He asked in disbelief.

"If I wanted to pass our ace, I had to dance my way around him."

"Hmph. Well… I'll show you something special then." He smirked.

"Oh? I'm interested."

They circled each other for a moment and then Tatsuya jumped. Aya was shorter, so to make the trick work, he didn't have to jump that high. It also gave Aya a false hope that she might reach it and stop it. And so she leapt up too.

And then she bilked in surprise. For a moment she couldn't see the ball at all, but she'd swear she touched it and then she heard it grazing the hoop as it landed in.

"What was that?!" She asked with her eyes wide.

"Won't tell."

"Tatsuya!"

"No. It's my weapon to defeat Taiga, when the time comes. I can't have you telling him about it."

"Then why show me at all? You know I'll try to figure it out."

He shrugged. "I don't really know. I felt like showing you." He smiled and then his eyes changed as he stared at her.

"What?" She asked picking up the ball.

"It's too dark to see properly." He said and then stretched his arm towards her. "But… Wanna dance? I guess you haven't danced in some time."

She narrowed her eyes at him. There was some hidden motive, she knew. But Tatsuya was right. Acro was dancing too, but it wasn't quite the dancing she had in mind. _That fox. He knows I won't say no to this._

"What do you want to dance with me?" She asked as she took his offered hand.

Inwardly, he sighed in relief. He'd thought she'd decline him. "You've taught me only tango, waltz, cha cha and salsa. So? What do you feel like dancing?" He tilted his head to a side.

"Good question." _'When asking a girl to dance, and there's no music… the dance is always the girl's choice.'_ She'd once told him. _He remembers well._ "My choice is Salsa. Lately I'm teaching Senri acro, and we don't use any energetic music yet, so…"

A smile spread on his face and he spun her around. "Salsa it is then."

He took out his phone to find a music she liked, and they started dancing. The two idiots dancing in the dark on an outside basketball court. But she was laughing.

It'd been some time since she danced just like this. With someone who was important to her. And she had taught him how to lead her well. He wasn't touching her excessively, he didn't step on her feet, and she trusted his lead. Even though he'd let her down so many times, even though he wasn't the best guy, even though he'd lied… She trusted those hands leading her around the court. Though there was something missing. Something that made her heart pang, but she couldn't grasp it. And so, she turned off her mind and followed the lead. And she didn't care, she didn't worry about anything. She was enjoying the energy of the music and the dance.

When the music stopped, she was pressed against Tatsuya's chest. He was too close, and his grip didn't loosen. He didn't seem willing to let her go just yet. And for a moment, she wasn't sure she wanted him to.

Her hand reached his face and she brushed his fringe away. She wanted to see both of his eyes. He pulled away at first, but then he let her fingers brush a scar on his left cheek, he'd always been hiding with his hair.

"We shouldn't have jumped over that fence." He said remembering how he'd gotten it.

"We were being chased. Those dogs would've attacked us otherwise. We didn't really have a choice."

"Ah, right. One of them bit Taiga's butt." He chuckled.

The situation that time hadn't been funny at all. "Poor Taiga…" She chuckled too and sighed.

This closeness was so familiar. Her eyes roamed over his face. It'd been such a long time since she really saw it. _How many times have I looked at him like this?_ She wondered, but then Aomine's face appeared in her head and she realised what was missing…

Her eyes remained staring at Tatsuya's lips a moment too long… He noticed it and leaned down. They hadn't broken up because they hated each other. So… Maybe…

"Eh?" She blinked and covered his mouth before he'd kiss her. This wasn't right. "I… Sorry, I can't." She said quietly and tried to push herself away from him.

"I thought you wanted me to." He said staring into her eyes, where he could see the swirling emotions, not letting her go.

"I… I'm not yours anymore Tatsuya." She bit her lower lip. "I can't… I don't want to."

He smiled sadly. With a sigh he let her go and ruffled his hair back to his usual hairstyle. "I knew you'd say it. But I had to try."

"Hm?" She blinked at him. "What are you saying?"

"If I… If I hadn't let you go then… If I'd tried more… What would we be now? I just can't stop thinking about it. I'm really stupid, eh?" His voice sounded almost desperate as he sat on a patch of grass framing the court.

"No." She said and sat next to him. "I used to think about that a lot too. If we'd done something, anything, to save it… we probably could have. But Tatsuya… We both let go. And even if we had saved it, I don't think we'd last. I'm just too much to handle after all."

 _And who isn't?_ "Was it right to let you go then?" He asked and squeezed his eyes shut. He didn't want to hear it, because she'd say the same thing she had back then…

"Whether you were right or not I don't know… but I'm glad you did."

"I can see that." He said and laid back staring at the night sky. "So we really are done…" _What a terrible feeling… But it's my own fault._

"We really are done, Tatsuya. I'm not coming back. I'm sorry. I can't." _I don't want to._

"A-aah. Just don't apologise. I want to meet that guy." He smirked and looked at her by the corner of his eye.

"Are you a masochist?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No. I'm an idiot. But I want you to be happy. I can't even be angry at you. It was me who broke your heart then…" He'd had several months to get over her. He should've managed it, and yet… There he was, breaking his own heart all over again. And he wondered if there'd ever be someone who'd be willing to mend him once again.

She opened her mouth and then closed it. Tears welled up in her eyes and she looked away. Yeah, she loved this guy once, but she couldn't force herself to do it again. And even if… She would never fully trust him for the second time.

"If you start crying I **_will_** kiss you." He warned her.

"Wha'? No!" She exclaimed immediately. "I don't cry!"

Tatsuya laughed. "I guess I should walk you home, right?"

"It's gonna be so awkward tomorrow."

"No." He reassured her as he pulled her up. "We're still a patchwork family. Don't worry 'bout it."

"Thank you." She said in barely a whisper, but from his smile she knew he heard. She felt empty, and sorry, but she couldn't lie. Not to herself and definitely not to Tatsuya. She didn't love him like that anymore. But she really hoped there would be a girl who would appreciate him for who he really was.

* * *

The last two days of school passed by quickly. She spent most her time with Hero. On the third evening she occupied Hero's dorm. They were watching videos of Yosen's plays one after another. When they were done, it was midnight. Hero yawned, she'd never watched anything for such a long time.

"You sure you wanna go home Booby-Aya-chan? Why don't you stay the night with me?"

 _Booby-Aya-chan?! Was I just promoted?_ She blinked at the new nickname, but decided not to ask. At least her name finally appeared there. "Won't you have a problem because of it?"

"You're a girl. No problem there. It's your last night, eh?"

"I'm staying one more, but we won't see each other on Saturday."

Sumire shrugged. "Can you fit in my clothes?"

"If not I'll stop by Tatsuya's room to get a t-shirt." She said like it was a common thing to do.

"Heeeeh…" An evil grin appeared on the girl's face, accompanying a really mischievous idea. "Really? I've never sneaked into the boys' dorm."

A shiver ran down Aya's spine but she grinned too. She'd always been in for a mischief. "Wanna try it out?"

"Oh yes." She nodded feverishly. "But call that Suzume girl or who, first… They might be worried sick."

"Hai, hai."

After a few tries, Sumire found an oversized t-shirt and pants Aya could fit into. It was still a bit tight on the chest, but there was nothing to be done about that. They walked out and Sumire locked her room. "Just a warnin'. I have no idea when the night patrol goes for their rounds." She said.

"We can always claim we got thirsty and went to grab a drink from a vending machine." Aya said with a foxy smile.

"Not once we get out of the buildin'."

Aya rolled her eyes. "If you have cold feet, you can still go back."

"Fuck no. I'm goin'. It's first time I have someone to go with me."

The lights were already out, and only the exit marks were giving off some light. School buildings at night were sure eerie. They sneaked like ghosts past the guard sitting by the front door – he was too immersed into watching some movie – and got out. Aya didn't have a jacket so the Akita's chilly night's air made her shiver.

"For god's sake, it's June!" She complained in a whisper. "How come it's so damn cold?"

"It's Akita…" Sumire shrugged. "So what's our goal once we get in?"

"Dunno. You wanted to do it, right?"

"Let's find the elephant's room then. And your boy's one. And let's wake 'em up! Or scare someone shitless."

"He's not my boy." She hissed. "But the plan sounds nice."

"Aye, aye."

In the boys' dorm they slipped past another guard. This time he was sleeping, and Aya just shook her head. What was the point of having lobby guards when they were either watching movies or sleeping? Then again, it wouldn't be easy to get in and out if they weren't. The girls turned right, hiding behind a corner, when Aya stopped and grabbed Hero.

"What?" The little girl hissed.

"Do you know which floor?"

"The doors have nametags."

"It's 10 floors. We can't check all of them." The longer they stayed in, the bigger chance of getting caught.

"What's yours brilliant idea then?"

"He has records there right?" She pointed the finger at the booth with the sleeping guard.

"Fuck no. You're crazy. I ain't goin' there." Sumire shook her head furiously. "What if he wakes up?"

"I'll go. You watch. If you hear someone coming make some sound, or something."

Aya was gone before Hero could object. The girl peeked from her hiding place just in time to see Aya sneaking into the booth. _What kind of nerves does she have?!_

Aya's heart was beating like crazy. Indeed, if the guy woke up she'd be in a big trouble. Then again, she was from another school so there wasn't much they could do to punish her. When the door clicked Aya froze for a moment, waiting. But the guy continued snoring. She let the door opened and tiptoed to a filling cabinet. It was almost impossible to see in the darkness so she took out her phone to use its light. The guard was behind her back, facing the opposite direction, so it shouldn't wake him up.

Finally she found the drawer with the letter 'M' on it. She gritted her teeth as she slowly pulled it open. It made a sound and she froze again. The guy shifted, but remained sleeping. _Great._ She quickly found Muraksakibara's file and thankfully, the room number was written on the top. _Lucky! No reason to pull it out._

She closed the drawer and with learned soundlessness she left the booth. When she was about to say 'hi' to Hero, she noticed the girl wasn't paying attention to her and faced the other direction. Aya rolled her eyes and grabbed Hero from behind covering her mouth to muffle any scream.

"Shhh. It's me." Aya hissed when Hero tried to fight her off, landing a good elbow punch to Aya's ribs. "Tch." _That's gonna leave a bruise._

"Fuck! You wanna kill me?!" She hissed when Aya released her.

"The room is 909."

"The 9th floor. Are we taking the lift?"

"No way in hell. It's too dangerous. We might stumble upon someone from the night patrol."

"Stairs it is then." Hero nodded and led the way. "Huh… It has a different layout than girls' dorm."

Aya squeezed the bridge of her nose. _Does she mean we can get lost in here?_ She thought but remained quiet.

They finally reached the 9th floor. And sneaked their way towards the room. It took them a few minutes to orientate in the darkness. There was a vending machine on that floor giving out a dim light. The corridor with 900 to 912 was to their left, so they headed there. But then they heard footsteps and soon enough saw a flashlight.

"Night patrol." Aya hissed and pulled Hero into a space between the vending machine and a wall. They were small enough to fit there. But the space was smaller than Aya had anticipated. As she pushed herself further she stepped on something, thinking it was just some trash.

They didn't dare to breath.

The patrol passed them. Then he returned and headed down the stairs. They waited for another few moments before letting out strangled breaths.

And then the hair on Aya's neck stood up. Because there was someone else crammed in the small space with them! She could clearly hear him breathe out too!

"You're standing on my foot Aya-chin."

 **"KYAAAAAHAAAAA!"** Both girls let out high pitched screams, which would wake up a dead. Their voices were echoing throughout the entire building.

"Shut up!" Atsushi hissed and pulled both of them into the corridor where his room was.

Thankfully, he let his room unlocked, but… He yanked the door, but it was stuck. He'd had a problem with it since he'd moved in but he'd been too lazy to ask someone to repair it.

"Shit." He muttered and tried to open it again. And failed. If he used all of his strength he could do it, but he could very well yank it out of its frame too.

They could hear the guard running back up. And several doors opening.

Tatsuya's room opened and he stared at the panicked trio. He'd know Aya's silhouette anywhere, and Atsushi was unforgettable.

"Get in!" He hissed at them.

The three didn't even think about it and hurdled in, slamming the door shut.

All four of them now remained pressed against the door listening to what was going on. They could hear two muffled voices of the guards who'd heard the screams. But they didn't knock on any door as the students got out checking the situation themselves.

"Go out." Aya hissed at Tatsuya.

"What?!"

"It's normal to get woken up by that. It'd be suspicious if you're the only one not crawling out."

"And Atsushi?"

"I sleep like dead." The giant shrugged. "That wouldn't wake me up."

"That would wake up anyone." Tatsuya protested.

"You can't be sure." Sumire mixed in. "Just get out there and save our butts."

Tatsuya sighed. _What the hell?_ "Fine. But I'm getting a kiss for that."

Aya's eyes widened and she paled. "I'm not…"

But Tatsuya was already opening the door and slipping out.

"Tehee~" Hero smirked. "Told ya. Your boy. Buuut he didn't say whose kiss he wants" She teased.

"Maybe yours." Aya teased. "I hope it won't be your first~"

"Go to hell." Hero barked and then punched Atsushi's ribs for scaring them like that. He scowled at the chibi, but wasn't given a time to protest. "And what were you doin' there?!" She asked the giant in a scolding tone. "My heart almost stopped!"

He rolled his eyes, rubbing his sore ribs. It was obvious. "I wanted pocky." He said and yawned.

Tatsuya returned back. "No one seems to know anything. This is gonna turn into a hilarious ghost story." He laughed quietly. "What has gotten into you to sneak in here in the middle of the night?"

"Adrenaline rush?" Hero shrugged. "I finally found someone willin' to accompany me."

"Really Robin? Don't you have enough with your dreams? Do you really need to scare yourself like this?" He asked with a mild scolding in his voice.

Aya rolled her eyes. "I'm not scared of the dark."

"Mhm, and here you are, in my room, because you screamed as if they were skinning you."

"I wasn't alone." She said stubbornly.

"True. But you two can't leave now." Tatsuya agreed.

"It's quiet." Atsushi said. "I'm going to my room. I should open the door with more time."

"If not come back." Tatsuya told him with a smile, not that anyone could see it in the dark. It wouldn't be the first time for Atsushi to stay over due to the stuck door. "You should tell the janitor you can't open the door properly."

"Haaai." _This time I will…_ He thought. This experience had been a good lesson, if he ever needed to sneak someone in, he'd need a functional door. Thinking about going to a janitor, he shuffled out of the room.

"So… When can we leave? And how?" Sumire asked a bit panicky.

"Tomorrow morning. You'll play guys going for the morning practise. I'll give you some of my clothes."

"Hero will swim in them." Aya said and walked further into Tatsuya's room. She sat on top of his bed, which was still warm. _We really did wake him up._

Tatsuya shrugged. "I don't have any other idea."

"What if we wait for two more hours and sneak out?" Sumire proposed. "The ghost incident should die out till then."

"Sounds good too." The two agreed. "But we need to stay awake till then."

"Will I see the kiss?" Sumire asked teasingly.

"No." Aya said leaned against the wall. "But maybe Tatsuya could kiss you instead. What do you say?"

"Ouch, rejecting me like that, Aya. That hurt." Tatsuya chuckled and sat next to her. "But don't worry. I was just teasing you. Come on, you're not gonna sit on the ground, Sumire." He patted the bed.

"Eh? I just… I… Uhm."

"Never been in a boy's bed~?" Aya teased, enjoying the girl's embarrassed burbling. She'd bet Hero was all red.

"Fuck off." She growled.

In the end, much to Sumire's despair, they ended up watching more basketball games. But this time, they were watching records of an NBA team the two liked.

######

"Seriously? A ghost in the boys' dorm?" Suzume asked her during the lunch break.

"I don't know anything about that." Aya's expression was a picture of innocence.

But Suzume knew better. She gave her an 'I-know-you' look. "Don't play innocent. I know it was you."

"And Hero, the manager."

She laughed at the image which popped in her head. "You're lucky you didn't get caught."

"One day you'll sneak in too." She teased.

"Not happening."

* * *

On her last day in Akita, Aya decided to go to the ocean. This time she took her jacked, knowing the weather here wasn't as warm as in Tokyo. She didn't go into the water; she was just staring at the horizon and enjoying the salty air.

She agreed to meet Tatsuya there before she'd ask Suzume's grandpa to drive her to a station, so she could catch a train heading to Hanamaki, where she was supposed to meet up with Taiga, and then continue their journey to their grandparents' house in the middle of nowhere.

Her phone buzzed.

"Huh? Imayoshi-taichou?" She asked surprised that he'd call her on Saturday. "It's not like you to call me. What's up?"

 _"Did something happen between you and Aomine~?"_

She blushed at the tone Imayoshi used. "Uh, no? What are you talking about?"

 _"He's been attending practises. I mean, all of them, since Tuesday. He slacks off at times but…"_

"I'm not there, so maybe that's why?"

 _"Oh don't even think like that. Even Momoi-san is confused. Did you tell him something during the little party?"_

"Ah, maybe. I told him he'd fucked up."

All she could hear was Imayoshi's laughter on the other end. _"If that's the reason, you should've told him sooner. Well, you are coming back on Monday, right?"_

"I thought more like Tuesday? I want to stop at my grandparents place. I'm just about to leave for the station."

 _"As you wish. See you on Tuesday then. Enjoy your weekend. Bye, bye~"_

"Thank you, captain. Have a nice weekend too. Bye." Aya hung up and stared at the phone. "Pffft… Really, he's an idiot."

 _"Who is?"_ Tatsuya asked, coming to say goodbye as they'd agreed. He knew she'd be there earlier than him; she loved the ocean too much, always running to it when she had some problems, like a lost child running to its mother. He'd never understood why.

"Aomine." She smiled kindly at the phone. _"But he might just be changing for the better."_

A vein popped on his forehead. He knew she had a guy she liked. He wanted her to be happy, but seeing that super cute expression on her face while thinking about another guy made him unbelievably jealous. He grabbed her shoulder and spun her around so she'd face him.

And before she could say anything, his lips pressed against hers.

 _Finally._ He thought as he pulled away quickly, before she'd hit him and smirked. It was only a small peck but Aya's shocked and blushing face was the best. Her fingers brushed her lips and she stared at him in disbelief.

 _"That's my reward for hiding you~"_ He chuckled but then he noticed a dangerous aura started emanating from Aya. He took a step back.

 _"Oh?"_ She smirked. _"That's good than. Congratulations."_

 _"Oh no."_ He turned on his heel to run for his life.

 _"Come here so I can kill you, you little punk!"_

* * *

 **A/N:** That's it for now. I hope you liked it and I hope I kept Atsushi and Tatsuya in characters. It's a little foreshadowing for MurasakibaraxOC story, which I'll hopefully get to once I finish this one.

Coming next - visiting grandparents, what could possibly happen there? :)

Let me know what you think and remember, reviews are appreciated, but never necessary.

S.


	29. Chapter 29: Tree house

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone who followed, favourited and reviewed! It makes me very happy.

I'm updating a bit ahead of the schedule, because I officially finished university today! And I'm really happy, excited, and all the stress is leaving my system, so I wanted to give you a new chapter :)

Enjoy!

* * *

 _I don't care about whose DNA has recombined with whose. When everything goes to hell, the people who stand by you without flinching – they are your family. ―_ _ **Jim Butcher, Proven Guilty**_

 _And then I felt sad because I realized that once people are broken in certain ways, they can't ever be fixed, and this is something nobody ever tells you when you are young and it never fails to surprise you as you grow older as you see the people in your life break one by one. You wonder when your turn is going to be, or if it's already happened. ―_ _ **Douglas Coupland, Life After God**_

 _Sometimes we fall, sometimes we stumble, but we can't stay down. We can't allow life to beat us down. Everything happens for a reason, and it builds character in us, and it tells us what we are about and how strong we really are when we didn't think we could be that strong. –_ _**Gail Devers**_

 _There will be a few times in your life when all your instincts will tell you to do something, something that defies logic, upsets your plans, and may seem crazy to others. When that happens, you do it. Listen to your instincts and ignore everything else. Ignore logic, ignore the odds, ignore the complications, and just go for it. ―_ _ **Judith McNaught, Remember When**_

 _I don't want to be somebody's crush. If somebody likes me, I want them to like the real me, not what they think I am._ ― _**Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower**_

 _Even as kids reach adolescence, they need more than ever for us to watch over them. Adolescence is not about letting go. It's about hanging on during a very bumpy ride. –_ _ **Ron Taffel**_

 _You find out who your real friends are when you're involved in a scandal._ – _**Elizabeth Taylor**_

* * *

She'd almost overslept on the train and missed her stop, but thankfully a lady sitting next to her woke her up. She frantically picked up all her stuff and ran off the train, ramming right into Taiga, who steadied her.

"Whoah. How did you know which wagon was I in?" She asked looking up at him.

"Dunno." He shrugged. "Twin intuition?" He stretched his arm to take her bags.

She handed it to him. "That's some crazy stuff. How's your leg?"

"It's getting much better. But I think I still need that one week." He admitted begrudgingly. "So? Where do we go from here? I haven't been there in years, and we always drove there…"

Aya shrugged. "I have no idea either. I've never had to use public transportation to get there… We need to find someone who'll know the way. I know where we are going; I just don't know how to get there…"

"Then let's go look for someone like that. We'll find our way. Eventually…"

######

"So its 6 miles from here, right?" Aya asked a bus driver.

He made an apologetic grimace "Yes. I'm sorry miss, but I don't go further than this village. The road is a serpentine, too narrow for my bus."

"Oh, it's fine. We'll walk if it's necessary." She smiled and exited.

"You can try asking someone in the village to give you a ride?" The driver tried. He felt kind of sorry for the two teenagers, who came all the way from a big city to visit their grandparents.

"Thanks for the advice! Have a nice day." She waved him as he departed.

"What now?" Taiga asked. "We can walk, but I'll need to retape my legs then."

"EEEEEEEH?! KAGAMI TWINS?! IT'S REALLY YOU?!"

" **HUH?!"** They turned after the voice in a perfect sync.

They were blinking at a boy around their age. He had slightly longer black hair tied up in a bun and his pitch black eyes, now wide in shock, were staring right at them. He'd almost fell off his bike when he'd spotted the twins he'd used to wander in the surrounding forests and climb trees with.

"And you are?" Taiga asked staring down at the shorter boy.

"Keiji! Aiba Keiji! Don't tell me you don't remember me!"

Taiga tilted his head to a side. He had no clue.

"…Kei…chan?" Aya asked reluctantly. "It's you?" _Gosh he's changed a lot… I haven't seen him in years._

The boy nodded frantically. "Yeah! So you do remember! How long has it been? Eight years? Ah, I'm so glad you remembered! You've come here to visit Taichi-ojiisan and Hanae-obaachan? Do you need a ride?"

"Oi, oi, oi." Aya raised both of her arms to stop the flood of questions. "Slow down, take a breath."

"Kei?" Taiga was still blinking at the boy, not recognising him at all. "Doesn't ring a bell."

"That's sad, Tai." Keiji sighed. "You still afraid to climb trees?"

"Of course not." He bristled up and then a light bulb flashed in his head. Kei… The boy who'd always teased him because of his fear to climb trees, or rather, the fear to climb down once he'd gotten up. But he'd always had his hair super short. "Oh… It's you! You've let your hair grow!"

Keiji smiled and nodded. "Glad you remembered too, Tai. Well if you're not scared anymore, why don't we check out the tree house? I guess it needs some repairs and all. Let's mend it together."

"Eh? We can do that?" Aya asked. "I mean… Grandpa always helped us with it. I know near nothing about carpentry."

Keiji smirked and tapped on his chest. "But I do! Taichi-ojiisan took me in as an apprentice!"

"What?! Isn't he too old for that?" Taiga's eyes almost bulged out.

"If he heard you right now he'd make you run around the house for couple of hours." Keiji chuckled. "Anyways, we should get going before it gets dark. I'll go get the car and I'll drive you there."

"You drive?" Aya asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Nah, it's a village, you learn how to drive the car as soon as you can reach the pedals." He shrugged and got on his bike. "I'll be back in 6 minutes!"

"Seriously?" Taiga stared at the departing figure. "So he can drive too?"

"I guess we're not the only ones breaking the rules."

"In California you can get a driver's license when you're 16."

"Which we're not… Yet." She reminded him. "To think we'd meet someone familiar like that…"

"Wait… You didn't meet him before? You used to come here more often."

"Just once a year… and only for a couple of days. Last time I was here in November. After I'd quit competing and all. I think I didn't go to the village at all."

"How did you get here even? If you don't remember the way?"

"Grandpa came to get me to Hanamaki and I wasn't paying attention during the ride… But to think that he is grandpa's apprentice. I can't believe he took one. He swore that if his sons didn't want to take the family torch he wouldn't teach anyone and Kagami's carpentry would die with him."

"I'm kinda curious. You think we can mend the tree house?"

"I hope so. I love it after all."

A car stopped near them. "Get in." Keiji smiled at the two.

It took them around fifteen minutes to get to their grandparents house. The road was twisting and turning like a snake, so Keiji had to drive slowly. When they arrived and got out Aya immediately kicked off her shoes and let her feet touch the grass. She spun around with wide spread arms and a delighted smile on her face.

"I love the green colour of this place." She laughed. Even the air tasted differently here. _My once a year oasis._

Taiga had to look around a bit. He'd forgotten how surprisingly big the open space and meadow surrounding the house was. There was an outside basketball court, a gym, and two smaller two-storey houses provided for sports clubs which often came here for training camps. And yet, the place was in the middle of nowhere, with no internet connection and barely any phone signal.

The door slid open and Hanae stepped out of the house, two Newfoundland dogs bolting forward to check out the newcomers.

"WAH!" Taiga immediately jumped back into the car, slamming the door shut.

"Heeeey!" Aya squatted down to greet them. "Long time no see, Yui, Ai." She smiled at them as she ruffled they thick fur trying to avoid their drooling kisses. She loved animals, except snails, cockroaches, caterpillars and mantises – she couldn't handle those, but other than that…

"Aya! Taiga! You're finally here! I was starting to worry." Hanae came to the trio. "Thanks for fetching them Kei-chan." She smiled at the boy.

"What are you doing in the car, Taiga?" Taichi shuffled right after his wife, he was slightly bent forward, as his back was already damaged from decades of working as a carpenter. "You haven't shown your face for years, and now you're hiding in the car?! What's up with that?!"

"He's scared of dogs." Aya looked at Taichi and grabbed the collars of the two dogs which were wagging their tails happily. "We were chased by some aggressive dogs few years back… Taiga was the only one who got bitten and he's been afraid of dogs ever since." She sighed. "Okay, brother. I'm holding them, you can come out."

Taiga gave her a doubtful look. There was no way Aya would be able to hold those two giants if they decided to chase him around.

Taichi sighed and took a hold of Yui. "I'm holding her. She won't eat you. Come out, so we can see you."

After a few more moments, when Taiga considered all of his options, he swallowed his fear and got out. "Why two?!" He asked accusingly.

" _You_ are afraid of dogs?" Taichi stared at the boy in disbelief. Taiga was huge. He hadn't expected his grandson to grow as much as his sons did. Actually, he had no idea where the gene for their height came from. "You're huge!"

"Well thank you." He stared down at the man, not approaching anyone who held a dog.

"Oh come on." Hanae stepped forward and engulfed Taiga in a hug. "I haven't seen my cute grandson in years. How rude of you. Just like your father… Never showing his face around…" She complained.

"Sorry…" Taiga muttered and hugged the small woman with grey hair, who loved both of them so much. "I just don't travel as much as Aya does."

"So I have to close them up?" Taichi looked at the dogs dejectedly.

"Yes please!" Taiga answered immediately wiggling out of Hanae's grip.

"Tcs, tcs, tcs." He shook his head and started walking towards a huge dogs' shelter he'd built with Keiji in the beginning of the spring. "They are just pups, I can't believe you're scared of that…." He was grumbling all the way. "Aya, let her go!"

"Haaai!" She let go of Ai's collar, Taichi whistled and the dog obediently followed. It might have been an overgrown pup, but it knew its master well.

Taiga let out a relieved sigh. "Those are no pups." He muttered.

Keiji started laughing at that. "They are gentle giants; you have really nothing to be afraid of. Ah well, I need to go home for a dinner, Hanae-obaachan." He saluted to the older lady and got into the car.

"Be careful on your way home." She waved him. She looked at her grandchildren and placed her hands on their backs. "Come on in, the dinners ready. We have a lot to talk about."

######

Aomine was staring at his phone on the Saturday's evening. Not seeing the redhead for almost the entire week was strange. He missed her. There was no one he could stare at during classes and no one to bicker with about stupidities. He wanted to know how she was doing, where she was right now, if she missed him too (at least a bit).

 _Oh fuck it…_ He thought and typed a message. 'How you doin', Sweetheart?' It took him several more minutes until he finally found the courage and hit the 'send' button.

When she didn't reply immediately he was dejected, but he hadn't really expected otherwise. He waited for another half an hour and then he got up to take the dogs out. It was pointless to overthink this.

In two hours, when he was laying in his bed and staring at the ceiling, his phone chimed announcing an incoming message.

When he saw it was from Aya he grinned at the phone like an idiot. He'd have never thought a message from a girl would make him this happy.

'Never better. You? Miss me already, Honey-bun? I have a terrible signal here but Yui and Ai wanted to say hi.'

And there was a picture attached; a selfie of Aya resting against a furry neck of a huge black Newfoundland. The dog was staring into the camera too and another dog was crawled over them, drooling on Aya's shoulder in its sleep.

He chuckled at the sight.

He leaned over his bed and took a picture of Shiro and Kurome curled up on the floor of his room.

'Not really. I have two pretty ladies accompanying me.' He typed back and attached the picture of his sleeping dogs.

'Should I be jealous?' She teased him with another message.

'Are you?'

'Maybe.'

And he had no idea what to reply. _Kagami: 1, me: 0, again…_

In several minutes another message from Aya came. 'I need to go, the dogs' shelter is the only place with good enough signal so… See you on Tuesday morning practise. Good night, Honey-bun.'

'' night, Sweetheart.'

* * *

"So you really are alone here?" Taichi asked for the third time.

Aya sighed in exasperation. "Yes. Father is in L.A." She was playing with the food on her plate. She didn't like this topic.

"And that guy who was your guardian, the driver? Eerr…"

"Seth." Taiga offered the name and gulped down half of the second portion of breakfast.

"Yeah, him. What happened to him? Isn't he here with you? I mean… You came alone last time and you weren't really in the mood to talk much, buuut…" He rubbed his chin and stared at Aya. He'd remembered when he'd met her at the Hanamaki station; she'd looked like a wreck and they'd thought someone had died. It'd taken couple of days until she'd finally talked with them announcing she'd quit dancing and that had been the reason for her sour mood, but of course they knew she'd been keeping a lot of things from them. Ever since that visit, Haruka had never picked up whenever they'd called him, and Kyou hadn't known much either. They'd been worried and wondering just what was going on.

Aya averted her eyes; she didn't want to talk about this. She didn't want to admit that Seth was long gone and that it'd been her fault.

"Father kicked him out." Taiga shrugged.

"What?! Why?" Hanae asked in disbelief. "He was such a sweet guy! He could do about anything and he was a good guardian, he cared for you…" Her voice trailed off. "Certainly more than our stupid son." She muttered dryly.

Taiga looked at Aya, and when she turned away, he knew… She'd never talked about this with them, because she didn't want them to know. She didn't want them to know because she felt ashamed, because she blamed herself, because she didn't want their grandparents to think badly of their father, of her. But Taiga didn't have such barriers. They were the parents of their father, they ought to know. They were probably the only ones who could help them out after all. _Heck_ _ **this**_ _was the first place she ran to when everything went south._

Both elders were waiting for his answer, so he braced himself. _She so won't talk to me after this…_

"Ah, but Seth punched our father, when he'd called Aya a whore and hit her." He said calmly, staring at his sister. "So father fired him. Kicked him out."

Aya abruptly got up. The chair screeched against the floor. "That's enough, Taiga." She shot him a glare.

"HE DID WHAT?!" Taichi and Hanae asked almost in unison and turned to look at Aya. No wonders she'd been so distressed the last time.

"I'll be outside." She said and left, slamming a sliding door, not caring about her half-eaten breakfast.

All three of them stared after her.

Taichi sighed and looked at him. "Taiga, what exactly happened?" He asked levelly. He was a proud father of two boys, sure, he knew it was different than parenting a girl, but he believed that a father's role was to protect his children no matter what. And he believed his sons learned that well… _I made a mistake somewhere apparently…_

"Well… You probably know how Seth came into our family, right?"

"Ah, he was employed to be your driver and accompany Aya to her competitions, right?" Hanae asked to verify her knowledge.

"Not quite." Taiga said with a crooked smile. "But we can say it was like that."

Taichi frowned at him. "I don't like when you're lying."

"I'm not. It's just… Seth had a history he didn't want others to know, I'm just respecting his wish. But it was Aya who took him in, not our father."

Taichi squeezed the bridge of his nose. "So what's the story behind the punch? I bet Haruka deserved it."

"Well… Father's been out of reach ever since mom died. At first, we were trying about anything to get his attention, but we soon learned it was near impossible. Seth came along and so we continued to live along trying not to cause troubles, to be the best. We believed that maybe… maybe he'd notice. But we were relying more on Seth, really. And well, Aya had her dancing partner and she was dating Tatsuya, I don't know if she told you or not." From their expressions he read that no, Aya hadn't said a thing, but they didn't interrupt him.

"Well yeah, she was dating our best friend. I didn't like it, we argued, but nah… It passed. Anyways… Soon, rumours about Aya sleeping with her partner appeared. Since the last spring, I think, and then someone took a picture of her making out with Tatsuya on a beach and sent it to a local press… Of course they twisted it, dug out other pictures from basketball games and whatnot, ripping it out of context and making it look as if she'd had at least four boyfriends at the same time. Calling her a 'whore'." He spat out in disgust. "It went viral. Can you imagine what mayhem it was? Father lost some contracts because of that, nothing serious, but you know him... Everyone in school went crazy, leaving leaflets on her locker, even at our house. It was terrible. For both of us, I guess. And the worst thing was, that father believed it. He never really talked with Aya. He never tried to protect her from it. It was Seth shielding her; he got into trouble for that too. Her relationship fell apart; father didn't even look her way, only a few people stayed by her side…" He scoffed at that. "But you know… My sister is a fighter. Despite that she went on and organized the summer training camp, only half of the invited people came. She trained like crazy and won several more competitions and the championships. I bet she did it to strengthen her position, to prove that she could remain standing no matter what… It was the best performance she'd ever done. And then she quit."

"Why exactly?"

"Raymond was searching for another partner, he couldn't stand the rumours and all the crap, and she saw through him. So she left first, to keep her dignity."

"Right… If he left her, the whore stuff would just burst into flames again." Hanae said staring at her hands. It was the first time she was really hearing what was going on in their family and she felt horrified. Aya had never talked about it.

"And father went crazy after hearing that." Taiga said which made the two look at him again. "After the incident, he believed that dancing was the only thing Aya was good for and she went on and quit without his permission. He yelled at her so much. God, I didn't dare to go there." He admitted. "Maybe I should have. Because… You know Aya. She was quiet and listening to everything he had to say, but the moment he'd mention mom, and _how ashamed she must've been that the daughter she'd given up her life for had become a worthless whore,_ she spat something back, I don't really know what, but knowing her I can imagine it was something venomous. And then he slapped her, which made Seth loose his nerve and punch him back. And that was when father threw him out under some threat."

"I'm surprised it took Seth that long." Taichi was rubbing his chin. "If I were there I'd pummel Haruka to the ground much sooner." He growled.

"Well, Seth wanted to stay with us, so he had to control himself. But seeing Aya getting slapped, or maybe the words that father said… it was probably too much. I… I don't know what I'd do. He is still our father…" He bit his lower lip and stared at his hands. He wasn't sure he could protect Aya from him, because somewhere deep down he still loved and respected the man and he knew Aya did too. It was the only parent they had left, though he sure didn't behave like one at all.

"Does she have a boyfriend now?" Hanae asked softly.

Taiga chuckled. "No. Though there is someone she's desperately circling around, but… I guess it's hard to for her to trust someone after all that crap. She doesn't want to burn him, my guess."

"I'm killing Haruka when he shows his face here." Taichi growled.

"Dear," Hanae scolded him lovingly. "He lost Keiko. The grief he's still feeling… It's–"

"It's been eight years! That's not an excuse to give up on his children! They are here! Alive!" Taichi shouted angrily. "Why didn't Aya tell us a thing?!" He felt like bursting from anger he suddenly felt. He loved his children, even if they didn't show their faces for years, but… But now he wasn't so sure anymore.

"She probably didn't want us to worry." Hanae guessed.

"I'm not that virtuous." Aya's voice came from the other side of the sliding door. She stayed there to listen to Taiga's version of everything. After all, he could've seen it differently. "I was scared. I didn't want you to hate me. I thought…" She was close to tears and she desperately wanted a cigarette; but it was another thing she didn't want them to know about. "I'm sorry." She said and her voice sounded strange to her own ears.

Hanae's motherly instinct made her fly to the door and she hugged Aya tightly, hiding the girl's face in her shoulder. "You have nothing to apologise for. I'm sorry we didn't notice." She hugged her even tighter and fought back her own tears.

That hug made Aya's tears to overflow but she didn't let out a sound. She held onto her grandma as if the hug could mend everything. "I'm sorry." She whimpered and she wasn't sure what for or who to she was apologising anymore.

Taiga gritted his teeth and looked away, noticing that Taichi did the same. He hated seeing his sister cry, because it wasn't in Aya's nature to break down. She might've been over it, or she might've claimed it, but the regrets remained within her. He'd missed Seth too, but it must've been thousand times harder for Aya, as she'd been the reason he'd had to leave to god knows where.

After a while Aya took a raspy breath and pushed Hanae away. "I… I'll go run into the woods for a while. I need to clear my head, so we can repair the tree house, 'kay?" She asked with a smile and eyes red from crying.

"Take the dogs with you." Taichi said. The surrounding forests were his refuge too, he understood.

"Yes." She nodded, ran towards the dogs' shelter and then, followed by the dogs, she disappeared in the forest.

######

"Mornin'!" Keiji arrived to his sensei's house. "What happened?" He asked the three of them when he saw the long faces. "Where's Aya-chan?"

Taichi coughed and blinked at the boy. "Took you long enough." He scolded him grumpily.

"Uhm…"

"She went for a run." Taiga answered, knowing that the boy was probably scared to repeat the question.

"Alone?" He blinked at Taiga.

"With the dogs."

"You're not with her?"

Taiga rolled his eyes and pointed at his taped leg. "I can't. Anyways…" He got up and crossed the meadow to find their tree house, closely followed by the two. He had to double take when he found it. "Wow…" He breathed out. He'd forgotten how it looked.

The tree house wasn't just some childish small refuge up in a tree. It was a legit house, attached between three sturdy old trees with wide trunks and strong roots. There were several ropes hanging down, not reaching low enough for them to get it and no ladder.

"Tch. Railing is rotting." Taichi muttered. "And we need to check the floor, the deck and the roof. And that looks like a bird's nest." He pointed at a bunch of springs.

"We can mend all that today, but the more important question…" Keiji said thoughtfully. "How are we supposed to get up?"

"There was a way…" Taichi looked at Taiga expectantly.

"Wha-?! I don't know! I haven't been here in years!"

The old man sighed. "I guess we'll have to wait for Aya. She'll now…"

"We can prepare the new wood in a meanwhile, right?" Keiji asked happily. He loved working with wood and seeing results of his work afterwards. He hadn't been studying under Taichi-ojiisan for that long, but he'd already learned a whole lot about carpentry.

"Yeah. I have the sketch and the detailed plan of the house somewhere. Let's go."

"Uhmm… I've never done anything like that." Taiga stared at his grandpa with wide eyes.

"It's about time you learned." He barked.

######

"Haaaa." She breathed out when she reached a top of one hill. "Beautiful." The view was spectacular up there. She sat on the ground and leaned against one of the trees. The dogs were huffing with their tongues out form the taxing run. Thankfully it wasn't hot enough for them to overheat. They rested their heads on top of Aya's thighs and demanded some scratching.

"Hai, hai. You are awesome." She praised them with a smile. "But you drool so much, ew."

When Taiga had told the story to their grandparents a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Even before she'd heard their reaction… She felt bad for crying; she was supposed to be over it, to be levelled up with it, just like she'd told Kouta… And yet, there she'd been; crying in her grandma's arms.

 _I'm so lucky to have them…_ She thought and closed her eyes.

There'd been so many people shaming her, badmouthing her, looking down on her. Then there'd been a few of those who had her back despite all that. And then those she was too afraid to tell the whole truth to, because she feared losing them. Like her team, for once.

Suddenly she smirked. _So that's why you didn't want to meet Tatsuya, eh, Suzume? I can't blame you, but it wasn't entirely Tatsuya's fault. He freaked out and ran away, but…_

And she believed that Katsunori had figured it out already, or that Taiga had told him. Her team didn't know anything yet. They should know she was a world champion, but if they knew they'd inevitably come across all that bullshit. _And then everything might go to hell all over again._

Aomine's face popped up in her head. For him to write a message, he'd been probably worried. She'd gone away right after telling him he'd fucked up. Who _wouldn't_ worry? And then she thought about everything Taiga had said… Was she circling around him because she was afraid of burning him? Or herself? Was she scared her father could threaten Aomine? Wasn't she just afraid of getting rejected because she'd royally fucked up then?

Thinking about it all, she made a decision. _Fuck the half truths._ _It should all burn to ashes before I get too attached to him._

"We're going." She got up and headed down the hill.

When the dogs wanted to stray towards the house she whistled and continued running down to the village. There was one internet café she'd noticed the previous day.

"Hey." She walked in, drenched in sweat, followed by the two giant dogs. "Uhm, is it okay if I don't have a leash?"

"Welcome." A young waitress stared at the dogs for a moment. "Are those Kagami-ojiisan's, Yui and Ai?" She asked with a smile.

"Ah, yeah. I'm Kagami Aya, his granddaughter." It was a small village; she figured that everyone knew everyone here.

"Oh, I finally get to see you. You look like you've just ran a marathon! You ran all the way down here?"

"…Yeah." If she'd told her she'd ran several more miles in the forests, the girl would freak out and make it into some heroic story. "I need to do some last minute work I forgot about."

"Sure, sure. Feel free to use whichever computer you want. I'll bring water for Yui and Ai. Would you like to order something?"

"Black coffee. A big one please."

"Would you like it with honey too?"

Aya frowned at the girl. "Honey? With a coffee?"

The girl blushed. "Ah well… The forest honey from your grandpa's bees is the best. And it really brings out the coffee's flavour."

She blinked at her. "Okay. Sure. I'll give it a go. Thanks."

And then she sat down to one of the computers and tuned out her surroundings. Searching for all the dirt that had been thrown at her wasn't easy, but she'd decided.

She found the articles quickly. She remembered all the headlines that were there: 'World champion's dirty secrets' or 'Kagami Aya's lucky guys' or 'A driver or a lover?', and the best one 'Disinherited princess?' And there were some more. None of them contained any relevant information; they were all assumptions, nonsense, lies. Sure, if she'd been more careful, maybe none of it would've ever happened.

She took a sip from the coffee which appeared on her table. It was surprisingly good and she smiled at the waitress. "It's really good. Thank you."

"I'm happy you like it, Aya-chan." She replied with a smile and bowed slightly.

She turned her eyes back to the screen. _Now… How should I send it?_

After a moment of thought she opened her mail. Maybe she was doing a royal stupidity, but it was bound to get out from somewhere, sooner or later.

 **To:** Aomine Daiki

 **From:** Kagami Aya

 **Subject:** I fucked up more than you…

Hey,

I'm done with half truths. I guess you should know, why exactly I asked you not to share those 'prank photos'. Read the articles attached – your English should be good enough to understand it. It's what most people think about me. Well, make your own opinion.

If it's all to go to hell, it should go sooner… I'm sorry.

I'm sending it to Satsuki and Kiku as well.

-Aya.

She hit the send button. Then she opened another mail and sent all the articles to the girls, and Katsunori. Just in case he hadn't known yet: 'I'm not sure if you know, but that's what was written about me last summer, sorry for not telling you sooner. I hope my baggage won't cause you any problems as a teacher. I'll tell it to everyone in the club eventually, but I can't… Not yet Katsu.'

She smiled sadly at the screen, logged out from everywhere and turned the computer off. She leaned back against the chair and cracked her fingers. She finished her coffee and feeling much lighter than before she got up, paid and left. It was about time she got back to help with repairing the tree house. _I bet they don't remember the way up._

######

It was raining all day in Tokyo and Aomine was spending his day watching movies and chilling at home with his parents.

A mail popped up at a side of his screen. _Eh?_

He was surprised to see a mail from Aya. _Why is she apologising?_ He read it twice before opening the first article, which's title made him frown deeply.

######

"I'm back!" She called out to the three men walking in circles under a tree and staring at the tree house. Everything for the repairs was ready and set.

"Where the hell were you for so long?!" Taiga scolded her immediately. He was starting to seriously worry.

"I went here and there." She shrugged and smiled. All the morning's distress was gone without a trace. She forced it into the back of her mind. "Anyways, what are you meditating about?"

"How did we use to go up?" Keiji asked almost whiningly.

"I knew it." She laughed and walked around the middle tree. She stared at it, until she could see tiny cuts in the trunk serving as tiny supports for arms and legs. "You think the ropes are good to go?"

"If not you'll hit your ass." Taiga teased her.

She rolled her eyes. "Can I borrow your gloves?" She asked Keiji.

"Ah, sure." He handed them to her.

"Thanks." She said and approached the tree. "Watch and learn, dear boys~"

Taiga took out his phone, he was so going to record this.

She kicked off her shoes to feel the trunk better. The taping was sufficient enough. Then she grabbed onto one of the cuts and pulled herself up. It took some time until she found all of the supports and got on a same level with one of the ropes. She was about 4 meters above the ground and holding onto the tree like a leech.

"Tell me she's not gonna do what I think she's gonna do…" Keiji mutter.

"Oh, hell she is." Taiga smirked and held his phone up.

Aya took a deep breath and stared at one of the ropes. She prayed that a branch holding it wouldn't break under her weight or that the rope won't tear. She counted to three and jumped to catch it. "Gah!" She let out a grunt when she grabbed the rope and swayed above the ground.

"Whoah! You've really done it!" Keiji clapped.

"I'm not there yet." She groaned. When she stopped swaying she pulled herself up and climbed. Her muscles were hurting already as it took her more time than usual but she made it.

"And she didn't even use her legs for a support!"

"Stop admiring her, Keiji. No girlfriends during the apprenticeship." Taichi growled at the boy.

"Hai." He peeped.

"Do you think the planks are gonna hold?" She asked Taichi when she was about to jump over the railing and onto the deck of the tree house.

"I don't really know. No one's been up there in six years."

"Thank you." She muttered ironically under her nose and swayed again to gain a momentum. She flew over the frail railing and landed in a roll; trying to spread her weight among several planks at the same time. She held her breath, waiting for a moment when she'd hear a cracking sound, fall through and break her neck.

When nothing broke, she slowly crawled to a rope ladder they had there. She checked it and it looked fine enough.

"I guess it should hold! But maybe we should rethink the system of getting up here! I thought my heart wouldn't survive the adrenaline!" She shouted and threw them the ladder.

"A real secret base." Taichi shook his head with a smirk. "Keiji, you go first and set all the ropes, karabiners and harnesses we'll need. This is going to be an adrenaline rush."

"Hai." He saluted and started climbing.

Everything was set within minutes and the work could finally start. Taichi was glad that he had two squirrels not afraid of heights, ready to climb whenever necessary even without a safety harness. Taiga would sometimes document all the daredevil stunts those two were doing in order to help out and because they were enjoying it.

######

It took Aomine few hours to read and really understand the meaning and the context of all the articles. And he stared at it in disbelief and shock. He took a deep breath and closed the laptop. A picture of Aya kissing Tatsuya was burned into his mind, he was jealous, but at the same time he felt sick. Who the hell would stick their noses into someone's love life like that? Who the hell would write so much dirt about a teenage girl?

Maybe he hadn't known Aya that long, but he sure as hell knew her well enough to not believe any of that nonsense. _Of course she'd kiss her boyfriend._ Though he had no idea about the other guys, but from the pictures alone he couldn't really say. And because he had pictures from the prank, he knew how easily it could've been misunderstood.

He ignored a call from Satsuki.

He needed more answers than that. He got up, took a waterproof jacked, announced his leave and ran out to the only place he knew could provide him with some answers.

His feet led him into Hiroto's bar. The guard, whose name he didn't remember let him in without any check. Something in Aomine's expression made him step back from the teenager's path.

Aomine felt so out of place in his cargo pants and a waterproof jacket, but he couldn't care less. Due to a heavy rain and relatively early afternoon, the bar was near empty. And then he spotted a familiar figure. Two familiar figures, to be precise. And he blinked at the two men in surprise. Water was dripping from Katsunori's hair and it was obvious he'd just gotten there. His drenched blazer was hanging over his chair – in order to dry up.

"Ah, Aomine-kun." Hiroto greeted him and Katsunori, sitting there with a glass of pure whisky, snapped his head in Aomine's direction. "Long time no see." He said in a friendly tone, but the atmosphere was serious.

Katsunori sighed. "Why am I not even surprised you know this place?" He asked and downed the whisky. "Give me one more. I can't believe that Aya would..." He shook his head.

"So you didn't know about it?" Aomine asked with wide eyes and stared at a glass of whisky Hiroto put in front of him. "Uhm…" He stared at it reluctantly; he'd never had any alcohol before.

"Not quite." The coach said and raised his glass. "Oh come on, don't play all virtuous now." He added when he noticed Aomine's hesitation regarding the whisky. "Just give him some water to drink it down." He nodded to Hiroto.

He raised an eyebrow at his friend. "It's on you Katsu."

"Hai, hai."

 _To hell with it._ Aomine thought and downed the whisky with his coach. It'd been the first time he saw Harasawa so distressed. "Geh…" He let out when the alcohol burned its way down his throat. He grabbed the water and downed it. Nope, he didn't like whisky at all.

"Do you think there is something true about it?" Katsunori asked Hiroto, desperately wishing it'd been all one big lie.

"Of course not. I'm surprised you're even considering it." Hiroto rolled his eyes. "Don't you know her at all? Well… Tatsuya maybe, but he was her boyfriend. It'd be strange if they did nothing. And anyways… The driver? What the hell? Seth was more like their father than Haruka, if you ask me."

"You knew him?!" Katsunori spat out with wide eyes. "And you call yourself a friend…"

"Ah… Sorry, Katsu. I truly believed you knew. I thought at least Taiga told you… Aya wouldn't, definitely not."

"So? Who was he?" That one article disturbed him the most, because Seth had been an adult.

Hiroto took a deep breath. "Look, I don't know all the details, but Robin used to drop by every once in a while, either because of competitions or the anniversary... He'd always accompany her as her guardian. The guy was great really. Aya looked up to him. I think he appeared after Keiko's death and I don't know where did he come from but he was a good person. And then… Two years ago was the one and only time when he got drunk here. They stayed at the back room and Aya wouldn't leave his side. She said she couldn't. I thought it was strange and I stayed here with her if there was any problem… Katsu… I've never seen a guy cry that much in his sleep."

"What?"

"I don't know the context, but from what I saw and what I heard him whimper, I think the guy lost his entire family. A wife and two kids…"

"Aya and Taiga were substitutes…" Katsunori breathed out. "And he could understand their loss too…"

Hiroto shrugged in agreement. "And he substituted an empty place Haruka had left."

"But Haruka isn't dead."

"Isn't he really?" Hiroto chuckled dryly. "I don't remember him picking up any calls or replying to any e-mails. He'd forbidden the twins to come to my wedding. He's not there Katsu, ever since Keiko's death he hasn't been. Those two are on their own. He basically left them to fend for themselves while he tends to his business."

Katsunori rubbed his face and groaned… "Then where is that guy?"

"Seth?" Hiroto asked.

"Yeah. If they were substitutes for his lost children… Why would he leave them?"

"My guess is that Haruka believed the articles. And with that… Would you leave a guy like that guarding your kids? Not so much, right?"

"Of course." He was shaking his head. "But do you really think Haruka believed the crap?" _'I've been called 'a whore' before. By my father...'_ She'd told him once.

"I don't think he knows his children anymore." Hiroto sighed. "So yes. I think he believed the articles."

Katsunori stared at his glass, wondering about it too. Haruka was his best friend, or had been, he wasn't sure anymore. The man had silenced himself and never reached out, never answered any of his calls, or mails regarding his own children. _Just what happened to that cheerful idiot? I can't believe that Keiko's death would do that… If so, then he is really pathetic._

After a moment of silence, Hiroto sighed again, refilling Katsunori's empty glass. "I was just wondering… How much is Aya holding in? ...Because… I've never heard her complain, or seen her cry or anything… Have you?"

"No. The last time I saw her cry was on Keiko's funeral. She's tough. Always been."

That Katsunori's remark made him snicker. "It's your assumption, but… Don't you think she's tough just because no one is giving her an opportunity to be frail? We all expect her to handle everything, to cope with the pressure, to be the best… Me included. I guess it comes with her status." He frowned at it. "She doesn't really have a choice. Perhaps never had." His voice was sad. He'd never really thought about it that way.

Hiroto noticed Aomine's frown after hearing all that and so he leaned the bottle of whisky to Aomine too, offering a refill. It must've been a lot of new information for Aomine to process and level up with. A girl he was in love with had a baggage like that and he'd bet that Aomine had no idea how exactly had Keiko died yet. But… The boy shook his head no and Hiroto smiled at him. It was a wise decision.

"I've never really thought about it." Katsunori voiced everyone's thoughts. "I just assumed that the personality and toughness comes with being a Kagami. But how can we help if she won't say a thing?"

That made Aomine snort. "Why would she?" Both adults snapped their heads at him with curious stares. "Er… I mean…" Suddenly he felt self-conscious and realised the age difference. But he'd already spoken up. "From what you're saying I get that her own father has given up on her. Why would she trust you?" No, he couldn't imagine his father suddenly turning his back on him.

"True." Hiroto agreed, rubbing his goatee. "She doesn't think she can rely on anyone."

All three of them stayed quiet for a few minutes; thinking about the entire situation. They all loved Aya in different ways and none of them wanted her to feel down. If only they had known sooner… But then again, what could they do? It'd already happened. She'd already hit the rock bottom and scraped back up on her own. They could only try to understand and be there for her, would she decide to trust them.

"But why send it now, to only four people?" Katsunori asked yet again, turning the whisky in his glass before downing it.

"She's tired." Aomine said quietly. He could probably never fully understand what she'd been through, or how much she was holding in, but he could understand that one. "Of lies and half-truths. I guess she wants to trust someone again… to be accepted with everything…" He said, slowly realising that maybe that was what he'd wanted too. To reach out and to be accepted… With his scars and flaws and everything…

Katsunori stared at the teenager, for a moment forgetting all about the student-teacher nonsense. Aomine was close to Aya in ways the others could only dream of. And the boy was far from stupid. "Yeah, and _**you**_ know that, because for whatever reasons she tells you stuff. So? Can _**you**_ accept that?" He asked bitingly.

Aomine blinked at the venomous tone the coach had used. He shrugged. "It's all lies anyways, isn't it? It already happened, there's nothing to change. And besides… Maybe I don't know her well, but I know that she isn't _**that**_ kind of a person."

"You can be surprisingly wise." Hiroto chuckled, cutting off whatever Katsunori wanted to spout. He could guess that his friend felt left out and uninformed, and maybe he was slightly jealous that Aomine knew things which he, as their godfather, didn't. "Reminds me of Taiga."

"What?!" Aomine bristled immediately. "We ain't similar at all!"

He laughed. "But that's good. That's good. You have a good influence on her."

 _I have a good influence? What is he talking about? I've hurt her too…_ He opened his mouth to retort, but instead he blushed and averted his eyes. She certainly was a good influence on him, he'd never thought it could work the other way around too.

"Ne?" Hiroto frowned; there was something missing. He'd expect Aya to come here for a drink and a cigarette after doing something like that. But she hadn't… "Where is she even?"

"Akita and then she went to her grandparents…" Katsunori's voice trailed off.

 _Of course!_ Hiroto laughed. "The oasis. I guess that something there must've triggered her enough to share that. And if she's there… She'll be fine." His phone chimed. He checked the message and laughed again. "Talk about the daredevil. They are repairing the tree house and Taiga must've discovered a spot with a good enough signal."

"The tree house?"

"Oh, don't tell me you don't remember! We could never get up without Robin's help. And we were always expecting a moment when she'd fall down, ready to catch her."

"You shouldn't have reminded me." Katsunori paled from a sudden worry.

"What are you talking about?" Aomine asked curiously.

Hiroto grinned at the boy. "You'll faint after seeing this." He winked at Katsunori and turned the phone so that they could see the video of Aya climbing up a tree like a squirrel. Aomine's jaw almost hit the ground and Katsunori averted his eyes the moment Aya jumped to grab the rope.

"Good that the little Tiger knows what to document~"

"For fucks sake, that girl will be a death of mine one day."

"And you claim you don't want to have children~"

"No… I don't. Those two shorten my lifespan enough."

"Who's that?" Aomine asked pointing at Keiji.

"Huh?" Hiroto blinked at the bluenette and then went through the video again. "That's probably Kei-chan. From the neighbouring village. Hm… I wouldn't have guessed that Taichi-ojii would take up an apprentice."

"He isn't an apprentice." Katsunori grumbled.

"Look at his gear. He must be! I'm so interrogating Robin when she comes back."

Aomine was frowning at the boy.

"Ohoo?" Hiroto grinned mischievously. "Are you jealous?"

"Wha-?! No! No way!" He spluttered.

Katsunori groaned in exasperation – alcohol getting to him. "Fuck no." He scoffed sarcastically and then sighed. "What did I do to deserve this?!"

"Ha?!" Aomine blinked at the serious coach, suddenly not being so serious. It was probably the first time he'd heard the man swear.

"As if the articles weren't enough… You need to be into her."

Aomine was dumbly blinking at Katsunori, his mind was kind of blank, as there was a hell lot for him to process and he had no idea how to react. Discussing his crush with the coach = super awkward and uncomfortable.

Hiroto chuckled, deciding to help the teenager. "It's not that bad Katsu."

"No, I mean... I don't really care, they are good influence on each other, it's just…" His grey eyes stared at Aomine. "What do you even think about Robin anyways?" He asked, a bit curious, because he'd never really talked with Aomine properly. And with alcohol loosening up his tongue, he didn't mind talking like this with his team's ace.

"Uhm…"

"Just say whatever's on your mind, Aomine-kun." Hiroto encouraged him. "The age is not important now."

A blush settled on his face. "I think she's amazing." He said truthfully. There was no one to lie to anyways. "A busybody at times, but… I can't really imagine the club without her."

"Even though you show up only once in a while?"

"If she wasn't there I'd show up much less…" This time it was Hiroto who filled Aomine's whisky glass again. "And oi! It's _you_ who said I don't have to come to practises."

Katsunori shrugged. "I thought it was pointless to force you. You seemed you'd decline my offer if I insisted on your participation on practises."

"Tch… That's probably true…"

He raised an eyebrow at his ace. "See? Well I thought Aya could handle you that's why I invited her too. …though I never would've thought you'd fall for her."

"…" Aomine was blinking at the coach, speechless. So basically, he was the reason she came to Touou? Suddenly, the whisky didn't look like a bad idea. He drank the shot in one go.

Hiroto stared at it with a chuckle. "So what do you like about her?" He asked, happy that his club was half-empty and he could pay his full attention to these two. They were almost cute.

Boobs and ass – were the first things Daiki thought about. He couldn't possibly say that to them. And it wasn't just that. He liked the way she smiled, the way she wasn't scared of him, the way she bickered with him… He liked her courageous nature and 'take no shit' attitude. And he also liked her blush and vulnerability, she'd showed him once or twice and he'd had no idea what to do then. He wanted to figure that out. To figure _**her**_ out. And it was only now that he was actually realising all this.

"…Everything? I guess?" He said hesitantly. "I don't get it myself, okay?!"

"Ooooh… So the first love?" Hiroto teased and refilled Aomine's glass once more.

Aomine glared at him, but he couldn't hide the blush. He was starting to feel the effects of the liquor, but he downed the third glass as well. His father was so going to kill him in the evening.

"Don't tease him too much, Hiroto." Katsunori grumbled at his friend. "We've all been through that awkward realisation and crap."

"Hai, hai~ I'm not being mean. It's just cute."

Katsunori sighed and shook his head. "Just think about what you really want, don't push her too much."

"Tch… Why 're you all telling me that?!" Aomine grumbled staring at the empty glass.

"We just don't want to see her broken-hearted." Hiroto smiled at him. "Not that she'd tell us anyways… but you know. We care."

"I do too, ya know?"

Katsunori raised an eyebrow at him. "So have you started with the history assignment?" He provoked. He'd reminded Aya about it and she'd said they still had time, but it was only two more weeks and Keiko's death anniversary was just around the corner as well. He doubted Aya would focus on school given the circumstances.

"Huh?" Aomine blinked at him.

"Don't tell me you don't remember."

"We had something like that?"

Katsunori rolled his eyes with a grunt. "Seriously? How the hell did you even pass the midterms?!"

"We had a bet." He shrugged. "And I don't lose."

Hiroto burst out laughing. "Aya's unbelievable!"

"Whatever, you do realise you two need to write a paper? And present it on 15th July, right?"

The teenager scratched the back of his neck. "If you say so."

"Listen. You should start working on it, even without Aya. She'll help you, but I don't think she'll be in the mood to work on a school project."

"Yeah, yeah. I'll give it a look." He waved his hand, history was probably the only subject that interested him and so he could imagine working on the project on his own too. "Ne?" He asked curiously. "How did _you_ become the ace?"

"You want to know about that?"

Aomine shrugged. The whisky loosened everyone's tongue. "Yeah, why not?"

######

"Haaaa~ We're finally done!" Aya said happily and spread on the deck of their tree house. The deep orange colours of the sunset were giving everything a warm feeling. Her legs were hanging over the edge and she was sweetly tired. The work made her forget the turmoil of emotions she'd felt, but now when they were done, it was all coming back to her. And she wondered if she'd done the right thing.

"Yeah." Taiga joined her, sticking his legs through the railing gaps too.

"It hadn't changed at all."

They always liked being on the deck of their tree house and then going in to sleep in nets hanging inside. Thankfully, the inside of the house was in a good shape. It was one big space with six sleeping nets hanging from the beams. The sliding door made one entire wall of the house, letting in a lot of sun and natural light when opened. They had a small library and couple of games inside.

"Only a few books were eaten by rodents." Taiga chuckled.

"We'll replace them."

"Aya! Tai!" Keiji called out to them from the ground below.

She sat up and looked over the railing. "What's up?"

"I need to go home now! See you tomorrow! We should lacquer it properly, so the wood won't start rotting again."

"Sure! See you tomorrow!" She waved him goodbye and slumped back to her previous position.

She stared at the trees thinking of what was going on in Tokyo about now. She was curious of Aomine's reaction to the articles and she feared it at the same time. But she didn't want to deceive him anymore. If he'd believe it, then there was no point in trying to trust him again.

"What's bothering you?" Taiga asked. He knew her the best after all.

"Maybe I've done something stupid…"

He sighed. _Nothing new…_ "I'm listening."

And so she told him. At first she was thinking she'd say it to her entire team, but they barely knew about the championships let alone her little scandal. She'd had to admit that the boys were slowly noticing things and figuring it out, but…

"You did what?!" He snapped at her when she was done. "And what do you mean that Katsunori didn't know?! Why the hell haven't you told him sooner?! I thought you did."

"Ah well…" She shrugged. "It would trouble him, right? He told me not to cause him troubles. And those bullying letters… I didn't want to add to it."

"Ayaaa… He's our family, stupid. It's not like he'd shove you away for something you haven't done."

"Family, huh?" She half-smiled bitterly. "It's not like it means much."

"True. We have rather a patchwork one… but still…"

"Aomine's so gonna hate me now…"

"If so, then he is an idiot. You'll see on Tuesday." He scratched his head. "Well, I don't really like him, but I guess he's a better match for you than Tatsuya… And… It hurts my pride now, because he really did behave like a jerk during the match, but he isn't a bad person. Arrogant, yes, but…"

"You're good at reading people too, eh?"

He shrugged. "I had good teachers."

She chuckled softly. "Yeah, you did… So you think it's gonna be okay? I'm not sure how I'd handle learning something like that."

"He might need some time to process it, but I don't think he'll hate you." He said simply. "So? Are we staying the night up here?"

"Sure. But I need to take a shower first."

"Don't jump from here."He teased.

She rolled her eyes and climbed down the ladder. "I'll bring some blankets; I think it's going to be a bit chilly during the night."

"I'll help you, I'm going too!"

######

Daisuke sighed and stared at his half-drunk son, who somehow managed to stumble home, completely soaked from the rain.

"I guess I'm not going to ask who filled your glass, or I'd have to go and deal with it as a policeman, which I don't want to." He said and shook his head. "Go take a shower and we'll talk."

"Hai, hai." He said and pushed the dogs away to get up the stairs and to his room. The world was spinning and the ground beneath his legs seemed to be weaving constantly, making it slightly difficult to keep balance. He felt strangely mellow, yet he could remember everything.

A lukewarm shower sobered him up a bit and made the world stop spinning. Or maybe he convinced himself it wasn't. Or maybe it was the 'talk' he had to have with his dad that made him anxious and pushed out some effects of the alcohol. The thoughts of everything he'd learned about Aya were buzzing in his head. With a sigh he leaned his forehead against the cold tiles and let the water trickle down his back. What was he supposed to do know that he knew? How should he behave?

He shook his head. _No point in overthinking…_ He got out and slipped into his sleeping clothes. It was long past sunset.

When he walked into his room, both of his parents were sitting on his bed with crossed legs and all three dogs were crawled over one another in Shiro's bed. He shivered and paled. The chair was the only vacant spot for him to occupy, so he sat there and turned to his parents. This was going to be one long talk…

"We're listening." Daisuke said.

Daiki shrugged. "I have nothing to say."

Daisuke frowned at him. "We're your parents. And I think we ought to know. I'm not going to ground you or anything, I just want to know what had happened and where have you been."

He sighed and ran his fingers through his wet hair. "I didn't want to drink, at first, 'kay? But it was too much info for me to handle just like that."

"Info about what?"

"Aya…"

"You've been drinking because of a girl?!" Michiko asked in disbelief. She didn't like that.

"It's usually about women." Daisuke chuckled, poking his wife with his elbow. The last thing Daiki needed was them yelling at him. "So? We're listening… What was too much to handle?"

"I'm not sure I should talk about it." He said reluctantly. Those weren't the things he could share just like that, but maybe talking with his parents and putting everything into words would help him sort it out and process it.

"We are a policeman and a nurse… Keeping secrets is part of our job. And there aren't many things we haven't seen in our lives. So…"

He bit his lower lip, but then he decided. He knew he could trust his parents. Aomine's reproduction of the story was shortened a lot, though he said all the important things. Showing the articles to his parents would be pointless as they understood even less English than him. When he was speaking, he kept staring at his feet; he didn't want to see their reactions. How long has it been since he'd talked with them like this? He couldn't remember, but now he felt grateful for having them there.

"Oh god…" Michiko gasped and covered her mouth in the process. "I had no idea… We knew she was a world champion, but that…"

"So you ended up drinking with your coach and her godfather… Interesting turn of events." Daisuke chuckled. "I'd appreciate you won't do it again."

"Anata!" Michiko elbowed him. "How can you be so calm about it? The girl… She's… I'm sad. I haven't thought she was this… complicated. I really want to meet her now."

"He's our son. We raised him well, and besides… Simple women are no fun." He chuckled and kissed his wife's forehead. "Wouldn't _you_ agree?"

"Ah…" She frowned at him.

"Ew… Do that in your bedroom." Daiki made a face. "What are you talking about anyways?"

"Let's say your mom wasn't an easy catch either." He shrugged; there were things his son hadn't known yet. "So?"

"?"

"What now? Are you going to keep your hands off and run away?"

"I'm not a coward."

"I know, but that has nothing to do with it. Once it blows up, because it will… Can you withstand it then? Will you have her back then? I'm not sure if she's realising it, but she's giving you a back door, a chance to turn and leave. While you're still 'just friends'."

Daiki frowned. He knew about it. "It's all just 'what if' questions… I don't really know what she thinks of me…"

"She trusts you enough to share that… You think it means nothing?"

"Tch…" He sighed desperately. Everyone was hinting that she might like him too, but… That 'friends' stuff was quite misleading. _Why did I have to say it?_

"Well…" Daisuke smiled at him. "Sleep on it. And then think about it. I guess that Aya-chan is much more nervous and anxious than you now. She won't push you into anything, so take your time to figure it all out. And I don't want to see you drunk any time soon, got it?"

"Hai, hai…" He muttered and stared at his parents as they left his room. Suddenly, he felt dead tired.

######

A night in the middle of a forest was surprisingly full of sounds and life. They were swaying in the sleeping nets, curled up in the blankets and listening to the breeze gently caressing branches of the surrounding trees. An owl hooted somewhere. All the sounds could've been eerie and scary, but the two knew them well already. They'd spend their childhood summers here, or in the French countryside with their mother's parents and they loved it.

"Tai? Are you asleep?" Aya asked quietly.

"No…"

"I miss him… Seth…" She muttered. "What do you think happened with him?"

"Me too." He sighed and stared at the ceiling. "I guess he went back to his former job, what else was there for him?"

"You think he went back to being a mercenary?" She shivered. "I don't want to think that he might be dead and we don't even know… And it'd be all my fault… Again."

"It's not. You know it's not. He can be as well working as a taxi driver somewhere. Or as someone else's driver and bodyguard, or what…" He mused out loud.

"I don't like the idea of that…" She grumbled. "But if it meant he was safe I wouldn't mind… I'm just… I'm sorry. You loved him too and because of me he's gone."

"He's gone because of our father, not you. And really. Stop thinking it's your fault. You're being kinda selfish." He rolled his eyes. "I did my share of stupidities too, you know? And he was the one helping me out of it…"

"Gambling basket?"

"How do you…?!"

She laughed. "Oh dear… Just because I was not at home doesn't mean I don't know what you were doing. And I guess you need to try it out once more."

"They'll kill me for real this time."

"They won't, because you'll win."

"You believe in me way too much. I couldn't even beat Aomine."

"You will do that too, eventually." She said with certainty in her voice.

"Because I'm _your_ brother?"

"No. Because _you_ can do it. You have the potential, you just need to pull it out and work with it. That's all."

* * *

"You're coming with me. Now." Satsuki ordered Aomine the first thing in the morning.

"Tch. What have I done?" He asked sleepily and yawned.

"You didn't answer any of my calls yesterday! What was that about?!" She shouted into his ear.

He covered his ringing ear and pulled away from her. Long sigh escaped him. They weren't even at school yet. "Why should I? You were freaking out, like usual."

"If it were Aya-chan calling you'd pick up!" She complained.

"That'd be a different story."

"So? Where've you been anyways?! Your mom told me you'd stormed out in the afternoon…"

"I went to talk with Amane Hiroto. If anyone was to give me answers it was him." He shrugged.

"Oh… So you know him personally?" Hiroto was, after all, a former member of the national team as well. "I called Aya-chan too, but she was unavailable…" She switched the topic rather quickly.

"She's in the middle of nowhere, from what they'd told me. She has no signal."

"Hmmm…." Then she blinked at him in surprise. "Th–" _ey_ _?_

"But don't you go discussing this with your so called _friends_ in your classroom." He interrupted whatever she was about to ask. "If you don't want to drown her again…"

Satsuki pouted. "I'm not stupid, Aomine-kun." She said angrily. "I know when to keep my mouth shut. And besides… Kiku-chan knows too. I can discuss it with her."

"So she told Ohno?"

"Yeah. And you should try to behave better to the girl. She's our friend too."

He rolled his eyes. "Hai, hai."

"So? What're you gonna do now?"

He groaned in exasperation. "Tch. Why is everyone asking me that?!"

Satsuki chuckled. "Dunno… Because you obviously like her?"

"Go to hell, Satsuki." He growled at her.

* * *

 **A/N:** I hope I didn't overdo it (as usual). No Aomine-Aya interaction, but I like this chapter, the next one might be a bit more enjoyable though. ;)

Let me know what you think but remember, reviews are appreciated, but never necessary.

-S.


	30. Chapter 30: Better than thousand words

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone who followed, favourited and reviewed! It makes me very happy. :) Here's the new chapter a bit shorter than my usual nowadays, buut...

Enjoy!

* * *

 _Attitude is a choice. Happiness is a choice. Optimism is a choice. Kindness is a choice. Giving is a choice. Respect is a choice. Whatever choice you make makes you. Choose wisely. **― Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart**_

 _Have enough courage to trust love one more time and always one more time. **― Maya Angelou**_

 _I have learned that there is more power in a good strong hug than in a thousand meaningful words. – **Ann Hood**_

 _I just want you to know that you're very special… and the only reason I'm telling you is that I don't know if anyone else ever has. **― Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower**_

* * *

Aya took a deep breath to calm down her nervously fluttering heart before she'd walk into the gym and face Katsunori, Satsuki and Aomine. Sending that mail was something she'd decided on a spur of the moment and now she wasn't sure it'd been the right thing to do. Maybe everyone else had learned it too… What then?

But her biggest fear was facing Aomine. She didn't know what to do, or how to act, or how to explain her reasoning behind sending it.

 _I'm such an idiot!_

Nonetheless, she pulled out her usual cheerful expression and walked in.

"Hey! Tadaima." She greeted them with a smile; her eyes immediately searching for Aomine. Thankfully, he wasn't there yet and neither was Satsuki.

"Okaerinasai!" Kano replied cheerfully. "I thought you'd skip the morning practise. You've arrived just a few hours ago, no?"

With that, she knew they didn't know. _So Satsuki kept it to herself…_ "Yeah, but I wanted to come. I haven't properly practised for a week!"

"I saw you climbing a tree like a squirrel." Katsunori spoke up from behind her.

"Shoot!" She almost got a heart attack. "Do you have to scare me like that?!" She asked accusingly, with a hand over her heart. Then she realised who it was talking to her. She hadn't noticed him in the gym. "Oh… Katsunori, uhm. Hey. I'm back." She mumbled and looked at her feet guiltily. Taiga had told her that Katsunori had probably had no idea about those articles. And it'd been him who had helped her and Kiku with those bully notes. She couldn't really look him in the eyes, though she was trying to keep her usual façade; she just felt so bad about not telling him before.

He raised an eyebrow at her reaction. This wasn't what he'd expected. In those few months she'd been back in his life he'd learnt to understand her better. He couldn't read her and she could always surprise him with something, but still… Seeing her unsure and anxious like this was strange. _And I'm not Aomine…_

"Well sorry." A half-smirk formed on his face. "That's for shortening my lifespan with that tree-climbing of yours. Taiga should _not_ send such videos to me. I'm not 20 anymore."

 _Eh?_ She blinked at him confusedly; she didn't expect him to talk to her casually. Wasn't he going to scold her? There was no disgust or disapproval in his eyes; he was even trying to joke and it actually turned out well. A small smile, like a candle light in a pitch black night, settled on her face. So Katsunori was okay with it… It was all going to be okay…

And with the renewed courage her small smile turned into a teasing smirk. _So Taiga found another spot with a good enough signal, huh?_ "Sorry, I forgot you might get jealous. If I remember correctly, you could never get up there without my help."

"Yeah, yeah. We just have a healthy sense of self-preservation." He shrugged, there was no way he'd ever try to climb a tree like that without any safety harness. "So, as you haven't properly practised for some time, I want you to lead the practise."

Aya blinked at him and then scanned the boys, who took a few steps back. Even Kano looked a bit paler and his previous cheerfulness seemed to be gone. Well, it was a Tuesday morning, which meant balance practise and stamina drills… Aya's stamina drills were a hundred times worse than Wakamatsu's were and she hadn't practised for almost a week.

 _We are dead._ All of them thought at the same moment.

"Okay then." She nodded with a smile.

The door opened and Satsuki walked in, dragging Aomine along. He wasn't sure he wanted to come. It wasn't that he wanted to avoid Aya, but he would have no time to talk with her during the practise and he just didn't want to make her feel awkward. _He_ didn't want to feel awkward, because he had no idea what to do, or how to act, or what she'd expect him to do, or not to do. And seeing the coach after their small drinking event was strange as hell too. But Satsuki miraculously managed to talk him into coming, though they were late as a consequence. He'd swear that half of her arguments contained: 'Aya-chan is going to be there' and he really missed the redhead.

When she turned to look at them she froze for a moment, blood draining from her face, but she recovered quickly. There was no way she'd deal with this in front of everyone and so she smiled, inwardly thanking Kouta and Tatsuya for teaching her the trick.

"Welcome!" She greeted them and then she looked at Aomine, not looking him in the eyes. "I'm leading the practise today. I hope your stamina is going to last." She informed him.

"… Is that a challenge?" He asked, catching up with her play and cooperating. He'd swear he saw her sigh in relief. And heard all the others groan in annoyance; the two of them competing meant more work for everyone.

"…Maybe."

######

"Don't ever, _ever_ do that again!" Kano complained, glaring at Aomine at the end of the practise. He was laying on the ground completely lifeless, just like the rest of them – except Wakamatsu, Tada, Ishii, Susa, Aomine and Aya of course – but she was already in the changing room. Those six were exceptional when it came to stamina practises.

"Huh?"

"Don't provoke her like that again! How can you even stand?"

"Tch, how can you be so weak?" He frowned at Kano, but he had to admit that he was barely standing. One or two more rounds and he'd be just as dead as everyone else. And that balance practise was a torture. He had a good balance as it was, but Aya mixed in some ballet and some gymnastics and now he could feel muscles that he had no idea he had hurting.

"You are not far from being like us~" Imayoshi hummed from his spot on the ground, seeing through Aomine's act. "By the way… Did something happen to Aya-chan? She seemed a bit off in the morning."

"… Nothing that I know of." He said with a shrug, ignoring the captain's first biting comment.

Imayoshi's eyes opened a bit more to give Aomine a long scrutinizing look. It was obvious, at least for him, that something was going on. As a 'mind reader' he wanted to know. As the captain, he needed to know. Because he needed to be ready for a moment when the things might go south…

"I'll figure it out eventually." He said with a determination which sent shivers down Aomine's spine.

It wasn't in the ace's nature to show the slight fear and discomfort Imayoshi made him feel, so he smirked lazily. "Do as you wish, captain. Just don't regret it later on."

######

"Aya-chan!" Satsuki walked into the changing room and leaned against the closed door.

Aya had to take a deep breath before turning around to face the pinkette. She expected a ton of questions regarding the articles. But before she could fully face her, Satsuki gasped and covered her mouth.

"What?" Aya asked with a mild concern in her voice. Then she noticed what Satsuki was staring at. The scar on her shoulder. _Shit…_ She covered it with her palm. "Sorry, it probably creeps you out."

 _So that's why Dai-chan asked me about scars?!_ "That's uhm… No… It's fine, I guess. I just… I haven't noticed it earlier… …?" Her eyes narrowed. "Why haven't I noticed it earlier?"

"I'm usually hiding it." She admitted.

"Why?"

"Because it creeps people out…"

 _Apparently not everyone, if Dai-chan knows._ But Aya's stoic voice was making her uncomfortable and a bit angry. She had a feeling that Aya might be closing up again and she frowned. "And the bruise?"

"What bruise?"

Satsuki raised an eyebrow at that. "Have you seen yourself in a mirror lately? Your hip…"

Aya turned around to stare at herself in the mirror. And really, she had a rather large dark-purple bruise on her left hip and side. "Oh…"

" _'Oh'_ you say?" Satsuki was more concerned than angry or hurt. "It looks terrible. What were you doing?"

"Climbing trees… Painting the roof of our tree house, I slipped and fell, must've hit myself when I landed on that branch." She shrugged nonchalantly. "I haven't realised it."

"How can you not realise that? It must hurt!"

A crooked smile appeared on Aya's face and she sighed. "It's just a bruise, Satsuki. Nothing serious. Don't worry."

"But I do! You're my friend! What was that all about anyways?"

"The articles?" Aya asked just to be sure. _Yep, it was to come…_

"Yes! Why didn't you tell us sooner?"

She bit her lower lip and looked away, picking up her shirt to get dressed. It was easier to talk when she didn't have to look at the pinkette. "It's not something you boast about… I guess… Though I knew it'd get out. Everything eventually does, that's why I send it myself… And why not sooner – I simply wanted you to know me better before dropping the bomb. If you'd known from the day one, would you really want to become friends?"

Satsuki blinked at her guiltily. _Probably not._

The redhead just nodded. "Probably not, right?"

"That's not…" She wanted to protest, but Aya halted her with a raised hand and a tad sad smile.

"It's fine, you don't have force yourself."

"Sorry, I just…" Satsuki sat on a bench and stared at the ground. "You weren't telling me so much."

"But I wasn't lying to you. And you're not telling me everything either, are you?" The reddish eyes stared at Satsuki intensely. She knew that pinkette was hiding something too, she had a feeling she'd known her from somewhere, and yet… Their first meeting was in the club. It didn't make sense.

This time, it was Satsuki's turn to avert her eyes and stare at her feet. "Ah… Well…"

Aya smiled. _I knew it._ "See? If you want to tell me you will. We all have things we prefer to keep to ourselves. So don't feel betrayed, or something, just because I didn't tell you sooner." When did it turn out that Aya was actually consoling her?

"It's still a lot to process." Satsuki nodded and then she frowned and bristled up. "Just who would write that about you anyways?! It was horrid!" She threw her arms into the air. Thankfully, her previous worry about Aya closing off was just her impression, not really true, and it made Satsuki relax a bit.

Aya laughed at the reaction. People getting angry for her sake, she hadn't experienced that often. And Satsuki's angry face was cute. "I have an idea who might want to pay for it, but it's better left unsaid."

"What do you mean by that?! You know who'd do that and _you_ did nothing?!"

"I can't confront everyone. As much as I'd love to, I couldn't do anything. Not that time."

"Oh… Someone dangerous?"

"More like super spoiled, super rich. You can't really start an argument hoping you'll win, because you won't. Especially when you're facing it all alone. Sometimes it's like that." Aya shrugged. "And ruining your reputation once in a while makes you realise who you really are, what can you do and who are your real friends. I moved on – at least I like to believe that – found new friends some of whom can, hopefully, accept that fail of mine…" She sighed and tucked her shirt into the skirt. _Tch… It hurts._ She frowned when she touched the bruise. _How could I not notice?_

"We know it's a lie and those stupid bully notes actually made it easier to realise. But I was kinda shocked that Kiku-chan wasn't all that surprised when she read that."

That made Aya smile as she took her school bag and headed to the door. "Well… Kiku's good at reading people. She's scared of them; hence she notices a lot of small things. I can't really fool her when it's something serious."

"Hmmm… I never looked at it like this. By the way… Did you send something more to Dai-chan?" She just had to know. The curiosity was eating her up, because he'd refused to tell her anything more than what she could figure out on her own.

"Not really. Why?"

Satsuki gave her a sideways glance as they exited the changing room. "He seemed to know something more."

Aya's hand locking the door froze and she paled. "What?! What do you mean more?"

"Eh? Dunno. He wouldn't tell me…"

 _Awesome…_ Aya thought desperately. She had so many stupid ideas in her head that she tuned out Satsuki's rambling about her weekend adventure in some amusement park she'd visited with her mother. Aomine might've played along during the practise, out of whatever reasons, but she wasn't sure he'd do that all day long. _What else had he figured out?_ It kept repeating in her mind. And then she remembered the history assignment she'd almost completely forgotten about… She was panicking inwardly, smiling at others outwardly. And on top of it all she felt so tired even though she'd gotten much more sleep in her oasis than usual. Counting in the killer practise, she could hibernate for ages.

Satsuki parted half-way to go to her classroom, feeling happy that Aya-chan didn't shut her out and listened to her amusement park stories.

Aya was hesitating to enter the classroom. It was probably the first time she was actually anxious about facing Aomine. _Damn it! Why do I even care?_

"Don't you usually walk in like you own the place?" Kiku's voice made her snap out of her misery.

"Ah!" She spun around. "You're late."

The little girl chuckled at the reaction and adjusted her glasses. "I overslept. But I'm glad you are not running away from me."

"Why would I?"

"For the same reasons you fear facing Aomine-san?"

"Certainly not the same reasons." She said conclusively.

"Ah." Kiku blushed suddenly, getting what she'd said. Aya was in love with Aomine, of course the reasoning would be different. "I-I d-didn't…" She stuttered.

Aya laughed and ruffled Kiku's short hair. "It's fine. Accompany me please. I'll feel better." Encouraged by her presence, she smiled at the girl. Kiku smiled back and entered the class first, followed by Aya.

The moment she stepped in, she could feel Aomine's eyes on her and she had to bit the inner side of her cheek to not look at her feet. Instead, she stared back at him, avoiding his deep blue eyes of course. He was lazily sitting at his desk, reading a textbook, now watching her. _Eh? Reading a textbook? Is there some quiz?_

"So? How was your trip to Akita?" Kano asked, breaking her train of thoughts.

"Ah." She placed her bag on her desk and turned to Ishii and Kano occupying Ishii's desk. "Well… Let's hope we won't have to play against them in the Interhigh. They have three players over 2 meters tall, their current shooting guard is 193 cm tall and they are incredibly skilled in defence. Especially Murasakibara Atsushi. They are not nicknamed the 'shield of Aegis' for nothing. "

"Oh." They both blinked at the thought. Three guys that big would sure be troublesome. "And the manager?"

"Hero? She is amazing." Aya chuckled. "Rude, straightforward, fearless and short. I came to like her. She is a quick learner, so I didn't have to stay there longer than planned."

"Hiro?" Kiku tilted her head in curiosity. "Is that her name or a nickname you gave her?"

"A nickname. Her name is Hironaka Sumire-chan. I originally wanted to call her chibi-chan, but Tatsuya warned me not to just in time… She'd bite my head off otherwise."

"What's Yosen like? Is it similar to our school?" Ishii asked curiously; he'd noticed that Aya didn't really look at Aomine and he gave her a way out, ignoring the ace's sharp glare.

And so she was pulled into a detailed description of the Yosen's school grounds, dorms (omitting the fact that she'd sneaked into the boys' dorms) and teachers. When a teacher came in, she was interrupted. She tried to pay attention to the lesson, but couldn't ignore Aomine's burning stare pinned into her back.

It dragged like that during all classes, until the lunch break, when Aomine's patience ran out. Aya'd gone to the cafeteria to buy some lunch, as she hadn't been at home so she hadn't prepared anything. He grabbed a lunch from Sakurai (someone had to do it in Aya's absence) and glared at the two boys.

"I need to talk with her, so back off." He grumbled at them irritably.

"She doesn't seem willing to talk with you though." Ishii mused calmly. "Did something happen after the ramen?"

"That's none of your business."

"Hmmm… you started coming to practises and she behaves strangely, but I have to admit she's a good actor."

Aomine's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"

"I get the feeling she wants to run away." Ishii shrugged. "I'm not sure it's safe to leave her with you alone."

"Oi, Ryuu…" Kano nudged his friend before Aomine could snap at them. "Let's go eat lunch with Naito. We probably shouldn't get involved…"

Ishii raised an eyebrow at him.

Kano shrugged with a crooked smile. "Maybe they do need to talk and Aya-chan is just conveniently using us to avoid it…?"

"I-I'd agree on that." Kiku said, calmly observing the situation. She was still anxious around Aomine, but the other two were her good friends. "Can I join you?"

"Sure!" Kano agreed immediately. "Let's eat on the outside courts, you too, Sakurai."

Within seconds they successfully disappeared, leaving Aomine blinking after them in surprise. He'd never expect Kiku to help him out. _Now what?_ He thought. Despite his need to confront the redhead, to talk with her, he was clueless as of what to do.

Aya returned to the classroom just to find all of her friends gone. Only Aomine remained at his spot, staring at his wrapped bento.

"Where's everyone?" She asked, suddenly feeling left out and panicked again.

Daiki shrugged. "They went out."

"Oh, uh… Maybe they'll be at the outside courts… I should…" She stuttered out, not daring to really look at him. _What the hell's wrong with me?!_

He sighed heavily. "So you seriously plan to avoid me now?"

"What?" She snapped her head up to stare at him. Those stormy eyes, which caught hers, were threatening to drown her. "No! I mean… That's not… Oh, gosh… Your lunches! Sorry, I wasn't really at home, so..." She facepalmed when she remembered the bet.

An amused expression settled on his face. This stuttering side of Aya was unusually cute. "I know that. Uhm…" He scratched the back of his neck. This was awkward. "The rooftop?" He suggested.

She bit her lower lip anxiously, but when she heard Aki's giggle and the others' small talks, she nodded. A classroom was definitely not a good place for any type of serious talks.

"How's Murasakibara?" He asked when they exited the class. Maybe if he got her to talk about casual stuff it'd get less uncomfortable.

Aya smiled at his attempt. _I've never thought he'd be considerate…_ "The sweets you recommended were accepted with pleasure. And he is… huge… seems lazy, but he actually practises with everyone. But…"

"But?"

"I've seen the Teiko games and he was playing the offence too. Well… most of the time. Now he doesn't move away from his three point line. Why?"

"Hmmm… He stopped practising around the time I did, maybe for a different reasons. We weren't that close but by the end he started to focus solely on defence, claiming it was too much trouble to run around." He shrugged; it was the first time someone made him think about it.

"I still think there's more to it than just laziness…" She mused and bit her thumb nail in deep thoughts.

"If they face us, I'll make him run around too."

"He told me something about your ability to slip shots past his perfect defence." Slowly, she was relaxing around him. Aomine was talking with her. He probably wouldn't look down on her, though she still felt the conversation wasn't as natural as it should've been.

They entered the rooftop and sat down, leaning against a wall. Aomine had a lunch with a childish motif, so Aya suspected it was Sakurai's work, and she unwrapped some bun she fetched in the cafeteria.

"Not that it's easy…" He admitted begrudgingly, digging into his food (ignoring the bunny motif). Those five were probably the only worthy challengers he could face. Well… and Kagami Taiga, _if he gets better._ "…is your brother's leg fine?"

"He damaged a muscle, so it needs one more week of complete rest. Maybe a few days longer, considering he climbed trees with us, which is definitely not a definition of rest…"

A silence settled over them. It wasn't the typical comfortable silence, but an antsy one, when one wanted to talk, to ask, to pry, but couldn't bring themselves to. They remained like that even after finishing their meals.

"Okay." Aya broke the silence, stood up turning her back to him and walked a few steps towards the railing to put some distance between them. "So?"She nudged him.

"So what?" He asked confusedly.

"Ask, talk, berate me." She encouraged him, clenching her fists as if it could make her stronger. "You must be shocked, right?"

"I was…" He admitted, "but I just… I know it's all lies, but uh…" with a sigh he placed the lunch box on the ground and stood up too. "Why?" He asked simply.

"Huh?" She spun on her heel and stared at him with wide eyes. "Why…? Why what?"

He shrugged and it was his expression that astounded her the most. There was no disgust, no disappointment, no taunt; he was simply trying to understand her, to process it all, to… accept it? He had a puzzled look in his eyes as he was thinking about how to formulate his next words. _He is really not good with words, huh?_ She thought.

"Why everything… Why did it happen? Why telling **_me_**? Why **_now_**?" He asked several questions in a row, trying to read her, but except her apparent surprise he was clueless. Without her talking to him he couldn't have her back, so he really hoped she would answer. He wanted to be there for her just like she'd been there for him so many times before. "I just… I want to understand." He sounded almost pleading and he felt embarrassed as hell. Those two geezers making fun of him, telling him that he was a good influence on her… _What the hell? I probably can't even comfort her._

"I don't really know…" She said truthfully, biting her lower lip and staring at her feet again. "I reunited with people who knew and who didn't care 'bout it. I've met Hero. I… well, _Taiga_ told the crap to our grandparents, which I couldn't bring myself to do for months. I didn't want them to hate me." She shrugged. "If widely known, it's a shame on the entire family… but they got angry for my sake. They didn't scold me… I…" She sighed.

Damn, it was hard to explain her reasoning like that. Opening up a bit; it could all turn against her, but it was Aomine. Something about him… She couldn't really explain why she felt so… at home? And he didn't interrupt her. "It lifted a huge weight off of me… Always watching what I say… It's tiring. And so I thought that you should know; that you might be okay with it. The three of you know me the best and Katsu ought to know." She chuckled dryly. "Well, at least you can consider all the pros and cons of being friends with a publicly declared _'whore'_ ," she spat out the word, "and run away before you get burned… Before I get too attached…" She added quietly.

 _So I **was** right…_ He thought and decided he didn't like the gloomy expression settling on her face, as she stared at her feet. Kagami Aya was supposed to walk and talk with her head held high. But he understood it was easier to talk about the things hurting you like that.

She looked at him again, trying to search for his reaction, but except that slightly puzzled expression she couldn't see anything. "Why _you_ , you asked… I guess I want to try trusting you." _Ah… crap… That's basically a confession._ She thought, and hoped he was dense enough to not interpret it that way.

That took him aback. "Even if I fucked up?" He asked carefully controlling his voice, so it wouldn't jump higher from the sudden whirlwind of emotions he felt. After the half day of avoiding eye contact, she was staring right at him. Those red eyes were burning with so much he couldn't understand.

She shrugged. "We all do." A gentle half-smile curled her lips upwards.

He opened his mouth to say something, but he couldn't find the right words. There weren't any. This girl was encouraging him, despite needing the encouragement herself. She'd done it now; without the intent or realisation. And he'd already decided he didn't give a damn about the stupid articles, or her idiotic father. Without a warning he crossed those few steps separating them and pulled her into a tight hug. He didn't know why, but he felt he needed to do it. It was an instinct and he listened to it.

"Eh?" She let out when she suddenly landed against Daiki's broad chest. Being hugged by him was the last thing she'd expected. "What are you doing?" She stiffened for a moment waiting for him to answer and he thought she'd definitely push him away.

He shrugged. "It felt right." Somehow he managed to turn it into a half question.

 _It felt right?_ That made her chuckle softly and she relaxed, resting a cheek against his chest. No words could convey his acceptance better than this hug. His presence, his warmth, his scent were washing away all the bitterness from her system. She could hear his strong heartbeat and it made her feel calm, safe, reassured that everything was okay, that she wasn't as much of a failure as her father liked to believe. Her arms circled around his waist as she hugged him back.

He smiled at it and hugged her tighter. The ability to hide her in his arms was sure nice. Compared to him, she was small and it made him wonder where all that courage and confidence could fit into. But even she needed a recharge, she wasn't perfect, she struggled too. And he wanted to protect her, because finally he could.

She shakily sighed in relief and traitorous tears welled up in her eyes. _Eh? Why am I such a…_ She tried to blink them away; she couldn't go back to the class with red eyes. She pulled away slightly to wipe them off.

"Hm?" Daiki looked down to see what was going on. When he glimpsed tears he jumped away, letting her go. He had no idea what to do with a crying girl. "Oi. You're not crying, are you?" He asked suspiciously.

Shoved away, she frowned at him. "So? Given the situation, you should've expected that."

"Wha'… I… Well… Err… What…" He was fretting clueless.

That was so like him and it made her laugh. She couldn't be angry or offended when he was making such a cute face.

 _Eh? Beautiful._ He thought speechlessly observing her laughing face and the sun reflecting on her unshed tears, creating tiny rainbows. Unconsciously he leaned closer to see better.

"Listen," she cupped his cheeks pulling him down to her eye level, "you don't ever push away a girl crying in your arms, got it?"

"… and what do I do?"

She smiled. "You hug 'em tighter," then she added, "doesn't mean you have to hug 'em all though…"

Understanding shone in his eyes and he wanted to hug her again –

"A-a-a." She stopped him, keeping him bent down, and surprisingly he didn't protest. "It doesn't count when I just divulged the secret trick."

"?"

"I'm fine already. So…" She stood on her tiptoes and gave him a kiss on the forehead. "Thank you." She said and pulled away, letting go of his cheeks, which turned red in an instant.

With wide eyes he was frozen to his spot, blushing terribly. He was stunned. What had she just done? True, he'd imagined all the stuff, but this was… real…

"Uhm…" She waved her hand in front of his eyes. "Earth to Aomine. Don't tell me I'm the first girl who kissed you on the face…"

No reaction. The only woman to ever kiss his face was his mother…

 _And that was only a peck on the forehead…_ She thought desperately. "Okay, it's obvious. Sorry?" She tried. "I didn't know you were this innocent." Provocation might work, but…

Nothing.

"For god's sake, Aomine Daiki! I had your face in my cleavage! You managed _that_! You read porn. Don't faint just because of a small peck on the forehead."

That worked.

"What?!" He shook his head and straightened up. "I ain't… It's not… It's not porn, okay?! Those are idol magazines! And I'm not…"

She raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

 _She's so enjoying this..._ "Tch. We're not in America, okay?! We don't kiss people casually."

"Sooorryyy… If you hated it that much, I won't do it again." She pouted teasingly and headed to the door. Just as she touched the knob the bell rang. "But I kissed _you_ , not people." She disappeared on the staircase. "And it wasn't casual!" She added over her shoulder.

"Huh? What do you mean?!" He ran after her.

The only answer he got was her laughter. "Let's go. It's chemistry! Katsunori will kill us if we're late."

"OI!"

######

"Something definitely happened." Kano mused during a short second break in their afternoon practise.

Arai wiped his forehead and gulped down his water. "I'd bet. I actually got past him… That's impossible."

"And he even missed." Naito joined the flock of the first years.

"Just twice." Tada-senpai noted. "That's normal."

"Not when it comes to Aomine." Imayoshi mused. "Hmmm… what could've happened~?" He asked curiously staring at Kano.

"Ah…" The boy rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "He ate lunch with Aya-chan, so…"

"Ohoo~ Alone~? So are they finally a thing?"

A ball suddenly hit Imayoshi head. "Mind your own business!" Aomine growled at them, totally overhearing everything.

"Nice to see your aim is improving~!" Imayoshi smiled at him eerily.

Aomine answered with an eye-roll accompanied by an annoyed grunt.

"Ah, by the way…" Tada remembered something. "Kousuke!"

"Hm?" Wakamatsu raised his head to look at his friend. "What?"

"Kiku-chan will come after her cooking club! She has some business with Aya-chan. Maybe she'll bring you something again."

"Ah…" He blushed. "Thanks for telling me."

"Hmmm… I need to question Kiku about this later." Aya hummed as she returned from the water taps with refilled bottles, overhearing the last few sentences. Then she looked at Aomine, "you up for some quick one on one?" She put the bottles down.

"Sure." He was dead tired from the morning practise, totally out of it because of the hug and the kiss, but he was always up for a quick one on one with Aya. He threw her a ball he picked up.

"Your passes suck." She pointed out as she caught the ball.

"Tch. I don't pass."

She shook her head with a sigh. "Hai, hai, that'll come later too…" She muttered under her nose.

Lowering her center of gravity, she took a relaxed stance and started to dribble. She couldn't forget that Tatsuya's one-time miraculous shot, but she definitely couldn't copy it, heck she didn't even know what the hell it was. Not that she could figure it our facing Aomine.

She tried to pass him without faking, but he was already there to stop her, reacting to her movement. She halted and took a step back before he could steal the ball. _Hmmm…_ She was thinking how to fool him. Her tricks stock wasn't as large as his, but she had dancing.

They circled around each other for a moment in an utmost concentration, giving all the spectators goose bumps. Then she came up with a plan. She jumped into a fade away, which forced Aomine to leap up as well. The trick was in the strength of the leap, she used the minimum, so she'd be the first one to land, but she made it look like the exact opposite.

"Tch." He clicked his tongue when he realised it.

Aya was first one down and turning around him to get closer to the basket and score a lay-up. But his stride was slightly longer, so when he landed he caught up easily. And yet, he barely managed to touch the ball. It circled the hoop and then bounced out.

"It was almost there!" She complained.

 _Yeah, it gave me a fright there…_ He thought. It was unimaginable to loose in one on one with her in front of everyone. "You're ten years too early to try to beat me, Sweetheart."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Oh really~?"

He looked away, trying his best to hide a blush. She was unbelievable. _Tch… Get a grip. That little peck shouldn't have had such an impact on you. It probably meant nothing._

"Something definitely happened." Imayoshi nodded.

"Maybe~" She turned to him. "But what's that to you, huh captain?"

"I'm curious, Aya-chan~"

"Good luck with figuring it out then."

"All right!" Katsunori clapped and glared at Aya shortly. "Back to practise!"

######

"Wow, I'm surprised you've been coming to 'dancing' practises even when I wasn't here! That's awesome!" Aya praised Kiku after she'd learned about it from Senri. The girls were the last, practicing a bit more than the others. Now they were packing their stuff and getting ready to leave. "And you've really improved!"

Kiku blushed slightly and smiled; she wasn't used to hearing praise. "I guess. But the split is still…"

"You almost get it. A few more practises and you'll master it." Aya locked the gym and turned to walk Kiku to the station. It was quite late, Senri had had to go home, Taiga was sleeping as he hadn't been used to pulling all nighters and she didn't want Kiku to go home completely alone. Even though she wasn't a fan of walking alone in the night, she wasn't scared either.

"I'm glad you persuaded me to come."

"I thought you might like it. Maybe your coordination isn't that good, but dancing and gymnastics can improve it a lot and it's fun too, right?"

"Yeah. It's fun for a short time period I guess. But it's still not something I'd love to do. Archery is… well… I love it more than anything."

"And when will you teach me?" Aya asked and bumped into Kiku playfully.

"Aaah... That's… I'm not sure." She peeped.

"Whenever you say." It'd been some time since the girls talked alone and she wasn't going to waste it. "I heard you weren't surprised by the articles…" She mused glancing at Kiku.

The girl looked at her warily and quickly averted her eyes. She wasn't intimidated by Aya anymore, but she wasn't sure about how the redhead would react, so she liked to keep some level of awareness. "I… I knew you were hiding something. I mean… You understood m-my… You know… The s-scars… And the way you handled those bully notes, I thought you were used to it, in a way. S-sensei even mentioned s-some p-photos. So it d-didn't surprise me that much." She shrugged biting her tongue for stuttering again.

"Fair enough. Irihata really knew how to dig up dirt…" Aya nodded. "But… Is it really okay with you?"

"… You're a good person. And you're my f-friend." _The one who talked to me first…who accepted me, why wouldn't I?_ "I'll have your back."

She smiled. "I'm glad then." Despite Kiku's anxiety and fear, she didn't doubt that the girl would fight for her if necessary and it definitely went both ways. There was no reason discussing it more than that. Plus there were other things Aya was interested in. "So… You and Wakamatsu-senpai are a thing?"

Taken aback by the sudden change of topic, Kiku came to a halt and turned her wide eyes at Aya."N-n-no!" She protested in shock. "What are you talking about?!"

"Eh? But you brought him something after the practise right?"

"Ah well… We were baking blueberry muffins, so I thought he might like it…"

"In other words, you _are_ a thing." Aya said convincingly.

"No! How could he accept… This!" Kiku pointed at herself. "There's no way he would!"

"That's the whole you, Kiku. And anyways, Wakamatsu-senpai isn't prejudiced or anything. I think he's just shy." _Which is quite cute considering his loud demeanour…_

"I know. And it's better that way." She grumbled discontent. "I can't date anyone."

"Why not?"

"Why not you ask? Because I hate it! The scars. It's hideous, disgusting. I'm disg–" Suddenly she gasped. It was the first time she was actually talking about it. She could usually avoid the topic, but now, with Aya… The walls were down. She bit her lower lip and looked away.

"Disgusting? You?" Aya finished for her and Kiku winced. "What on earth are you talking about? It's not that I don't get it. I felt like that too, I hate my scar too." She shrugged. "But… It's only in our heads, Kiku. And we need to learn to accept it eventually."

Kiku was staring at her feet, thinking about it. For Aya to feel disgusting… She couldn't believe that, but it was probably true. The redhead wasn't flawless and there were probably more things she was still keeping to herself.

"Look," she sighed, wondering what to say to the small girl. "Wakamatsu-senpai isn't prejudiced, but you already know that. Don't you?"

"He'd be disappointed in me." She sighed. "I'm weak and too small. I'm scared of people and clumsy. I know near nothing about basketball, and I'm not even pretty. What's there to like? Nothing, right? I'm nothing. Nobody… totally worthless."

Aya sighed again, this time in exasperation. She had no idea Kiku felt _that_ worthless. "And you're also smart, courageous," she could see the protest arising, so she quickly continued, "– yes, you are! You're trying to face everyone and you are changing. In your own pace. Your cooking is awesome, you're a marvellous archer – or so I believe. You're learning about basketball and you're absolutely adorable, cute and beautiful. You're not _nothing_. So stop underestimating yourself, my dear. None of my friends is worthless; never forget that, 'kay?" She ruffled Kiku's hair.

Kiku had to blink the tears away. "…You've had a crazy week, shared that stuff with Aomine-san, and you're still encouraging _me_?" She asked in disbelief.

The redhead grinned. "Sounding all cool… It helps me too. And well… Aomine hugged me today." She mumbled. "I'm not sure what to do now. So thinking about something else helps me keep my mind occupied."

All Kiku's personal drama was forgotten and her eyes widened. "What?! Aomine-san did what? _The_ Aomine-san?!"

"Uhm… yeah. You know the guy. Tall, tanned, hot, sitting behind me… Why?"

Kiku rolled her eyes at the explanation. _True, I asked the stupid question…_ "Well… I mean, he's super scary. Frowning all the time…"

"Is he? I guess he frowns a lot, but I've never found him scary."

"Because you're similar." She muttered under her breath. "Did he confess or something?"

"What? Of course not. Nothing like that. I guess he just wanted to comfort me somehow. He's not good with words… But I have to admit, he found the best way to show that he cares. And now I'm a bit confused. We have to work on that project… That's gonna be super awkward…"

"You really do like him." She smiled softly at her friend. "It's the two of you. You'll handle it, playing all tough and uninterested I believe." Usually, she wouldn't tease Aya, but she couldn't help it this time.

"Yeah, right." Aya rolled her eyes. "Tough and uninterested, huh? I'm not sure I want that…" _But jumping into things won't make it any better…_

* * *

 **A/N:** I hope I didn't overdo it (as usual), and that Aomine is in the character! I wondered about it a lot really, but then again, I think he might be the type to freeze up a bit when things get out of his control, well soo... :) He recovers quickly though. :)

Let me know what you think but remember, reviews are appreciated but never necessary.

-S.


	31. Chapter 31: Black out

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone who followed, favourited and reviewed! It makes me really happy!

I can't believe it's been a year since I started posting this fic. I'm really thankful for all your support and patience :) There are some more chapters until we get to the Interhigh but... I hope it will be worthwhile. I'm sorry if I'm dragging the story too much, I just like all the side characters and so on...

Enjoy! :)

* * *

 _I still get nightmares. In fact, I get them so often I should be used to them by now. I'm not. No one ever really gets used to nightmares. ― **Mark Z. Danielewski,**_ ** _House of Leaves_**

 _Who am I kidding? I have no reason for being here other that the fact that I want to be near her. ― **Simone Elkeles**_

 _It's not possible to experience constant euphoria, but if you're grateful, you can find happiness in everything. – **Pharrell Williams**_

 _Love is friendship that has caught fire. It is quiet understanding, mutual confidence, sharing and forgiving. It is loyalty through good and bad times. It settles for less than perfection and makes allowances for human weaknesses. – **Ann Landers**_

 _Dance is the hidden language of the soul of the body. – **Martha Graham**_

* * *

The next morning she arrived at school sooner than usual. She'd had a poor, intermittent sleep, waking up every couple of minutes, so there was no point in prolonging her misery. She felt much better after the hug and all, but as the anniversary of their mother was approaching the occasional nightmares were becoming more frequent, more vicious.

It surprised her when she saw Aomine already leaning against the changing room's door, waiting for whomever had the key. Seeing him the first thing in the morning made her feel better. A smile appeared on her face when she approached him.

"Mornin'." She greeted him. "So you're coming to morning practises too?"

He shrugged. "Couldn't sleep properly." A yawn escaped him. He'd spend the night replaying the hug and the peck he'd received and thinking of a way to deal with Aya in everyday school life.

"Me neither." She was looking him up and down, feeling self-conscious and strangely out of place. How was she supposed to behave? ' _Tough and uninterested', huh? Not quite possible…_

Jumping to the conclusion that her lack of sleep was because of him would be way too convenient and he already knew better. "Bad dreams?" He asked even though there was no indication of that.

But her reaction confirmed his guess.

Her eyes snapped at him in surprise. She'd expected some sort of teasing... Taiga had spilled something about her nightmares to the team the other day, but to think that Aomine had remembered was presumptuous. She nodded after a moment and answered truthfully.

"And they'll get even worse… I either need to exhaust myself to the point of passing out or get drunk to have a dreamless night." She commented with an exasperated sigh and a crooked smile. "Or possibly both."

"What do you dream about?" He asked carefully, not sure how far he could push the subject.

She hesitated and avoided his gaze. She didn't want to talk about this, but the sooner she gave him some answer the sooner it would be over. "Mom's death… most of the time. That kid sometimes. Burning alive or drowning… There's lot of weird things… Uhm… Anyways! I have the key, if you want to go get changed." The key jingled as she pulled it out of her bag, clearly signalling that the dream talk was over.

"Wanna play some one-on-one?" He asked when she unlocked the door for him.

She blinked at him. "To hear that from _you_ … Sure, why not? I need to exhaust myself, remember?" She chuckled and vanished into the girls' changing room. _So he is being considerate all of the sudden…_

######

No one was really surprised when they found their ace and their manager playing one-on-one in the gym. It was strangely calming to see them acting fine around each other again. After the match against Seirin they were all worried.

"Good to see you full of energy!" Katsunori called out to them, interrupting Aya's rhythm and making her miss. Well, not that she could make it with Aomine as her opponent.

"Sure. Thanks for you assistance." She muttered sarcastically.

"You're welcome." He answered with half smirk, not fazed by her retort. He assembled them in a line. "As you all know, in two weeks, just before the summer break you have the final exams. Because of that, we'll hold a practise on Saturday and Sunday, and I'll give you the next week practise-free, in order for you to study." He watched all boys carefully. "For participation in the Interhigh, I need you _all_ to pass. You too, Kano. I won't be able to excuse you from the remedial classes this time."

"Hai!" The boy shouted guiltily. "I'll study hard! Promise!"

"I hope so." Then he looked at Aya. "If you have any other projects unfinished, I recommend you to finalise them as soon as possible."

She nodded. "You don't have to look at me specifically, we'll manage just fine."

"So I heard." He nodded and shifted his gaze on Aomine, who nodded slightly.

######

"Aya! Wanna play some more basket during lunch?" Kano asked cheerfully. An involuntary glance at Aomine escaped her and she didn't manage to hide it. A wide grin appeared on Kano's face. "Well, we don't want to be a bother… right?" He turned to his friends.

"What?!" She snapped at him. "It's not like that! I just…"

With a timid smile, Kiku patted her shoulder. "There's no escaping." She said teasingly.

"Oh, go to hell, all of you." Aya rolled her eyes; of course everyone was jumping into conclusion. And by the corner of her eye, she could see Aomine turning his face away and acting like he wasn't there. "I'm just tired, okay? I didn't sleep well." She admitted.

"Excuses, excuses." Kano shook his head in pretended disappointment, but Kiku frowned.

The little girl knew much more about Aya than the boys. And she certainly didn't like the sound of that. She watched Aya with concern and then she grabbed Kano's forearm. "Excuses or not, wouldn't it be nice of us to give 'em some privacy?"

"Just go already." Aya groaned in exasperation, but winked at the girl in understanding.

"Hai, hai~" Kano sang and the three of them departed, leaving Sakurai to his absent minded drawing, and the two, now flushed, teammates to their own business.

"They're annoying." Aomine muttered.

"And it can only get worse…" _We aren't even dating…_ "So?"

"Rooftop?"

She nodded. "Rooftop." They took their lunches and walked out off the classroom.

"Tell me, what business is between you and Katsu?" She ambushed Aomine the moment they stepped onto his rooftop to eat their lunches. She'd been wondering about it the whole morning.

"Nothing much." He shrugged and sat down, leaning against the wall.

Her eyes narrowed at him. "I'm not stupid. What was the meaning of that project talk? I know he knows we've done near nothing to write it yet… Now that I think about it… How come you haven't forgotten?"

He shot her a sideways glare, not answering. His expression gave out that he was insulted.

"Okay, okay, sorry." She chuckled. "But… It's not like you to remember homework."

He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, staring at his food. "Uhm… Actually… I have a page or two written down already."

There was a long silence. Then she leaned to him, touched his forehead and nodded seriously. "No fever. That's good."

He blinked at the sudden proximity and frowned at her. She was just teasing him. "Would you stop it?" He shoved her hand away.

"I'm shocked. Doing homework is like waaaay out of your character, no?"

He thought about it for a moment. "True," he shrugged and smirked, "but I like history." _And I'm doing it to help you._

"That's new… But I s'pose I should've noticed that you have better results from history than from any other subject." She took several bites and then lowered her bento; she didn't feel like eating more. "Still… what's your business with Katsu?"

"You won't let it slide, will ya?"

"No."

"…Not telling." He had to look away to fight off a blush threatening to heat up his face.

She sighed, "Whatever, I tried…", and looked at the slowly passing clouds. "So? When are we going to work on the project together? I can't let you do the entire thing."

"When do you have enough time?"

"Not this week or weekend. The work has piled up while I was away…"

"Next weekend then?"

"That's way too late, but we don't have much of a choice. It should work. And where are we gonna do it?"

 _It…_ He stared at her with a cocky smirk and a raised eyebrow.

"The project! What else could there be?" She filled in immediately, her cheeks heating up. "And there you were freezing up after a peck on the forehead." She grumbled under her nose.

He heard and it made him flush slightly too. "Wha-? That was… an underhanded attack from you."

 _Good to know._ She thought, not daring to say it out loud. "Okay, where are we going to work on the history project?" She asked specifying everything.

"You can come over to my place… if it's okay with you." He shrugged, he had books relating the topic at home and he didn't feel like going to school on the weekend when he didn't have to. Plus his mother had been nagging him she'd wanted to meet Aya and he knew his parents would be at home… "My parents will be at home…" He added just in case.

Going to Aomine's place and meeting his parents… _When did it turn out like this?_ She was hesitating, but then she nodded. _Can't hurt…_ "Fine but uh…"

"But?"

"Do they know?"

"Know what?" He asked without thinking, even though he could read the question in her eyes. He hesitated and that hesitation gave him out. He couldn't lie his way out anymore. "Yeah." He mumbled. "I kind of…" His voice trailed off guiltily.

She exhaled sharply and closed her eyes. She didn't like the idea, but she talked with Taiga about everything too. So for Aomine to talk with his parents; it wasn't strange at all.

"Fair enough. Uhm… Are they okay with it?" She asked quietly.

"They are a policeman and a nurse… There's not many things they haven't seen." He gave her a small reassuring smile, his ever present frown fading away. "And hey… They are _my_ parents, which means they can handle _me_."

She liked that unusually soft expression he had right now. "That's sure comforting."

His eyes zoomed on her half-eaten lunch. "You not going to eat that?"

"I'm not that hungry." She chuckled and handed it over to him. "Help yourself."

* * *

 _"You sure you don't want to go to sleep?"_ Taiga asked her sleepily, rubbing his stomach. _"You've been up for three days straight, it's not healthy."_

Aya turned on her chair to face him. _"The work won't do itself, Mr. worrywart."_ She said with a sigh and rubbed her eyes. _"Besides I don't want to sleep."_

 _"But you **need** to sleep."_ He grunted and shuffled to her bed, where he stretched himself.

 _"I'll sleep when I pass out from exhaustion. That way I won't dream about anything, okay?"_

He yawned. _"I'd say okay, but you won't be at home during the weekend. What if you pass out in the middle of the practise and injure yourself? And what if someone calls you an ambulance? I doubt you'd like to wake up in a hospital…"_

 _"I'll last during those two more days."_

 _"I'll call Katsu if you don't take at least 20 minute nap now."_ He warned her.

She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. _"You're a terrible brother, you know it?"_

Taiga knew she was giving in, so he moved to the wall and patted the bed beside him. _"Yeah, I love you too, and you're welcome."_

She shot him a glare, but crawled into the bed. _"Wake me up in 20 mi-"_ She was cold before finishing the sentence.

Taiga chuckled and shook his head. " _'I don't want to sleep'_ , huh? Hai, hai. You need to leave for the morning practise in an hour anyways…"

######

"Aaaah, weekend practises are such a pain." Kano whined as he dragged himself there, accompanied by Naito and Ishii.

"Did you have a date planned or something?" Ishii asked teasingly, knowing that he was the only one of the three who actually had a girlfriend.

"He won't ever find a girlfriend." Naito uttered dryly. "Not with that stupid hairstyle."

"WHAT?! What's wrong with my hairstyle? Girls like longer hair!"

"Where in the world did you get that from?" Ishii asked with a raised eyebrow.

"What does it matter?!" He tried to defend himself, but then he gave up. "You know what?! I'll ask Aya-chan!"

Aomine's barking laughter reached them from behind. He didn't feel like joining their little group, but he heard everything. "I want to see that."

All three turned on their heels to stare at the ace incredulously.

"Aomine? Why are you here on Saturday?" Ishii asked.

Aomine yawned and shrugged. "Why not?"

"Wanna see Aya-chan riiiight~?" Kano teased.

The teasing was starting to get on his nerves, so he decided to change his attitude. "And what if I say yes?" He asked with his typical smirk.

Kano just blinked at him. He surely hadn't expected Aomine to agree. "Really?" He blurted in surprise, which made Naito sigh in annoyance.

"Loss of words?" He jabbed his childhood friend. "I want to see you asking Aya-chan about the hair though. Well… If you have the balls to actually ask her."

"Urgh! You're so mean to me!"

Naito wasn't fazed by the accusation in the slightest. He just shrugged. "You're making it easy for me."

######

Aya was a few minutes late, so she ran into the gym. She wasn't paying much attention to her surroundings as her mind was still going over the presentation she'd prepared for their father. "Hey! Sorry I'm la–"

A stray ball laying on the ground tangled under her legs and she braced herself for the harsh impact.

Aomine being the closest to her and seeing her course took a few steps and caught her around her waist to stop her fall. For a moment she was completely hanging on his forearm.

"– Urgh." She let out a grunt, immediately gripping Aomine's arm to steady herself. "Thanks." She muttered with a blush as he set her back on feet.

"Watch your step, clumsy." He smirked at her, but it surprised him how her muscles tightened and how she curled herself around his arm to soften the impact. For her, it was probably an instinctual reaction engraved by the years of practise.

With an eye roll she looked up at him. "Very funny." Despite his smirk and the usual air of arrogance, he had a slight concern in his eyes.

'You okay?' He asked wordlessly; he'd caught her pretty harshly after all.

She stared at him for a moment. Was it just her delusion, or was Aomine Daiki softening up? That he came to the weekend practise was a miracle of the greatest level. 'I guess.' She nodded slightly and tried to read out his reasons for helping her, instead of laughing at her fall.

Their staring got a bit too long and a bit awkward for everyone in the gym. With a smirk Imayoshi approached them. "Have you seen each other for the first time?"

Aya blinked at the captain. "Ah? No… Wait, what?" She shook her head confusedly and blushed slightly. _Urgh… Keep it together for god's sake!_

He chuckled. "Nothing at all. If you're fine, let's start the practise."

"Yeah, sure. Sorry."

Imayoshi shook his head amusedly and ran towards Tada and Susa. "They have it bad~"

Tada rolled his eyes. "Just leave them be, you sly fox."

"I'm not plotting anything, Tada-kun. It's nice seeing them flying on their high cloud like that." He said in a pleasant tone but then he frowned. "Let's just hope Aomine won't lose his edge in a game."

"You're painting the devil on the wall here, captain. If anything, she makes him come to practises, which means he is getting even better."

"But she's also feeding that soft spot he still has."

"I don't think it's a bad thing. Thanks to that he is somewhat helping Kano and Arai to get better."

Imayoshi didn't mind the growing affection between the two, as long as Aomine wouldn't start losing his demeanour.

######

"Haaa… I'm tired." Aya sighed when she slumped onto the bench after practise.

Tada sat next to her and handed her a water bottle. "You don't have to run around with us, Aya-chan, you know that right?"

She took it gratefully and smiled. "I want to. Besides, it's not that terrible."

"Well, I must admit you don't fail to surprise me with your stamina and agility." He smiled at her encouragingly. Their managers were cute, but he liked Aya a bit more, and no one would kill him for a little innocent flirting. Aya had eyes only for Aomine after all.

She laughed. "Keep your compliments to yourself, will you, senpai? Or I might grow wings and fly away from all the praise."

"Didn't you want to ask Aya-san something?" Naito asked his friend casually, making sure that Aya would hear it too.

"Hm?" She turned her head to the first years.

"Kano here wanted to ask you something this morning, if I'm correct." Naito said with a perfect poker face and nudged Kano.

"What is it?" She turned her gaze to Kano, who blushed immediately.

"Ah… that's… No… It's nothing. Real nothing." He stammered, shaking his head desperately. _Traitor!_ He felt mortified.

She frowned. "Uhm… Did something happen?"

"No, no, no. It's just… Shouhei is an idiot. Forget it." Kano pouted biting the inside of his cheek to fight off the embarrassing blush.

She stared at him for a moment and then shrugged. "If you say so. Buuut… feel free to ask whatever. If you want."

"No, no. It's really nothing important."

"I knew you wouldn't have the balls to actually ask." Aomine teased when Satsuki let him go after another long lecture of how to not slack off.

Aya's eyes ran from one to another. "Seriously now. What's going on?"

"It's nothing! Really! Get off my back already!" Kano snapped and stomped away.

"Now you've done it Shouhei." Ishii was shaking his head dejectedly. "Hideki rarely gets angry."

"Oh please. It's such a stupidity really…"

"Will anyone tell me what was this all about?" Aya asked desperately searching for any indication of some explanation.

Aomine shrugged. "Something about what hairstyle girls like or not. Hmmmm… Whether the girls like longer hair or what. Right?" He asked nonchalantly and turned to the two friends, now staring at him in utmost surprise, for confirmation. He didn't feel anything about asking such a trivial thing. It'd never interested him and it was Aya. She was fine with all weird questions and if she didn't want to answer she could avoid it easily.

"Errr.. Yeah, I guess." Naito nodded. They wanted to tease Kano, but they wouldn't have asked either. And there he was, nonchalantly doing just that.

"Naito-kun speechless." Aya chuckled. "I didn't think that was possible."

He cleared his throat and blushed at losing his composure like that. "So?"

"So what? Wanna know if girls like longer hair?"

They both nodded. Aomine slumped to the bench next to Tada and they both watched the exchange in a silent amusement.

Aya burst out laughing. "You teased Hideki for _that_? While you both actually wanna know too? That's mean!"

"We need to tease him a bit. And he isn't making it particularly difficult." Ishii pointed out.

"He won't find a girlfriend with that bed head full of hairpins." Naito added dryly.

"Hey! That's just mean. And not true, Naito. You don't have to like his style, because you're not dating him, right?" She gave him one of her annoyed glares. "I don't know what _girls_ like, I can speak for myself, and I think his hairstyle suits him. So stop teasing him, you're not kids anymore."

"So you like longer hair?" Naito asked teasingly.

"I haven't said that. I don't have a preference on that front. Depends whether it suits the person or not." She shrugged. "But it feels awesome when you can dive your fingers into your man's hair~… or pull at it~" She added with a foxy smirk.

"Aya-chan!" Tada gasped, acting totally scandalized. "An innocent girl saying something so suggestive with such a straight face. Tcs, tcs, tcs."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "You have no right to be judging anyone, senpai."

Tada smirked in agreement and bowed his head to her. Then they both stared at flushed Naito and Ishii, and started laughing again.

"Someone's in a good mood~" Imayoshi strolled to the bunch. Most of the boys were gone already, and he'd gotten curious.

"Sure we are, captain. Just one more day of practise and we'll have a study week." Tada answered him with a smile. He didn't need to drag Imayoshi into their previous conversation. "Is there anything you need?"

"I wanted to discuss the summer training camp with Aya-chan."

"I haven't discussed it with Satsuki yet, so I don't want to say anything. Buuut… I have an idea already." She smiled at the captain.

"Tell me whenever you want. Do you at least have a date? So those of us who are living in the campus can plan their trips home and back?"

"I'm leaving right after the Interhigh, and I'll be back on 22nd August. So… We were thinking some late August. 20th to 27th maybe? And I'll join you a bit later? Or according to my situation."

"Sounds good. Can we get to planning it next week?"

"Wednesday after school?"

"Deal, Aya-chan~ I'll come to fetch you with Wakamatsu then."

"Sure thing."

######

The exchange between Aya and Tada was weighting on his mind, so instead of running off, Aomine decided to stay a bit longer and wait for her. Well, technically he was waiting for Satsuki, but the pinkette disappeared to gods knew where. And so, he was leaning against the wall near the changing rooms and staring into nowhere.

When Aya came out, she was too immersed in typing some message on her phone, so she wasn't paying any attention to her surroundings. Aomine didn't do anything to alert her of his presence. He was actually enjoying the view. The hot and humid weather meant a trend of less clothes and more bare skin, and Aya wasn't an exception.

Because it was the weekend she left her school uniform at home and gladly wore a short denim shorts and a loose linen shirt with rolled up sleeves. She tucked the front of the shirt into the shorts and left the top few buttons opened up. In combination with her long messy French braid and the boyish ring around her neck she was an image of leisure and a bit of mischief.

Aomine could contently stare at her for the entire day and he wouldn't get tired of it. He liked her style, he liked the way she walked, heck he liked the entire her. But when he thought he might not have been the only one…

"What was that about?"

"Shit!" She gasped and the phone jumped out of her hands.

It was Aomine who managed to catch it before it could crash down.

"Careful, Sweetheart." He said with a smirk as he handed her the phone. By the corner of his eye he tried to check out what she was typing, but the only thing he noticed was that it was some kind of a list.

She yanked the phone out of his hand and glared at him. "Do you have to sneak up on me?!"

"I wasn't sneaking up on you. It's not my fault you're daydreaming."

"About you of course." She said venomously. "And what was what about?"

He raised an eyebrow at her biting reaction. "The flirting with Tada."

"Huh?" She blinked at him in shock. Anger flashed in her reddish eyes, but she explained herself nonetheless. "I was in a good mood, and Tada-senpai is actually cool with something like that. He won't get the wrong idea."

"It sure looked that way." He muttered sarcastically before she could finish whatever she wanted to say.

"And what's that to you anyways?!" She flared up, the lack of sleep and work stress taking their toll on her. "It's not like we're dating or anything. And jealousy scenes are **_not_** something I need right now."

"Tch, yeah, right. Not like I'd get jealous."

"For that you'd have to care enough." She barked, and regretted it immediately when she noticed the hurt which flashed on Aomine's face, and which he hid behind his frowning mask and dangerous glare. "Sorry, I didn't mean…"

"Whatever. I don't care anyways." He shrugged looking somewhere in front of him. Her comment served like a good aimed slap. It hurt. He had no idea that Aya would take his question so badly, when she'd had so much patience with him before. Her apology sounded sincere, but essentially, she was right. They weren't dating or anything; her flirting was none of his business, though he sure hated witnessing it.

She took a breath to say something more, but her phone rang.

"What?!" She barked at whoever it was on the other side. "I'll send you the list when I can. Can't you wait a bit more?! It's not like the order won't wait." After a second she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Oh god… I'm so, so sorry, Hiroto. I just… Yeah, I'm still at school. The practise has just ended and… … Mhm, sure. Give me two more hours, please. I'll ask Taiga if he wants something specific when I get home. … Yes, definitely. I'm sorry for delaying your order. … Thanks, you're great. Bye."

She drove her fingers through her hair and sighed desperately. "I'm an idiot. A complete idiot." She let out a disgruntled whisper.

Then she looked up to Aomine who was observing her by the corner of his eye. "To you too. I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have said that and not in that tone." She bowed her head slightly. "I'm kinda out of it, 'kay? I'm happy for any jokes and friendly distractions now, so yes, Tada-senpai and the trio were the suns of the day for me."

He was considering her apology, and then he decided he didn't want to argue with Aya and nodded in acceptance. "What's going on?" He asked.

"Hiroto is ordering alcohol for his bar, and he asked me to give him a list of what we want. Well… I was supposed to send it to him yesterday, but I had no time to think it out properly let alone to finish it. I know what I want, but then there's Taiga, and what Katsu might want when he comes over or the others… Too many things and different tastes to consider and I just didn't make it in time. And then I had the nerve to get angry at him… What do I say? I'm an idiot." She rambled out her explanation, as if the previous little fight had never happened.

He blinked at her; her mood- and self-control were crazy. _I didn't actually mean **that** but oh well… I'll ask again later._ "You order yourselves alcohol?"

"Legally, it's not quite possible, but Hiroto does it for us." She shrugged nonchalantly.

He raised an eyebrow at her, the fact surprised him indeed and he must've made some disapproving grimace because, she sighed and deepened her answer.

"Yeah, yeah, you can legally drink here when you're 21." She rolled her eyes. "But come on! My other grandparents own wine yards and a self-sufficient farm in France. We've been tasting wines since we were 7. As long as we're not getting drunk or drink on daily basis, which we're not, it's fine. And a good food with a good wine is priceless after a long difficult day. Honestly… I'm surprised that _you_ disapprove, out of all people…"

"I haven't said anything."

"You didn't have to." She muttered.

"Aya-chaaaan! Aomine-kuuun! Wait for meeeee!" Satsuki's voice reached them and they stopped at the school gate, where they'd wait for her anyways. "Haaaaa…." She bent forward to catch a breath when she finally caught up with them.

"Maybe you should start working out." Aomine suggested mockingly. "You're way to slow, Satsuki, and have a terrible stamina."

"A-and you're mean!" She puffed her cheeks. "What were you talking about?" She asked, but didn't give them a chance to answer – she expected them to lie anyways. "I hope it was the ice-cream shop at the station! They opened it right next to that café we went to the other day! It should belong to the cafeteria if I have the right info!"

"And what's with the ice-cream shop?" Aya asked, not quite understanding what the pinkette was getting at.

"What is… Is that we're gonna check it out tomorrow after practise!" She announced with a sparkly eyes.

"Uuuhm… I have some other plans already. Like sleeping and sleeping." Aya said with an apologetic smile.

"Only for a few minutes Aya-chan! Pretty please! And Aomine-kun's coming too!"

"What?!" He barked at his friend. "I'm going straight home too."

"No you're coming with us!" She said in a commanding tone and puffed her cheeks again. "We need to discuss the summer training camp before speaking with Imayoshi-taichou, and we need your insight!"

"Tch. I don't even need to go there."

"That's what we need to talk about. We need some motivation for you, so… You're coming."

"Tch." He rolled his eyes, but didn't protest further. Once Satsuki decided something like this, he would either bail with a slight remorse, or survive a terrible few minutes with her until he'd bail without any remorse. And if Kagami was going to be there, he could survive those few minutes.

"Great! So you're coming too, right, Aya-chan?"

She sighed and smiled at the pinkette. "Sure. I'll go."

* * *

"Are you really okay?" Katsunori asked her again, when she'd wavered during a mini game again. It wasn't usual for Aya as a point guard to miss a free pass, or to confuse her teammates. And there was a moment when she'd looked ready to collapse. But being a Kagami, and being her, she laughed it off as 'tripping over her own legs'.

Such a thing didn't happen to Aya. And Katsunori knew it better than anyone.

"Yes. Sorry. My mistake." She apologised with a shallow bow.

"Could you please come and take notes for a moment? I need Satsuki to go refill the bottles."

"Ah, I can go and do it. Let Satsuki deal with the notes." She ran off the court, swapping with Naito, and went to grab the bottles. "And I'm really fine, Katsu."

"You don't have to play it 'fine' with me, you know that right? I think I know you pretty well."

She frowned. No, Katsu didn't know her that well yet, and there was only one person, who could possibly tell Katsu to keep an eye on her. "Taiga?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

Katsunori sighed and pulled at his fringe. "… Taiga." He admitted begrudgingly.

"Traitor." She muttered. "Tell him to mind his own business the next time."

"He is just worried for you, Robin. So am I. You need to rest." He said softly.

She couldn't be angry when he was talking to her in such a consoling and calm voice. And he used her nickname. Yes, it was definitely the nickname's fault. "Okay." She sighed. "I'll go refill the bottles, and then I'll be taking notes with Satsuki."

"And you'll rest when you get home." He added.

"Promise." She said with a smile and headed out.

######

"I am so looking forward to that ice-cream shop!" Satsuki exclaimed blissfully, while they were changing.

Aya had to agree with her. The weather was surprisingly hot and humid during the weekend. "We deserve a treat after the entire week of nonstop practising."

"And working! In your case." Satsuki added with a frown. She'd noticed Aya's well hidden fatigue and despite her own excitement, she didn't want her friend to force herself. "Are you sure you don't want to go home and sleep it off?"

"No. I can handle a few more hours. Anyways… We need to plan the camp. _And_ you got Aomine into it too, we can't disappoint him."

" _You_ can't, you mean?" The pinkette teased her.

"Not you too." She groaned in exasperation and pulled her A-style short dress over her head. "We're friends, okay?"

"You sure give him a special treatment for being 'just friends'. And you wear a dress!"

Aya frowned at her. "What's wrong with the dress? Is finally warm enough for me to wear them and they're my favourite too." In the morning she ran to school in her sportswear and she wasn't really thinking when she stuffed the change of clothes into her bag.

"Nothing at all. They suit you."

"I wouldn't have bought them if they hadn't." She chuckled and pulled a tight piece of sleeve over her left shoulder to hide the scar. It was in the same colour as the dress, and even if people stared at it, it was still better than showing off the scar itself.

Suddenly her world spun and she tried to blink it away. The exhaustion she thought she could handle for a few more hours was knocking on the door. _Oh, come on! At least keep awake long enough to get home!_ She bit the inside of her cheek, as if the pain could help her fight the piled up fatigue and exhaustion.

"What ice-cream are you gonna try?" Satsuki asked, but Aya could barely hear her.

"I…" She tried to answer, but she felt too tired to finish the sentence. Too tired to move, or do anything.

Her world went black and she fell asleep on her feet. She couldn't hold it back anymore. It was like someone had switched her off. A sudden black out.

######

"Aomine-kuuun!" Satsuki ran to the school gate, where he was waiting for them.

"Huh? Where's Kagami?" He asked, because they were supposed to leave together. He had a bad feeling about this.

"Th-That's the thing." She wheezed and bent forward to catch her breath. She so wasn't used to sprinting that fast. _Maybe I really should start practising a bit…_ She thought bitterly. "A-aya-chan pa-passed out in the changing room, haaa, and I c-can't wake her up." She stammered out in panicky voice. She was close to tears.

His heart missed a beat and he wasn't sure what scared him more: Satsuki's panic or the actual situation. "What?!" He didn't wait for the further explanation. With Satsuki trying to keep up with him, he ran towards the changing rooms. They were the last ones left there.

He yanked the door open and saw Aya lying on the floor, curled on her side. In a second he was at her side checking if she was all right. His mother had taught him the basic first aid, and how to check if the person was stabilised enough. But… Satsuki should've known too.

"What happened?!" He barked at wheezing Satsuki.

"I-I don't know! She was talking with me normally, and the next second she went to the ground!" And she'd panicked. "I barely managed to catch her so she wouldn't hit her head."

Aomine forced himself to take a deep breath and calm down. Panic wouldn't help them. "She seems to be just sleeping." He said in a more composed voice.

"S-should we call an ambulance or something?"

"…" After a moment of thought he shook his head. "She told me something about tiring herself out to the point of passing out. So if she didn't hit her head…"

"Are you listening to yourself?! There might be something seriously wrong with her?!"

"Stop yappin'! That's not helping." He boomed at her.

Satsuki flinched at the commanding voice.

He made an apologetic grimace almost immediately. "Call her brother, if you have a need to call someone. You have his number, right? He might know if this is fine or not… And put him on the speaker when you're at it."

Satsuki was shaking her head in disbelief. "How can you be so calm, dammit?! It's Aya-chan!"

"Phone! Now!" He reminded her. His insides were tight with worry and helplessness. He had no idea how to help her now, but he knew that panicking would definitely not help her. With clenched fists, he focused on counting the rings of the call.

Taiga picked up on the fourth ring. _"So she finally passed out?"_ He asked immediately without any greeting.

"Eh?! How do you know?!" Satsuki's eyes almost bulged out.

 _"First of all… Calm down, Satsuki. She hasn't slept more than 20 minutes a day for the past five days. She was expecting it, I just hoped she wouldn't cause anyone a heart attack with that switch off of hers."_ His voice sounded a bit tight. _"She didn't fell off the stairs or anything dramatic, right?"_

"N-no. She fell in the changing rooms. I-I managed to catch her, before she could hit her head."

Taiga let out a sigh of relief. He was worried when he saw Satsuki's number on the display. _"That's fine then. She just needs to sleep."_

"Uhm… Does it happen often?" Satsuki asked, finally feeling a bit better, but not less worried. "Shouldn't I call an ambulance? Just in case–"

 _"No! Definitely no ambulance! Aya'd kill you for that."_ He sounded very persuasive, almost terrified by the idea of an ambulance. _"Look… It happens. Sometimes… Very rarely… But it's **the** bad time of the year for us… And the past two weeks were crazy for Aya. Anyways, where am I supposed to come get her? I don't think you can drag her home without hurting yourself." _He chuckled at the idea of Satsuki struggling with Aya's dead weight.

"Ah… You don't have to. Aomine-kun is waiting for us. I can ask him to help me."

There was a pause. _"I don't like the idea of him coming over, but… It'd be quicker I s'pose… But! He'd better not do anything to her while she's helpless!"_

Aomine rolled his eyes at that. "Tch, I wouldn't take an advantage of an unconscious girl, idiot. There's no fun in that." He barked at Taiga.

 _"Hah?! You there?"_

"Greetings." He said cockily.

 _"Glad to hear you're sane."_ Taiga commented, and they could literally see his eye-roll.

Aomine sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. He wasn't in the mood to argue with Taiga, while Aya was passed out (read: sleeping on the floor). "I'll get the idiot home safely. Bye, big-bro." He said irritably and hung up.

######

 _Shit…_ Taiga rubbed his face desperately and slumped onto the couch.

Satsuki had called him right when he was about to check up on Aya. He'd had a strange feeling and needed to hear her… _The twin thing is really creepy._ He stared at the black screen of his phone for a moment, not believing what he'd heard and how calm he'd managed to sound.

"You're crazy Aya. Worrying everyone like that!" He let out and shook his head. "I shouldn't have let you go to that practise. Dammit!"

He threw the phone into the pile of cushions, got up and started pacing around the room like a caged tiger. The only good thing about this situation was the fact that it was Satsuki and Aomine who were with Aya at the moment. Be it anyone else, she'd probably end up in a hospital and Taiga would've had to do some serious explaining, which neither of the siblings wanted.

If Aya trusted the two enough, he should probably try it too. But Aomine coming over… He didn't feel like seeing his rival at all.

The dinner he'd been making was not important anymore. He had no idea what to do with himself. Waiting like this was the worst. He needed to do something. He stared at the pack of cigarettes Aya'd forgotten on the table, and then he shook his head. He'd never smoked and he wasn't about to start now.

Well… When he paced around it for the third time he grabbed it. _Trying it won't kill me._ He thought and went onto the balcony. He lit one cigarette and inhaled the fumes carefully. The immediate first reaction was cough and tears.

"How can she smoke this?!" He coughed out, but gave it one more try. When it didn't taste better than the first try, he crushed it in an ashtray and continued with his absent minded pacing around the apartment.

######

It'd been some time since he'd last carried someone on his back. He'd sent Satsuki home, or he'd kill her for yapping and worrying. And she'd taken his bag. Otherwise, he had Aya's bag around his neck and Aya herself on his back. She wasn't as heavy as Taiga made it sound. He didn't mind carrying her like that.

People were giving him strange looks, as if he was carrying some corpse, or kidnapping someone, but he ignored them. They knew nothing and no one dared to actually ask him something. And he couldn't blame them; Kagami really wasn't moving or shifting at all. The only thing that indicated she was alive was her calm, sound breathing he could feel on his neck. He didn't mind the feeling, but it didn't change the fact that he worried.

When he reached the apartment building where the twins lived, he was relieved to see at least one familiar face. The old receptionist he'd met some time ago was there, and waving greetings to him the moment he'd noticed him.

"Hello, Aomine-kun, what happened?" Chiba-san asked anxiously, eyeing the two teenagers.

He nodded in greeting. "Err… Kagami kinda fell asleep on her feet. I'm just delivering her home."

The old man dejectedly shook his head. "So her energy ran out…" He sighed. "I've been telling her that for weeks, but would she listen? Of course not. You youngsters risk your health waaay too much."

Daiki had to bite back a retort, "I should take her up."

"Yeah, yeah, Taiga's at home, he'll help you with her. The lift is still not working, but I guess you can take those stairs easily enough." He looked him up and down again, assessing the youngster's muscle stock.

Without any other comment he headed towards the door, hoping that the old receptionist would open it for him. He wasn't good with this small talk and socializing like Aya. He simply wanted to get her home, without any delays. But crawling up the 14 floors with circa 60 kilos of deadweight on his back felt like a never ending ascend. When he finally got up his legs and knees felt like jelly, and his thigh muscles hurt from the effort. It didn't matter that he was the ace of the team in the slightest.

He banged on the door several times, not gently at all.

Taiga yanked it open almost immediately. And before he could even see the guests he said: "I heard. No need to take down the door."

"Then hurry up." Daiki retorted, still catching breath.

"How is she?" He asked, ignoring Aomine's venomous tone.

"Sleeping. I guess…"

"You guess… How reassuring." He said sarcastically and stretched his arms to take Aya off Aomine's back. "That's gonna be some interesting news that _you_ gave her a piggyback ride home…"

Reluctantly, Daiki handed Aya to her brother, who took her in his arms like a little kid. Her legs dangled at Taiga's hips and her head rested against his shoulder. "Okaeri', sleeping lil' devil." He said jokingly but softly at the same time. He had no intention of showing that to Aomine, but he didn't particularly care in the moment. Aya was safe and sound. Just sleeping deeply. "You have no right to scare me like that."

"Mmmhm…" She mumbled and snuggled against Taiga's shoulder. She felt safe and protected. Even in her deep sleep she knew she was home.

"Let's get you to bed." Taiga shook his head and turned to take her into the apartment. "And no drooling on my t-shirt." He added in a warning, not like Aya could oppose.

"Yeah. I'll put her bag in and I'll go." Daiki muttered, surprised by the exchange between the siblings. Besides that one time in the park and when Aya had yelled at them and the changing room exchange, he hadn't seen the twins interact much. And now he felt like a third wheel.

"No. You, come on in." Taiga looked over his shoulder and jerked his head to invite Aomine in.

"Why? I just brought her. No reason to go in."

"I need to talk with you." He said with an eye roll and a lot of self-denial.

His eyebrow shot up in surprise. "Like what about? Can't handle the loss?"

"Yeah, like you can't handle 14 floors with a little baggage." He muttered.

"What?!" Daiki snapped at him.

"You heard. Now get in and close the door." Taiga said in a rather harsh tone and left Aomine in the entry hall.

Daiki blinked at the redhead in surprise. He never expected Taiga to be so commanding, definitely not after he'd beaten him like that. _He is a Kagami, all right…_ He thought and shook his head to get rid of the strange feeling he had.

This time, he stopped by the photos hanging in the corridor for a moment. There was indeed one of the former national team and the two rascals. On that picture he couldn't say which one of the two was Aya; they were that similar. It made him wonder when the _'looking the same'_ period had ended. And he noticed another picture of Aya holding a baby with a tuft of red hair, she couldn't have been older than ten… _Who's that?_

He heard a crashing sound and Taiga's swearing, so he let it out of his head and continued in his way into the kitchen-living-dining-room. When he didn't see either of the twins so he continued into the other corridor, to figure out what had happened.

There were two doors to his right and three to his left, but the only open door where the first to his right. He assumed it was Aya's room. He peeked in just to see Taiga holding his foot and swearing continuously.

"Kicked your pinky toe?" He asked with a short cackle.

"Oh, shut up." Taiga hissed and sat on the edge of Aya's bed.

Daiki leaned against the door frame, not daring to go in uninvited, and stared around. Aya's room was smaller than he'd expect, but it was cozy. She had a huge double bed, big desk, build in wardrobe and several shelves with books. There was some heavy looking wooden box in the middle of the room – probably the source of Taiga's misery, judging by the glare he was sending it.

"But what the hell were you doing moving the box, hah?" He snapped at sleeping Aya, and then sighed and looked at her anxiously.

"You sure she doesn't need to go to a hospital?" Daiki asked a matter of factly. "She didn't hit her head – at least Satsuki claims it – but this is not normal. Even if she said she needed to 'pass out'."

Taiga ran his fingers through his hair and looked at Aomine, who was surprisingly not trying to argue. _Maybe we do have something in common…_ he thought. "I'm not sure at all. But I wouldn't do that to her. She can't handle hospitals. And besides, she just needs a good long dreamless sleep. It's not the first time it happened." He gave her one last glance and got up. "We should let her be." He covered her with a fluffy blanket and left the room, followed by Aomine.

"So?" Daiki asked as he sat on the couch, noticing the package of cigarettes on the coffee table, but not commenting on it. "What do you want to tell me?"

Taiga blinked at him. "Err… That's… Do you want anything?" He sounded a bit strained.

"To go home. Make it quick."

"I really don't get how she can deal with you." He sighed and slumped to the ground opposite Aomine.

"We get along quite well, thanks for the concern, big bro. So?" _Gee' this is awkward._

"For your information, she's the older twin. But that's not important, look…" He was unconsciously playing with the ring hanging on his neck. "Thanks for bringing her home."

In an utmost shock Daiki just managed to nod. He'd expect anything from Taiga, but thanks were the last thing on his list.

"Oi! Don't stare at me as if you saw a ghost." Taiga grumbled awkwardly. "The fact that I'm gonna beat your ass next time doesn't change, but this is about Aya, not us."

"Dream on. But otherwise..." When it wasn't about basketball, Taiga was surprisingly manageable and Daiki felt he could tolerate him without much trouble. The prickly rivalry was there, of course, and he didn't like him, but for these couple of minutes he'd bite his tongue and listen, because he felt there was something Taiga wanted him to know.

Taiga nodded, biting back a retort. "Look, I don't know what exactly you know, or don't know. She decided to trust you with those articles and nightmares stuff, and I trust her, so... I'm glad it was you and Satsuki who found her, otherwise I don't know what I'd do –"

"Yeah, yeah. Enough with the gratitude. I heard that you have a shitty father, and there was something about some driver… from the bartender and Harasawa." He said, so Taiga would know.

He nodded again. "I thought so, but she probably wouldn't tell you that. Anyways, I have a favour to ask of you."

"I'm listening."

"Mom's anniversary is in less than two weeks. July 15th."

Daiki frowned. "We have the presentation of the project on that day."

"I know. She told me… It'll be 8 years, since that day. Look… My sister is tough, she doesn't complain and she can handle about anything, but she hasn't really gotten over that loss. The nightmares are not a daily issue, but they reappear whenever she's distressed or something bad happens, and during this time of the year."

"Why? It's been eight years."

Taiga shot him a glare. "Ask the PTSD or whatever it is. Our mom died in a shooting incident when she was shielding us. And Aya feels it was her fault. She blames herself for dragging her to that place. Even though she knows and understands it's not her fault… in her head, she can't help it. For now at least."

Daiki's eyes widened in shock. Taiga told him what had happened harshly and without any sugar-coating. His mind went instantly blank. "I didn't…"

"Of course you didn't know. It's not something she would announce, right?"

"Why telling me?"

"Because she needs someone to know and at least try to understand. It seems she trusts you the most, so why not? Plus you're arrogant and self-centred enough that you won't start pitying her or walking on eggshells around her."

This time it was him who ran his fingers through his hair. He felt wronged by Taiga's assumption, but he couldn't really blame him. He had behaved like a total trash during their match, after all. "I'm not sure about that. I mean… You've dropped a bomb on me!"

Taiga shrugged. "Someone had to, and she wouldn't want anyone, least of all you, to worry about her."

Daiki frowned, there was something slightly suggestive in Taiga's tone… _Least of all me?_ "And _you_ do?"

"I don't think you have the capacity to worry about anyone but yourself. Besides, you look more like a person now." He smirked, and ignoring Aomine's glare he continued: "That, and she is going over to your place next weekend. That's what the favour is about…"

"And?"

"And I need you to let her stay over for the night. Or maybe two."

"WHAT?!"

"Not like you wouldn't want that… But I have to go for a torturous study session at my coach's place again. From Friday to Sunday, two nights. I don't want her to be home alone."

He snorted. "Don't try to tell me she's afraid to stay home alone."

"No, but if she has one of her worse nightmares, it's better if she isn't home alone. I could ask Katsunori, but he's a teacher and could have problems for it, even if we are family. Hiroto isn't here, Hikaru would probably cause some ruckus and I don't feel like explaining the situation to Satsuki or Kiku, and I don't think they could handle Aya if she had a night terror."

With closed eyes he took a deep breath to align his thoughts. "What exactly is the difference between a nightmare and a night terror?"

"Simply put… If she has a night terror she can very well punch you with her eyes open and not remember a thing when she wakes up. And trust me, she can throw a really good punch."

"Will you explain this to her? Because I have no idea how to do it." He admitted begrudgingly. "And does she even know you won't be at home?"

"I learnt about it today, and as you can see, I can't tell her now… And I don't know. Ask her, maybe she'll agree without further probing."

"Wait… Am I supposed to act that I don't know a thing?"

Taiga rolled his eyes. He'd been doing it a lot while talking with this dumbass. "No. I'll deal with that – she'll try to kill me – but that's nothing new. Just don't tell her this stay-over thing was my idea, or I'll be pushing daises for real."

"No one would miss you."

"Least of all you. So?"

"Yeah, fine! I'll try to lure her into staying over."

"Urgh… You'd better not do anything to her."

"Like what?" With a really dangerous smirk he raised an eyebrow and stared at Taiga, who blushed at the idea of what Aomine might've been thinking about.

"Get lost. Shoo. Out!"

"Oooh… A sister complex?"

"Fuck no! Get your stupid ass outta here. Now!"

"Hai, hai." He cackled shortly and got up to leave. "I can see myself off."

######

Daisuke returned home late at night. The house was eerily quiet and it felt empty. Michiko was at the hospital, but Daiki should've been home. Over the years serving in the army and police force he could feel when he was alone. Maybe it was partly Akari's behaviour that indicated the emptiness of the house; she didn't run off to greet the other two, but remained standing near him.

"What is it girl?" He asked softly. "We're home, go and rest."

Akari looked up at him with her intelligent eyes, sniffed the ground and went to look for Kurome and Shiro. Daisuke followed her to the back porch, where the two other dogs were curled up next to his son, who didn't seem to notice him. They must've been outside for a long time. It was nice and warm, but Daiki seemed to be thinking deeply about something. Daisuke knew that look on his face, he'd seen it so many times during the past year when Daiki'd stopped practising.

"Can I join your brooding?" He asked his son.

"Hm? Oh. Okaeri'." Daiki looked up at him. "I'm not brooding. Just thinking." He said with a shrug and his eyes lingered on his father's gun, still attached to his belt, for a moment.

He took that as an invitation and sat down next to Daiki, leaning against the wall. "Tadaima." He greeted him and watched Akari sprawling over the other two as if she was saying 'I'm back!'. Shiro made a sound of displease, she'd felt so comfortable before Akari jumped on her.

"You missed mom by two hours." Daiki announced him.

"Yeah, I was held up at work. An old lady lost her little granddaughter who ran off by the river. You can imagine the shock and panic she was in."

"Did you find her?"

"Akari did. The girl climbed a tree and was too afraid to get down, so she was crying up there for several hours… But I had to take the old lady home and explain the situation to her daughter and then the paperwork. Sometimes I think we should just give the paperwork to the criminals, it would be punishment enough."

Daiki chuckled curtly at the idea. But he couldn't help thinking about Aya. _Was she ever scared of climbing trees?_ He wondered. There were so many things he still didn't know.

Daisuke wasn't sure if it was wise to ask his son anything, but he was burning with curiosity. "What happened that you're _thinking_ on the porch in the middle of the night?" There were two possible options of Daiki's reaction: 1. He'd get up and leave. 2. He'd actually answer. Daisuke hoped for the option no.2.

There was a moment silence. "Have you… uh… seen anyone die?" He asked carefully, in a softer voice than usual.

He blinked in surprise. "… Why'd you ask?"

"Forget it." Daiki snapped immediately and started getting up, but his father's hand grabbed his wrist and pulled him back down.

"No need to overreact, Daiki. If I answer your question, will you tell me your reasons of asking it?" He'd never had this conversation with his son. When Daiki'd been a kid, he'd admired him but he'd never asked questions this serious, and Daisuke'd been glad for that. Because he wasn't sure he wanted his son to know everything yet. But he also knew that Daiki wouldn't have asked without a good reason.

With a sigh he nodded and waited for his father to answer. He hoped it would be something deeper than 'yes' or 'no'.

"Yes I have. Couple of times, and it's never easy to deal with. If you want to know something specific, you'd have to ask directly."

Daiki blinked at his father. There was an edge in his voice indicating that he didn't want to have this conversation, which made Daiki even more curios. "It's..." He sighed and drove his fingers through his short hair. Without explaining the situation, he wouldn't get a proper answer. "… Kagami's mother died… in a shooting… shielding them. Uh… the twins. She's still having nightmares… I just… I don't think I can understand."

 _Be glad you can't..._ "… and she told you that?"

He snorted. "No. 'f course not. Her brother told me when I carried her home after she'd fallen asleep after the practise. He said something about Aya blaming herself… The anniversary is in less than two weeks… He wants me to let her stay over the next weekend, because he is going to study with his friends and he doesn't want her to be home alone. What do I do?" He explained, feeling that it was the longest speech of his life.

"Those two sure don't treat you with gloves. But I guess no one treated them with gloves either. What do you want to do?" Maybe all Daiki needed at the moment was to talk about it, and not getting answers.

"I don't mind her staying over…. If it's fine with you, but I don't know how to ask her without making a fool out of myself." A blush of embarrassment creeped onto his cheeks... Why the hell was he telling all this to his father? Didn't he just want some answers?

"Tell that to mom and just ask Aya-chan to come over to study on Friday too. I think your grades are bad enough and she'll agree to help you. No one can resist Michiko once she starts pleading."

Having this conversation with his mother scared the crap out of him even more. Aya wasn't his girlfriend, but he felt like he was just going to introduce one to his parents. What if they didn't like her at all? There was nothing not to like, but… With all that baggage she was a difficult person.

"Why is she still having those nightmares after 8 years?" He asked his father to distract his thoughts.

"Seeing your mother die like that is a huge trauma. It's true that kids tend to deal with traumatic events better, but… It takes years to deal with something like that. And everyone's different. From what you told us already, she's a very tough girl, so she must've been trying real hard to deal with herself too…"

Daiki raised an eyebrow at him, asking 'How do you know?'

"Mom and I lost a very dear and important person too. Your mom… she still has nightmares too, sometimes. Rarely… And that's been more than 10 years ago." He said with a sad smile.

"What are you talking about?"

"That's a conversation for some other time." He yawned and crawled up, his knees cracking. "Urgh, I'm starting to get old." He muttered.

"Hey! You don't say something like that and just leave!" He protested.

"Oh, but I do. Worry about explaining the situation to mom."

* * *

After Aya woke up from a beautiful, dreamless, 22-hours long sleep of the dead, she felt revived. But almost immediately, she sprang up to sit on her bed, remembering the last bits of conversation with Satsuki and then nothing… She blinked and looked around. She was home. In her own bed. _What the hell happened?_

She grabbed her phone to check her messages, and there were dozens of text from Satsuki, two from Kiku, some from the boys, and one from Aomine. It was the first message she opened.

'You alive?' It said.

She smiled at that. _Curt as ever._ Aomine rarely used his phone, which made her think that he owned one just out of obligation.

'Revived and ready to practise. Sorry for scaring Satsuki.' She typed back.

 _Well now…_ She quickly answered all the messages, and got up to take a quick shower and head for the gym. She had an overwhelming need to dance, but Senri cancelled all the practises for the week, so she'd have to manage on her own.

Her stomach rumbled loudly and she laughed. "Food first."

She shuffled to the kitchen, still wearing the dress she'd been wearing yesterday and began searching for something to eat. Taiga must've left something for her. And she was right. _What a dear brother to have._ She thought as she munched on one onigiri out of several different types and tastes.

######

After a little match with Kiyoshi, the strange senpai, Taiga felt out of it. Two weeks of not practising and worrying about Aya, he wasn't in the mood to play goody-goody with his team. He simply tuned them out and did whatever he wanted. He was healed, and even if Riko protested and tried to hold him back several times, the little coach had no power over him in a sour mood.

While stomping home, he was wondering if Aya'd been awake already or not. He'd just typed a message to Katsunori, explaining the situation, but otherwise he'd let her be. She needed that rest like a salt.

He was passing by the gateway leading to a small yard where the dancing club's gym was situated. Having no idea why, he turned left towards the gym.

The door was wide opened and he could hear a music playing inside. He recognised the tune; it was Tchaikovsky's swan lake. (The only reason he knew the classical music was because of their mom.) And Aya was dancing the black swan's parts alone, without a partner, torn out of context and adjusted accordingly, and yet, he was awed.

Aya'd practised ballet for years, but it wasn't her main expertise, and still… all the figures, of which names he had no idea, all the steps and every move of hers were enchanting. He had a vague idea of why she chose the black swan, considering their mother danced the Odette, but he wouldn't dare to voice it. But this version Aya was creating on spot, was the black swan as he'd imagine it. He could clearly see the story and intentions of tempting and teasing; the malevolence in her smooth and well chosen moves. He had no idea how his sister could convey emotions so well through her body movement.

She was moving around on her pointe shoes in the improvised routine, with her eyes closed the entire time. No audience was needed nor expected; she simply wanted to be on her own. To enjoy the dance on her own.

"Hey." She greeted him without stopping and did another round of fouettés.

"Hey. This is awesome." Taiga answered with a smile and sat on the ground watching her. "How do you know it's me?"

She opened her eyes to look at him. "I do. And 'awesome?', please, I don't have the figure to be a typical ballerina."

"Not true, and you know it." Well, maybe Aya's thighs were a bit bigger, and ballerinas usually had calves stronger, while thighs slimmer; and maybe her chest didn't fit the ballerinas' standards, but besides that, Aya was a perfect dancer. Ballet or whatever else…

She waved her hand at that, in a way it wouldn't imbalance her. "So?" She stopped her pirouette and stood back onto her entire feet. "What got you this… angry?"

"Wha-?! I'm not… That's not."

She raised an eyebrow at him and stopped the music. "You are angry, or irritated at the very best. What's up?"

"The new guy joined the club… well new… A senpai… Uhmm…" He couldn't remember the name.

"Kiyoshi?" Aya asked in surprise and sat down to him to take off the pointes.

"Yeah! That's it!" He clapped. "He challenged me one on one. I won of course but… There's something about him that creeps the hell out of me."

"I want to come to one of your practises to watch. Would that be possible? I want to meet him."

"Why? He isn't that good…"

"He's better than Wakamatsu, I give you that much. And I think you are misjudging him. Kiyoshi is very close to 'the generation of miracles', in fact, if he hadn't been a year older, or if those five had appeared a few years later, he definitely would've been labelled as a miracle too."

Taiga frowned at that. Maybe that was the source of the strange feeling he'd had about Kiyoshi. The other second years seemed to know him very well and like him too, well… despite the captain. "Have you rested enough to be practising?"

She groaned in exasperation. "22 hours of sleep is more than enough. I need this."

He was giving her _the_ look. It said 'I don't buy it'.

She rolled her eyes accompanied by another groan. "I'm fine! Really! Sorry for worrying you, I won't do it again."

"Oh, you would… And just so you know… It was Aomine who brought you home yesterday. He gave you a piggyback ride home. Too bad you don't remember. I bet you drooled on his shirt too."

A scandalised grimace found it's way onto Aya's face. "Oh god!" She covered her blushing face. "No way!"

"Yes way!"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "You're pulling my leg."

"No. Ask him. I had quite a conversation with him too."

"Kagami Taiga, if you're making fun of me, I swear–"

"I'm not! If he's off court he can be surprisingly not as annoying. And besides, he seemed pretty worried though he played it cool and all…"

"Taiga, what have you told him?" She asked seriously and her tone had a warning edge to it.

"About mom." He could see the colour draining away from her face and she took a breath to yell at him, but he was quicker. He covered her mouth and held her at place at the same time. "BEFORE, you make a scene, let me explain. THEN you can kill me if you want. BUT… If you kill me, there'll be no one cooking for you when you're out of it… So think twice about it."

After several seconds of glaring at him, she nodded and yielded.

And Taiga got to his explaining. Of course he omitted the part where he asked Aomine to try and persuade Aya to stay over at his place, as well as the fact that he actually threw him out after the 'sister-complex' comment, which was definitely not true, but which could get Taiga really annoyed. And he also left out the part where he thanked his rival, because his pride would take a huge blow if he'd had to admit it.

"And how do you think I face him tomorrow?! He must think I'm a psycho! God, Taiga! Can't you at least **_think_** a bit about the stuff you tell people?! Maybe I should inform your team as well, don't you think it would be just fair after this?"

"Ah…" He scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. "I thought that –"

"Then don't! Fuck!" She slammed her fist against the wooden floor and got up to pace around the gym.

"Sorry? You can punch me all you want?" He tried.

She glared at him. "Your legs are fine, you say?"

He shuddered under her scary glare and then nodded reluctantly.

"I need to go over the choreography for the competition with Kouta, and then another one for acro with Senri. Go get changed, you're helping me out. THEN and ONLY THEN, I might not kill you."

"Yes ma'am."

* * *

 **A/N:** As usual, I hope I didn't overdo it, mainly the Taiga/Daiki conversation. I'm not sure how that would go, but... And I really hope I'm keeping Aomine in character as much as possible given the situations (that's my constant worry)... Ah well...

Let me know what you think and remember, reviews are appreciated, but never necessary.

-S.


	32. Chapter 32: The greatest ally

**A/N:** Thanks everyone who followed and favourited! And thank you for all the wonderful reviews! It makes me very happy :)

Here's another chapter. Enjoy! :)

* * *

 _A friend is someone who gives you total freedom to be yourself. **– Jim Morrison**_

 _Love is a strange dark magic. **― Atticus**_

 _Dance is that delicacy of life radiating every particle of our existence with happiness. **― Shah Asad Rizvi**_

 _True love doesn't need proof. The eyes told what heart felt. **― Toba Beta, My Ancestor Was an Ancient Astronaut**_

 _A dog reflects the family life. Whoever saw a frisky dog in a gloomy family, or a sad dog in a happy one? Snarling people have snarling dogs, dangerous people have dangerous ones. **― Arthur Conan Doyle, The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes**_

 _Have you ever noticed how parents can go from the most wonderful people in the world to totally embarrassing in three seconds? **― Rick Riordan, The Red Pyramid**_

* * *

"Aya-chan! Wait for uus!"

She stopped and turned to see Ishii and Kano running after her. It'd been some time since she went to school with the boys. And she was surprisingly glad they spotted her, because her mind was anxiously racing about how to face Aomine after Taiga had spilled the beans. Kano's usual rambling and casual conversation could make her forget about Aomine for a while, at least.

"Haaa…" Kano bent forward to catch a breath after their short sprint. "Are you feeling better now?"

She smiled at the two. "Yeah, I'm feeling fine now. I must've eaten something bad on Sunday evening. Sorry for worrying you, guys."

"As long as you're fine." Ishii shrugged.

 _Wait… Ishii's here…_ "Aren't you supposed to walk to school with your girlfriend?" Aya asked in confusion.

"Aaah… about that…" He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "We had an argument… I guess…"

"You guess?" She raised an eyebrow at him.

"No one knows what really happened." Kano shrugged. "Even with combined forces, we haven't figured it out."

If she'd been confused before, now she was completely lost. "Combined forces? Hold on… What's up?"

"Shouhei, Ryuu and I can't understand her reaction at all. I mean–"

"Urgh… Shut it you big mouth." Ishii groaned with a blush. He didn't want to burden their manager with something as stupid as was the argument with his girlfriend.

"I might help?" Aya offered with a shrug. "I'm a girl after, might at least understand a bit of it?"

"It's really my problem, Aya-chan. Don't worry about it. I'll need to rethink whether it's even worth it…"

"All right then. But if you think I could help, ask me anytime, 'kay?"

"You're great." He praised her with a smile. "Seriously." He added after the incredulous look she'd shot him. "And I'll keep that in mind."

"Glad to hear that." She smiled at him too. Ishii was a nice guy, she wished him only luck. "Soooo… what about Daiki and Airi-chan? Are they still dating?"

"Urgh!" Kano made a face. "They are so sweet it gives me cavities! And he won't shut up about her! Can you imagine it? I have to listen about my _younger_ brother's love life on daily basis, while I have nothing of the sort! And do you know what the worst part was? She came over to study yesterday, and they seriously kicked me out of my own room?! I mean… What the hell?!" He ranted adding a lot of gestures and grimaces, which made Aya laugh.

"It's a shared room after all. I guess it can't be helped?" She said, sounding almost apologetic.

"Hey! Who's side are you on?"

"On the side of love~ As always." She teased.

"Oh?" Kano raised an eyebrow. A teasing sparkle settled in his eyes and it made Aya shudder. "And which side are you on when it comes to Mr. Ace? The side of love too?"

"That's… Well… Hey! We're not a thing, okay?! So stop the teasing."

"Yet." The boys said in unison and exchanged a knowing look.

"Hey!"

######

Aya walked into the classroom with the boys, terrified of facing Aomine. Just like the other time, but this time... This time it wasn't her decision to share that. Taiga'd made it for her and she didn't like it. Aomine was staring at her with unreadable expression and she wasn't sure what to think of it. Not that she had the time to dissect it.

"Aya-chaaaan!" Satsuki ran into their classroom like a tornado. "Are you okay enough to be here? Don't you need another day off? How are you feeling?"

"Ugh…" Aya rolled her eyes. "I'm fine Satsuki. I just _ate something bad_. I'm fine now." She accentuated the reason for Satsuki, so the pinkette would understand that the 'passed-out in the changing room' was to stay in the changing room.

"Yeah, I know, but did you get home okay? Is Taiga-kun okay, did he eat the same thing, or…"

Aya grabbed the pinkette's cheeks and her look at her. "I. Am. Fine."

Satsuki pouted. "Oh. Uhm… Sorry? I was just worried, okay?"

"I know, and I'm kinda happy, but don't overdo it. I'm not used to it, 'kay?"

"Mhm."

"Girls. I'd like to start the lesson." A teacher spoke up from behind them.

"We're sorry. Satsuki was already on her way back, right?"

"Ah, sure! Sorry!"

######

"Uhm…" After half a day of avoiding eye contact with Aomine, she couldn't do it anymore. They were on a cleaning duty and stuck alone in the classroom, while everyone else went for either club activities or home. "Look–"

"Hmph. I take it he told you…" He didn't let her finish. "Thought y' wouldn't speak to me for a couple of days."

"I don't need your pity, 'kay? That's all."

He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. He really had no idea how to treat her at the given situation, but pity was the last on his list. Kagami Aya wasn't a pitiable being in the slightest, she was a resourceful and tough fighter worth of awe, not pity. But apparently he had to make himself clear, or she'd not get it. _She's so dense sometimes._

"Tch, I'm not pitying you, stupid. Nothin' to pity there _."_ He grumbled. _I can't even start to relate to that… But… I'm kinda admiring you…_ Then scratched his cheek in embarrassment and averted his eyes "So… We good?"

She blinked at him and an amused smile appeared on her face. _Huh, 'f course he wouldn't._ "We good." She chuckled and sighed. "Taiga really told you. But… I'm surprised you two didn't try to kill each other."

Aomine shrugged. "There was no reason to… Yet…"

######

"Mom?" Daiki peeked into the kitchen when his mother was preparing dinner. It was quite unusual that she was at home and that they'd have a family dinner, but he was actually happy about it.

"Yes?" She asked and turned around to smile at him.

"Uuuhm…" He scratched the back of his neck sheepishly and sat on a chair at the dining table. "Can I talk to you?"

"About Kagami-chan?" She asked knowingly, and grinned like a little girl.

He rolled his eyes at that. His mother could be unbearable once she had something that interested her. And she could always see through him. "Tch, I bet dad told y' everything." He grumbled in annoyance.

"Not really." She said with a shrug and burning curiosity. "He told me about Kagami-chan's mom, but that's that."

Daiki would bet his parents were pulling his leg once again. He wanted to get up and leave, but he needed to know if she was willing to help him out with the sleepover thing or not. To find that out, he needed to begrudgingly explain the situation, just like he'd done before with his dad. _Urgh, so embarrassing._ He thought, but explained the situation nevertheless.

Her eyes sparkled in excitement when Daiki finished explaining; she'd really had to bite her tongue not to interrupt him. "Count me in! Just get her here on Friday, and I'll keep her here till Sunday."

He shuddered. "Don't lock her in or something creepy like that."

"In the worst case scenario…" She joked, but seeing Daiki's panicked expression she laughed and waved her hand. "Don't worry. I'm looking forward to meeting her, and I don't need to add another trauma on her list. Hmm… I think I might take a vacation on Friday and Saturday… Hmmm… What should I cook…" She started mumbling and turned back to the stove.

Daiki blinked at her, this went rather smoothly. His mother truly was his number one ally, and it surprised him how much both of his parents wanted to meet Kagami. He didn't really get it; as if they weren't busy enough…

"I'll take dogs out and be back for the dinner." He said, but Michiko wasn't listening to him anymore, so with a shrug he got up and went to get the dogs and leashes. _Now... let's think of a way to invite her over on Friday…_

* * *

As Imayoshi had promised, he came to pick up Aya and Aomine, and fetch Satsuki on their way to the club room. Tada and Wakamatsu were waiting for them there. It'd been some time since he last visited the first years' floor and classrooms. Some of the other students greeted him; being a part of the student council, he was quite widely known around the school.

He walked into the classroom 1-3, some students were doing their chores, Aya and Kiku were discussing something over the English textbook and Aomine was dozing off on his desk. He was quite surprised to actually see Aomine there at all. Even though they agreed to have this 'summer training camp planning' discussion with Aomine present, he hadn't thought the ace would really stay. _Aya-chan sure is a magician._

"Hello~" He smiled at them and occupied Sakurai's empty chair. "Can we go?"

"Hey, captain." Aya greeted him with a smile too. "Give us a sec to finish this part," she pointed at the textbook, "and we'll go."

"Kiku-chan has to come too, of course." He added.

Kiku turned her wide brown eyes at the captain. "W-w-why? Am I n-n-needed?" She stuttered and bit the inside of her cheek. She still wasn't used to the sly captain of the basketball club.

"Well I have a favour to ask of you. I think Aya-chan would come to the same conclusion as me, so I'm taking my chances to invite you without a previous discussion." He winked at Aya, and he knew she got the message.

"Uuuhm…" Kiku blushed and looked away. "I-if you say so."

"Why don't you just tell her what you want, instead of pulling her leg, Imayoshi?" Aomine grumbled from behind the girls with a crack-opened eye.

Kiku jolted in surprise. Was Aomine trying to help her in a way? Just what on earth was happening?

"Oh, and there I thought you were sleeping, Aomine~" Imayoshi smirked. "But I guess you're a light sleeper."

"Tch, none of your business." He rubbed his eyes and pulled himself to a normal sitting position. "Let's go so we're done with this. I want to go home."

Aya looked at him and sighed. "Well I guess you can come over, Kiku. We can finish this at my place and then have a dinner. Is that okay?"

"I-I guess." She nodded. "But I need to make a call; I was supposed to help out at Akiya's today." She made an apologetic grimace as she shoved the textbook into her bag and fished for the phone.

Aya blinked at her. She was aware that Kiku was helping out at Akiya's orphanage, but it was usually over weekend, or because of some special event. And Kiku hadn't said anything in advance, as she'd usually done. "Did something happen with Kai-chan?" She asked, knowing about the little boy Kiku took special care of.

"Ah well… No, not really. I just promised to stop by."

"Then we can finish this in the library, I won't hold you up more than necessary. If you made a promise, it should be kept." Aya winked at her. "Just let him know you'll be a little late, 'kay?"

"Right on it!" Kiku chuckled and left the classroom, already dialling the number to the orphanage.

"So. Who's Kai-chan?" Imayoshi asked curiously. Besides the fact that the small shy girl stopped by the gym from time to time, or delivered something to Wakamatsu, he knew near nothing about her.

"I've never met him, but if I'm paying enough attention to what Kiku says, he's a sweet but a bit problematic four year old boy, from the Akiya's orphanage." She shrugged. "And Kiku visits him and the other kids weekly to hang out with them. I believe you can keep it to yourself though, captain. Given the bullying incident Kiku had, we don't need to give the bullies another reason to start again, right?" She said with a hinge of warning in her voice.

"Gee', Aya-chan, I'm the best secret keeper far and wide~ though it surprises me, I must admit. Does Wakamatsu know?"

"How should I know? As far as I'm informed those two are not a thing."

"I thought so. He is too dense. That's why I want her to come for the summer camp with us." He said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully staring at the door where Kiku disappeared. "Maybe –"

"Stop right there, captain." Aya halted him. "You're not plotting anything, I hope, because I'm not getting involved in this."

"I thought you were all for those two being a thing."

"I still am, but Kiku has her own pace of dealing with this and I'm not pushing her into anything. Of course I'd be glad if they were a thing and if she came to the camp; any help in the kitchen is a blessing, but I won't force her. And neither will you."

Imayoshi was observing her with a scrutinizing look. He wanted to know what was going on with Kiku, he wanted to know everything he could about the girl, but Aya wasn't the one to give him anything. He could read that in her expression. He sighed and gave up, for now. "Hai, hai~ then let's give them enough space."

Aya narrowed her eyes at him. "Right."

Kiku returned and blinked at the two, who suddenly seemed to be in a war zone. "I-is everything o-okay?" She asked carefully.

"Yeah, sure." Aya smiled at her. "Everything all right with Kai-chan?"

"Mhm, fine."

"Great, then let's go." She said, got up and grabbed her bag, ready to go to the club room. Imayoshi took the lead, Kiku followed right behind him, and Aya and Aomine walked at the tail.

'What was that about?' Aomine raised an eyebrow at her when he caught her gaze as they walked out of the classroom. He had no idea about Kiku visiting an orphanage, or her doing anything of the sort. Some time ago, he'd learned that there was more to the little girl than just her fears, and he could somewhat understand why Aya liked her. He just never had the chance or mood to get to know her more.

Aya smirked and raised an eyebrow back at him. 'Curious now?'

He rolled his eyes. 'Will you tell me?'

'Maybe later, Honey-bun.' She winked at him, because she knew he could feel the nickname there.

He sighed, and–

"What's up, Aomine-kun?" Satsuki asked him curiously when she joined their little group. "Something bothering you?"

 _Great timing, as always._ He thought desperately. "Nothing."

Satsuki gave him a knowing look and aligned her step with Kiku. "I heard you mastered splits! That's great!"

"Ah…" Kiku blushed. Why was Satsuki so openly praising her about something like mastering splits? And in front of Aomine and Imayoshi. _Humiliating._ "It's still not perfect."

"Good enough, that Umaki-sensei shut up about it." Aya said to join Satsuki's praise, and change the topic, as she could see Kiku reddening up. "But what about you? No problems on the gymnastics front?"

"Not that I know of." Satsuki smiled. "I'm actually pretty good at that."

"It's expectable, Momoi-san." Imayoshi joined in with a smirk. "You did ballet too, didn't you?"

"What?" Aya asked abruptly. "You did ballet? Why haven't you told me?"

"I told you I danced a bit before… And I was no good, so I quit quickly, and it wasn't important anyways." She said apologetically and shrugged. The conversation never turned that way, so there was no reason for her to mention it. It was long gone anyways.

 _A pink haired little girl in the Shiranui's ballet class…_ Aya was staring at Satsuki with renewed interest. She couldn't quite grasp this. Could it be possible, that they'd really met before… _No way… But… Even Taiga thought she was familiar… It would make sense… Though the name isn't right… No. That's not possible._

"Aya-chan?" Satsuki peeped, feeling antsy and anxious under such a scrutinizing gaze.

"Nah." The redhead shook her head. "Forget it; I'm probably imagining something…"

"Uhm… you sure?"

"Dunno… Depends…"

"On what?"

"Where did you take the ballet lessons?" Aya asked, just in case.

"Oh… I-I don't really remember. Mom always drove me there… and it's been 10 years ago… I really don't remember the place, or the people."

 _Not possible._ "Hmmm… Okay. I was just curious." She said but she bit her thumb nail in deep thoughts.

Aomine was baffled by the fact that the pinkette had done ballet, or that she hadn't talked about this with the former world champion in dancing. And he couldn't really understand Satsuki's reasoning. She wasn't secretive, and she wasn't a liar, and yet… And there he thought he knew everything about the bubbly pink haired girl. _Apparently not…_

Nothing of this escaped Imayoshi's careful eyes and he smirked. So there were things they didn't know about one another, and he was really pleased by the confusion he'd caused with his innocent remark. Though he was sure they'd figure it out and resolve it in no time.

The atmosphere was a bit strange as they arrived at the club room, where Tada and Wakamatsu were already waiting for them.

"Ah, Kiku-san! I didn't know you'd come!" Wakamatsu almost flipped his chair over, as he stood up to greet the small girl.

Kiku blushed and half hid behind Aya. She still wasn't used to Wakamatsu-senpai's loudness, but she was kind of happy to receive a special treatment from the big boy; though it was embarrassing at the same time. "Hello." She said timidly.

"Hello to you too, Wakamatsu~" Imayoshi teased with a smirk.

"Oh! Captain! Hey!" He blabbered out blushing in embarrassment and scratched his neck sheepishly. He was definitely not good at being subtle, so he rather avoided looking at Shun, who must've been secretly laughing at his behaviour. But he couldn't really help it! Kiku-chan was so damn cute! Too bad, she'd probably never like someone as loud as him.

"Hey. Good to see you so lively, senpai." Aya smiled at him with a teasing sparkle in her reddish eyes. "We should get on with the camp planning, Kiku and I need to go over the English homework and Kiku has a further engagement today."

"Engagement?" Tada raised an eyebrow at Aya's choice of words, noticing that Wakamatsu paled a bit after hearing it.

"N-n-no! N-Not literally!" Kiku protested immediately and her cheeks flared up. "See what you're doing, Aya!" She bristled up, earning curious glances from everyone, except Satsuki, who'd seen this change of attitude couple of times.

Aya chuckled. "I do. And I'm quite enjoying it too." She winked at Kiku.

Realising than she'd just raised her voice because of some teasing, she covered her mouth. "S-sorry…"

"Oh please!" Aya ruffled her hair. "It's kind of refreshing to see you speak up like that. Right boys?" She looked at the boys, who nodded in agreement, still baffled by Kiku's little outburst. "Besides, you tease me too, you know."

Kiku pouted a bit, fighting off her blush and shook her head. "You're unbelievable."

"Well, thank you!" She bowed and laughed, Satsuki's ballet past was forgotten for the time being. "Okay, so do you have any ideas for the summer training camp? And I want to hear some actual plans, not vague ideas." She said and sat down next to Tada, everyone else followed her example.

"Shouldn't we wait for coach?" Wakamatsu asked.

"Katsu is fine with whatever we come up with, as long as we stay within the country for a reasonable price." She shrugged. "Other than that, our hands are free."

"Okay, so far we have the date." Imayoshi joined in, his attitude changing into a serious one. "20th to 27th August. So a full week of practising. We could go to either, mountains or ocean, but we've been to ocean the last time, so we should go to mountains this year." He summed up and then turned his eyes to Aya. "You said you had something in mind, Aya-chan, so we're kind of relying on that."

She smirked at that. "You got used to the managers quickly indeed, Imayoshi-taichou~" He raised an eyebrow at her. Everyone was expecting her proposal and she was quite enjoying the anticipation in the air. Even Aomine seemed to be a bit interested. "Okay, enough with the teasing. The thing is, my grandparents own a… facility, let's say, for training purposes in the mountains around Hanamaki. For a very crude orientation, it's near the mount Hayachine. Relatively… Anyways, there is a gym, an outside court, plenty of space for running, great food, great elders and they often host high school sport clubs during their training camps. To keep their minds young, as they say. The price is quite reasonable too. Maybe you'll help around a bit, but it shouldn't be anything major. What do you say?"

Imayoshi, Wakamatsu and Tada exchanged glances. It sounded good and they didn't have to deal with it. "It sounds good, but is the term free?"

"Weeell… That's the thing why I wanted Aomine here." She said and looked at him. "He doesn't have to come per se, but I think I can provide enough motivation…"

"He? What is it, Sweetheart?" Aomine asked with a raised eyebrow. He'd attend the summer training camp anyways, just to be close to her, but if she could provide some additional motivation than that…

"Oh Honey-bun, you won't believe it." She smirked at him. "There is enough lodging for two full high-school clubs. Sooo… I talked with the coach and the manager of the Yosen's basketball team. They agree to have a joined training camp with us, if we want. They've been going to my grandparents for training camps for the past five years, and this year they're willing to adjust the timing so we can be there together."

Satsuki was smiling smugly. She'd been informed beforehand, and the expressions on the boys' faces were priceless. Especially Dai-chan's.

"Woah… That's…" Imayoshi rubbed his chin. He'd never considered the option to have a joined training camp with another school. And Yosen was… They were probably the best team specialised in defence in the whole country. It could be a huge opportunity for them… Well, they'd be giving out valuable information too, but it was probably worth it.

"Awesome!" Wakamatsu's eyes were sparkling in anticipation already. Practising with a team as strong as Yosen was challenging. He wanted to do it.

Aomine rubbed his face and blinked at Aya. A training camp with Murasakibara and Aya's ex… _Well… That's interesting enough._ He thought and couldn't fight back a dangerous smirk settling on his face. Forcing Murasakibara to run around… Checking out the Tatsuya-dude… The idea was already stuck in his head, and he was actually looking forward to it. One of the few people he could go all out against. He stared at the redhead with a mixture of admiration and excitement. Aya knew exactly what kind of challenge he needed.

She was grinning at him. 'I knew you'd like it.' She conveyed wordlessly.

He shook his head. 'Unbelievable.'

Tada just smirked as he observed the other three boys.

"So? You agree with this?" She asked. "Just so we can hand out the documents for your parents to sign, buy train or plane tickets – whichever will be cheaper, and so on… Satsuki and I will take care of it."

"I guess there is nothing to object, Aya-chan. I'm pleasantly surprised." Imayoshi said and bowed his head in respect. "You two are great help, really." He hadn't expected this to go so smoothly. But seeing Aomine, and the others so excited, he couldn't possibly object. And he was feeling excited himself.

"We wouldn't be here otherwise." Satsuki smiled and handed him the first draft of the training camp program, involving the logistics.

"Uhm… And why am I here?" Kiku peeped.

"That's another thing we thought about. Yosen has about 33 members, including their coach and manager it is 35 people, we now have 27 guys, two girls and the coach. That's 30 people. All together it's 65." She counted and let that sink in. "I don't want to underestimate my grandma's cooking skills, but I think she'll need any help in the kitchen she can get. Satsuki's out of the question – sorry dear – and even with me and Hero and Kei-chan – if he can cook – I don't think it's enough. Sure, Tatsuya and Arai-kun could help too, but I want them practising. Maybe I could persuade Taiga to come too, but so far I have no idea if he'd be willing to… I just need someone reliable, and you were the first on my mind." She looked at Kiku with a plea. "I'd like you to come with us."

The little girl was blinking at her in disbelief. "Really?"

Aya nodded seriously. "Really."

"But I… I'm not in your club, and I just… so many people… I can't… I mean… So many people might… That's… M-m-my…" _scars…_ she bit her tongue before she'd blabbered it out in her confusion. She was panicking.

Aya leaned over the table to grab Kiku's palms. "Look." She waited for Kiku to really look at her. "I'm not forcing you. Think about it, talk about it with your parents and your brother. I'd really like to have you there, but it's your choice to make. I can only promise, that there's nothing bad going to happen to you. If anything, Hero would take you under her protective wing and I think our guys would protect you without a question too, and I'll be there… Eventually. Okay?" She was staring at Kiku intensely. She understood the girl's fears, but she also knew that those fears needed to be faced.

Kiku shut her eyes, took a deep breath, when she opened her eyes again, it seemed she was already decided. Despite that, she said: "I'll think about it. I'll tell you by Friday, 'kay?"

"Sure." She smiled and let go of Kiku's hands. "Well now. Everything's decided, if you excuse us, I need to finish the study session with Kiku."

######

"I want to go." Kiku said as they were leaving the library.

"I know." Aya nodded with a smile. "And I think you should, not just because we need help in the kitchen though…"

A rosy hue settled on Kiku's cheeks. "You really are terrible."

"Nah, I think I just know you already. And I think Wakamatsu-senpai would be delighted to have you there too." She wasn't blind and Wakamatsu was far from subtle; those two were obviously into each other (at least for her), but as long as Kiku thought it was 'impossible', it probably was. And so she decided not to push them, but at the same time, she'd find any occasion the two could spend time together.

"I wonder about that… I can barely lead a normal conversation with him. Without stuttering, I mean. And that probably makes him think it's somewhat his fault, while it's not! It's just my stupid problem…" She threw her arms up in frustration.

"You're not stuttering now." Aya shrugged. "Once you'll be used to him enough, it'll go away. Besides… Today you barked at me in front of them, it's getting better already."

"Maybe you're right…"

* * *

"Ne, I'm going to have lunch with the others." Aya said as she handed Aomine a bento, like the usual when she was at school. "We're gonna go through the English which should appear on the exams. Wanna join us?"

He shook his head no. "I'll pass. I want to take a nap upstairs." In other words, he wanted to eat the lunch on the rooftop and read his magazines. It looked that it would rain in the afternoon, so he wanted to enjoy the sunrays like a cat _and_ he had no interest in a group study sessions. The others didn't have to know his academic levels. Plus he still hadn't asked Aya to come over on Friday and he needed to come up with a plan how to do it.

She nodded. She knew it was pointless persuading him, but she had to ask anyways. "Well, fine, but you sure you don't need help with studying? We won't have much time for it while writing the paper–"

"I'm not that stupid, okay?!" He snapped at her.

She blinked at him in surprise; she sure hadn't expected such a fiery reaction to her mild, considerate and casual question. She didn't doubt his cramming skills; she just thought that understanding the exams' problems wouldn't hurt him. "Gee', no one said you're stupid, Honey-bun. But do whatever you want." She said and left with the others, shaking her head in disbelief.

Daiki just stared after them. _Fuck…_ He swore inwardly and left the classroom too. He'd just missed a chance she'd given him to invite her over… Because of his inflated ego. _I might as well **be** **that** stupid…_

######

"Oi, Kagami!" He caught up with her near the shoe lockers after school. She'd already changed her shoes and was about to leave.

She sighed. "Aya." She corrected him. Why the hell he was still using her family name, while she asked him otherwise was beyond her.

He blinked at her momentarily not getting it, and then he smirked and opened his shoe locker to take out and change his shoes too. "Yeah, sure. That too, Sweetheart."

She groaned in exasperation. "So? What do you want?" She asked curtly; she was still slightly angry for his previous reaction even though it wasn't that strange of him. Because he was bent down tying his shoelaces, she couldn't see how his teasing smirk disappeared instantly.

When he straightened up and put away his indoor shoes, he was frowning thoughtfully. "Well… That's…" He had no idea how to word his request the way it wouldn't sound weird. He made sure no one was near to hear him, but still… This was awkward.

"That's…?" She raised an eyebrow questioningly. _What the hell is going on?_

"Uhm… well…" He scratched the back of his neck, inwardly cursing himself for creating this awkward situation. "About studying… I…" He was looking everywhere, but Aya, because the piercing look of her reddish eyes was almost unbearable. "Tch…" He clicked his tongue in annoyance. Since when did she weaken him like this? Normally he'd just ask… But he wasn't good at lying or saying half-truths and all the wild ideas kept poking in his head, making it impossible to act composed. He hoped that Bakagami, who got him into this, was sneezing like crazy about now.

"Want my help with studying?" She guessed. "Or do you want to say sorry for being rude earlier? If it's the latter save your breath, I don't really care."

"Uh… That's good… But that's not… Uhm…" He took a breath to continue in this little torture he prepared for himself, but Aya cupped his cheeks and forced him to look at her. It always surprised him, though he probably should get used to it; she was doing it quite often when she wanted his full attention.

"Do you want my help with studying?" She repeated. This kind of uncertainty and stuttering was getting on her nerves. Since when could Aomine be this… strange?

She was staring at him as if she was trying to read his mind, and he was wondering if she actually could. Under her steady gaze his cheeks heated up, he could feel it and he wasn't pleased by it. He opened his mouth to answer, but he wasn't sure he could make up a reasonable sentence, so he shut it and nodded. And then he frowned at her deeply.

For a moment she was considering giving him another peck on the face; he was so cute, but she decided against it. Trying out her luck with Aomine wasn't wise, she didn't know all of his buttons and mood changing switches and she wasn't sure she dared to test them now. With a sigh and a kind smile she let go of his face.

"Okay." She said and turned to leave the building, heading towards the front gate.

"Huh?" He blinked at her in disbelief and quickly followed to align his step with her.

"Okay, I'll help you!" She rolled her eyes and laughed. "What made it so difficult to ask anyways, huh? You didn't have such a problem before, Honey-bun."

 _Bakagami's request…_ "Urgh…" He rolled his eyes trying to hide his blush with his hand. "You're a terrible woman, you know it?!"

"Pretty much." She was grinning at him. "So? Tomorrow after school?"

"Why not today too?" Now when, he knew she was okay with helping him (spending time with him), he didn't get how on earth he could've acted so pathetic. _Tch… Get it together, idiot._

"That bad, huh?" She chuckled. "I can't. I have a practise with Senri and then the rest of the club today." She said and saluted to Tsuchiya-san sweeping the pavement.

"Tomorrow it is then."

"In the library, like the last time?"

"Tch. I don't want to stay after school on Friday." He protested.

"Hmph…" He had a point… She didn't want to stay in school either. "My place is fine too." She suggested.

"Mine's closer."

Aya grabbed his elbow and forced him to turn to her. "What is this about?" Something didn't feel quite right.

This time, he managed to keep his composure as he stared back at her confidently. "Being practical." He said levelly and his voice sounded a bit deeper.

Oh, how she loved that sound. She kept staring at him, trying to figure out what was off. And then she just couldn't avert her eyes. Those deep blue eyes of his caught her and didn't let go, they were drowning her, challenging her. She didn't think he could change his attitude this quickly. She was searching for any indication of his mood shift, but she could only assume it'd been something she'd done or said. Her eyes roamed his face, stopping at his lips for a moment too long to ignore. They were at the school gate, a really bad place for something to happen. _This is dangerous…_ She thought and bit the inside of her cheek.

"Being practical, might be dangerous." She let go of his elbow and turned her back to him to take the road home. And that it required a hell lot of self-control…

"I'm taking the odds."

She paused mid-step and smirked, but she didn't turn to look at him. Given the situation, she didn't trust her self-control and she didn't dare testing it. _It'll go away till tomorrow…_ Following a heat of the moment wouldn't have been smart, she knew. Yet, she couldn't leave out a small provocation.

"Be careful with that, Aomine Daiki."

He smirked at her back, feeling victorious, but his heart was beating like crazy. It took him quite some self-restrain not to force a kiss, or go after her, but he knew he shouldn't. Damn, those reddish eyes of hers could drive him mad and burn him alive. She was the girl that could make him feel undefeated, yet weak at the same time, and she didn't even have to touch him. He didn't get it, but he loved it. _Fuck._ He thought desperately, when he felt the blood rush to his crotch. He took a deep breath to calm down, but it wasn't that simple.

######

"Again!" Aya demanded for the 20th time after the official practise.

"Ossu!" Senri wiped the sweat off his forehead and prepared himself for a part of a choreography he kept messing up.

It was a part where they spun around and he had to allow Aya to basically sit on the ground for a second. When they got there, he was supposed to catch both of her hands and pull her up strongly enough to give her a momentum to jump up and stand on his shoulders, all the while turning into a position that was manageable for her. Then she'd jump down into his arms and he needed to catch her and spin them while she'd perform a crazy sequence of turns in his arms, before he'd put her back on her feet. The problem was he couldn't get a good grip on her hands while in the motion. During the first couple of tries, she slipped from his grip and either fell back or tumbled into him.

This time, he managed to pull her up correctly, but holding up a person standing on his shoulders like that hurt. Aya's entire weight was resting on her feet, pressing Senri into the ground. She was aware, and she needed to bounce up as she jumped, so she could fold her body in a way it was easier for Senri to catch. Honestly, she didn't want to end up flat on the ground. Again.

Senri grunted as she did it, his knees locking and the entire body stiffening for a moment, which was a mistake. He barely caught her, but spinning her around was out of the question, he was off the rhythm already and the arm supporting Aya's back slipped.

"Tch." She managed to spin around and land on her forearms.

"Sorry." He shook his head, starting to feel bad about himself.

"Again." She said. She was getting a bit impatient and demanding with Senri, she knew, but… After that heated moment with Aomine, at least she considered it as a heated moment, she needed to let out all the excess energy she had. And dancing was the best way to vent it out. "You can't stiffen like that. I know I'm not that light, but you should be like a spring… Going in sync with me. I know you can feel when I'm about to bounce up, if you follow my movement, it'll be easier on your joints than going against me, and you won't freeze for that moment."

"I get it… In my head." He grumbled. "But my body seems to be more content with going against you."

"One more time, please. And then we can dance whatever you want. I don't care, I'll follow."

He scratched his head at the thought. He should go home, but… "Fine. I'll try to be like a spring."

One more try turned into three more, and the last one was actually successful. After spinning her around mid air, while she performed several figures, he let her stand on the ground again. Carried around by the music they continued the choreography until the song finished.

Aya blinked at him in surprise. It felt as if Senri stopped thinking and just let the music and muscle memory lead him. It was perfect. "Yay! You did it!" She squealed and jumped around his neck, giving him a sisterly hug. She was ecstatic about this success.

"We did. I wouldn't've managed without your guidance, Aya-sensei." He teased and wiggled out of her hug.

"Oh, you." She nudged his ribs. "Well… at least we know that you should be banned from thinking while dancing."

"Very funny. But it's not the choreography you'll do with Kouta, is it?" He was referring to the competition she'd promised to attend as Kouta's partner. But that was a competition in Latin dances not acro… Somehow, he wouldn't have been surprised if Aya'd assigned them for some acro competition too, and knowing his brother, he knew Kouta wouldn't decline it.

She shrugged. "Nah… Probably not, but it is one of the options."

"Oh… So there is an acro competition too? Ah, the videos we took on Tuesday with Taiga?"

"Yes and yes. I sent it to Kouta, to pick one he thinks we can pull off. But I guess we'll have to adjust it anyways. Kouta is different from both of you, so I'm interested in how we'd manage."

"You'll win like the usual. Kouta's better than me, after all." He said and went to drink. All three brothers danced, but he took the longest of them to learn. His body needed more tries and more time to learn and remember something; while Kouta was the most natural of them. In combination with Aya's immense skills and fiery spirit, they could very well win with minimum joined practise. They could even become an ideal dancing pair, but that was unlikely to happen.

"True, but we're not practising together… Ah… No reason to worry over it. Let's dance some more. Your pick." Her eyes were sparkling in anticipation.

"You're way too energetic today. Did something happen?"

"Nothing much." She shrugged with a perfect poker face. Senri wasn't a person she'd discuss Aomine with. But she was sure she'd give a call to either Suzume, or Alex, possibly Kouta, but she wasn't sure she needed the pervert's ideas to get stuck in her head.

"If you say so... Cha-cha and jive, and then we're done for the day. Got it?"

"Yes, sir! And one quickstep please."

"Aya!"

* * *

"So you're going over to Aomine-san's place?" Kiku asked with a half-smirk.

"Because we need to write the history paper and study. Don't get any weird ideas." Aya said with an eye roll and pulled a t-shirt over her head. They were the last ones left in the changing room after P.E. and Kiku didn't shy away from changing in front of Aya anymore.

"Mhm. That's why you have the change of clothes?" She eyed Aya's short jeans and grey t-shirt with black elbow-length sleeves.

"What?! I just don't want to be stuck in the uniform till the evening. That's all… And you say _I'm_ terrible…" She muttered the last sentence.

"Yeah, sure. By the way, did something happen? He kinda keeps staring at you the whole day, and you seem to actually like it…"

"I have no idea what's going through his head, but trust me, I'm not enjoying it. This is not good at all." _Too dangerous._

Kiku gave her a sideways glance and sighed. "Honestly? Aren't you just forcing yourself to keep your hands off him too?"

Aya gave her a scandalised look, or she tried to, but then she chuckled and folded her uniform. "Maybe, but it's for his own good. He doesn't know what he's getting himself into."

Kiku shrugged. "Oh, I think he knows it quite well, _Sweetheart._ " She teased her.

The reddish eyes suddenly stared at her without a speck of humour. "No, no he doesn't." Aya shook her head, flashes of the last night's nightmare appearing in her head.

"Ah. S-sorry." Kiku bit her lip and looked at her feet. "I didn't want to remind of you of anything bad. I'm sorry."

She sighed and ruffled Kiku's hair; she didn't want the little girl to feel bad for teasing her. "It's fine. Don't worry 'bout it, 'kay?"

Kiku nodded. "We should go…"

"Yeah. I bet Aomine's waiting for us."

They grabbed their bags and left the changing room. Aomine was indeed leaning against the wall several steps from the door.

"What took you so damn long?" He grumbled immediately, not really pleased by Kiku's presence, as he wanted to be with Aya. He knew it was petty, but he couldn't help himself.

"Well you know… Girls' talk, Honey-bun." Aya said with a smirk. "Besides, it's you who needs a help with studying, so I don't want to hear any complaints."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Mhmm… I don't recall you've ever asked what the topic of the history assignment is."

No. She couldn't really retort anything to that. They could choose the topic themselves, and Aomine had started writing it on his own, so he must've chosen something… but… "Well, I hope you'll enlighten me about that." She smiled apologetically.

Kiku blinked at Aya in surprise. For the redhead to not know... She peeked at the two and they looked good together. Aomine-san still had his ever present frown and he smirked at Aya, but he had an unusually soft look in his eyes. After the day of staring, Kiku expected to see some wolfish desire, but he seemed to had cooled off somehow. She felt like a third wheel, and she didn't want to be in a way.

"Uhm… I-I-I'm gonna fetch my bike and go, Aya." She peeped, stuttering because of Aomine's presence.

"Yeah sure. You're not going with Wakamatsu-senpai today?" It wasn't a norm yet, but sometimes Wakamatsu would cycle to school just to accompany Kiku home. 'By chance' of course.

"Eh? Uuuhm, n-no. I saw Tada-senpai dragging him away before the P.E. I-I think it was something about studying…" She chuckled remembering the two friends bickering over some poets they were supposed to study.

"Oh. Right. Then, be careful about falling into muddy puddles from the yesterday's storm."

"Hey! I don't fall off the bike." She protested, but Aya just raised an eyebrow after hearing that. "…Usually…" She added begrudgingly.

"Yup. Be careful."

Kiku rolled her eyes. "You have nothing to say with those bruises." She jabbed back.

"That's not –!"

"Not what?" Kiku shook her head, and then turned left. "I'm off. Have a nice weekend!"

Aya was blinking after the little girl. "Huh… I'm not sure if I'm not having a bad influence on her…"

"Definitely are." Aomine nodded gravely. "I thought she was scared of her own shadow."

"Most of the time she is… And then there are those moments when she can shut _me_ up." She said in disbelief. Kiku's observation skills were indeed exceptional.

"Heh… If I hadn't just seen it, I wouldn't have believed it…" He glanced at Aya with a question in his eyes.

"What?"

"Bruises?"

She sighed and bent her arms to show him her elbows. After the night's storm, the morning had been chillier than usual, so she'd been wearing a blazer over the shirt, covering her entire arms. He couldn't have noticed.

"Here, and then here and here," she pointed at two spots on her left thigh, "and here." She pointed at her right shoulder. "And probably one or two on the back… I'm not sure."

He frowned at her. "What were you doing?"

"Practising acro with Senri. If you're not synced well, mistakes happen." She shrugged. "It's normal; I was just spoiled by Ray and Taiga for the past years and I softened up. Once I get used to it, the bruises won't form anymore."

True, he knew from jiu-jitsu that once you'd gotten used to hits at certain places the bruises just stopped forming. But he didn't like the idea of Aya having bruises, or being so nonchalant about it.

"Girls shouldn't have bruises."

"I know. We shouldn't have scars either. Sorry for bursting your beauty concepts, Honey-bun." She shrugged but there was a sparkle of teasing in her eyes. Aya:1, Daiki:0.

"Tch. You know I didn't mean it like that."

"And how exactly did you mean it?" A corner of her mouth twitched upwards and she was fighting off a grin.

"Tch." He looked away in embarrassment and grumbled something under his nose, which sounded like awfully like 'go to hell, you witch.' Aya:2, Daiki:0.

She just laughed at it.

They walked in silence for a while and then she sighed and smiled at him kindly. "I'm fine. Really. Don't worry." She reassured him, because despite his tries to keep his demeanour, he was walking on the eggshells around her. She could feel it.

"Tch. Right, you're just covered in bruises and pass out once in a while. Really. Nothing to worry about." _The hell, why do I even care?!_

"That's not a norm."

He raised an eyebrow at her in disbelief. Aya's norm was everything out of it. Usually.

"Senri needs time to learn it. And I can't distrust him or it won't be good. Even if I end up with a few bruises." He was still giving her the look. "I'll be more careful next time. So… Don't worry, 'kay?"

"Who said I worry?" He smirked. Daiki:1, Aya:2.

"Hey!" She jabbed his ribs. "And you say _I'm_ terrible." This felt like a déjà vu.

He laughed and grabbed her hand, because she knew damn well, which ribs to hit. "You are, Sweetheart. But so am I." Daiki:2, Aya:2.

No. The heated moment from yesterday was not forgotten in the slightest. His palm was big, warm, rough and callused, but not sweaty. He held her smaller palm firmly, to stop her, but it didn't hurt. Kiku might've been right about this… She probably was forcing herself to keep her hands off him, but what was she supposed to do? If her father knew, he'd have a very good leverage on her. And she couldn't allow that. She didn't even want to think about Daiki being used against her. She knew he didn't need her protection, but she didn't want to destroy him. She needed to end the cold war with her father first, even if she ended up disinherited or whatever, otherwise…

She cleared her throat and pulled her hand away. It was awkward, and he could probably see how much willpower it took her to take those few steps away and smile. Thankfully, they were at a crossroad and she used it to erase the awkwardness.

"Which way now?" She looked all around her. "I've never been to this neighbourhood."

He blinked at her and then a half-smile appeared on his face. "Turn right."

"I thought it would be left." She mused. "What's the project about anyways?"

 _A quicksilver…_ He thought, but started explaining why he chose the topic he'd done, and what was already written. It felt sour to be pushed away like that, but he saw the war going on in her eyes. It almost seemed that it hurt her to do it. So he went with the flow. He wanted to probe, but… Knowing her, she probably had damn good reasons. Reasons he didn't know and wouldn't understand. And it was the bad time of the year for her. He shouldn't be selfish… _But damn…_

The rest of their walk went by quickly. Aya was carefully listening to his history project talk, and she was actually amazed about how well thought out he had it. It was probably the first time, she'd heard him talk about something with such an enthusiasm, though his explanations sucked sometimes. _He really does like history…_ They just needed to actually write the whole thing down and finish what he'd started.

When they arrived at his house, she was surprised. It was in a quiet neighbourhood, and now they were standing in front of one of the houses. It was pretty big, with a garage in the front and a basket above the garage door. A narrow trail paved by flat stones was lined with bonsai trees and led towards a small staircase and the front door, where another, the smallest of all the bonsais stood guard. Next to the garage was another small entrance – a high but narrow piece of a fence with a door. Aya assumed it was the entrance to the garden situated behind the house.

And right now a loud screams and yelps could be heard from that backyard. "Shiro! For dog god's sake come here! No! Stop!" – followed by a loud crash and then "You stupid dog!"

"Uhm…" Aya paused and gave Daiki a questioning glance. "Is that your mom?"

He seemed to pale in that moment. "Oh no." He groaned and rubbed his face desperately. "Tch. Come on." He headed towards the garden entrance.

With a shrug and insatiable curiosity, Aya followed after him. They walked into the garden, which was pretty spacious too, just to see a scene cut out of some comedy.

Daiki's mom was desperately chasing a huge, previously certainly white dog, Shiro, around the garden, while the Samoyed was obviously having lots of fun and enjoying the chase. The originally white thick and fluffy fur coat – Daiki groomed almost every day – was now damp and covered in mud – at least he hoped it was just mud and not some waste Shiro might've rolled in. A black dog, Kurome, equally dirty, was barking as if she was cheering her pack mate on to even greatest running efforts. Well, and poor Michiko, partly covered in mud too, with torn jeans and bloodied knees, was running around with a hose in her hand, trying to catch and wash her son's dog before he'd come home with Aya-chan.

No one noticed the two teenagers arriving. It was a chaos of chaos.

Not until: "Mom?! What the-?!" Daiki frowned after seeing the disaster in the garden and mother's destroyed jeans. "SHIRO!" He yelled at the dog with so much authority in the voice that the dog froze on spot where it was standing.

Michiko almost tripped over the dog and whipped around with a sheepish expression.

The Samoyed turned its head in surprise. For a moment she even looked apologetic, but then her eyes zoomed on Aya, and as disordered and excited as she was, she ignored Daiki's authority for a moment, and immediately bolted to Aya. Kurome followed the example.

When Aya saw that she put down her bag stepped away from it and prepared herself for the impact. "Oh no." She let out as the two heavy dogs jumped at her with their tails wagging furiously. Both dogs had their paws almost on her shoulders, and they were trying to reach and lick her face, while she was trying to avoid it. But their curiosity and love, and excitement rubbed off onto her in seconds and she laughed.

"Hey, hey. I'm happy to meet you too." She laughed and rubbed the muddy fur of both. Thankfully she changed out of the uniform before leaving school. "You big muddy monsters."

"Oi!" Daiki yelled at the dogs not sure if he should be: 1. glad that they liked Aya at the first sight, 2. jealous that they didn't greet him at all, 3. embarrassed that his dogs and mother were so unruly that day, 4. angry that they destroyed mom's jeans, several flower pots and were working on completely dirtying Aya's clothes too.

"They are finally at one place!" Michiko exclaimed with a desperate sigh. "Here!" She forced a hose into Daiki's hands. "You have a chance to give them a quick wash now."

"What?! Kagami will kill me!"

" _Aya_ won't kill you!" She said through chuckles. "I'm covered in mud anyways a bit of water won't kill me."

A devious idea came to his mind, and he smirked. "If you say so, Sweetheart." He said with a dangerous undertone, ignoring his mom's curious glance after using the nickname.

"Oh no." Aya muttered again.

The first stream of cold water from the hose hit her straight into face and she growled in annoyance. Thankfully, it'd gotten warm enough throughout day. She should've expected that. But the dogs startled at the sudden cold splash and tried to get away.

"No you're not." Aya grumbled and hugged Shiro tightly. "Aim for the dog, not me, stupid!"

"Sorry, sorry." He chuckled. "They're not see-through."

"Very funny."

Shiro was making really funny sounds, as Aya rubbed the mud out of her coat under the steady water stream. Of course the dog was trying to get away and have some fun chasing the hose, and Aya, and everyone around, but Aya was holding it firmly at place. Kurome, however, felt left out and soon she jumped on Daiki trying to play tug-of-war with the hose. It was an unexpected 'play with me' attack. They were still overgrown pups, not older than two years.

"Shit! Kurome!" He yelled at the dog, which dirtied his clothes too, and ripped the hose from his hands. As she was turning around victoriously and carrying the hose in her jaws she splashed Daiki too.

"Language young man!" Michiko warned him, but she was laughing at the entire chaos.

Aya laughed at his expression of a pure shock.

And then he stared at Kurome very, very angrily. All fun was gone. "Come here! Now!" He ordered the dog and glared at it. For a while, Kurome thought he might've been just playing, so she turned around and splashed him again, but when he didn't bug a millimetre… She bowed her head guiltily and trotted to him.

He grabbed the hose. "Very well." He said, and grabbed her collar to wash the mud from her as well.

Aya was still holding Shiro at place, but the dog wanted to go to Daiki too. "You're not going anywhere yet."

Michiko knew that this cleaning process would take a while, so she grabbed their bags (to keep it safe) and went inside to get some juice and towels for the kids.

When Daiki was done with Kurome, he was soaked and dirty too. He turned off the hose and without thinking he pulled his shirt off. He hated the feeling of cold wet clothes stuck to his back. He threw it over the porch's railing and looked back at Kurome.

"Stay!" He ordered her. "And don't move a muscle." He said in a warning tone and the dog turned its head away, not daring to look him in the eye.

"Tch… seriously…" He sighed as he approached Aya and Shiro. "And you," he glared down at Shiro, but she just stuck out her tongue and smiled at him, "bad dog!" He said, knowing it wouldn't help this late, but he needed to vent his anger. Shiro looked away, seemingly offended. She was just having fun.

Aya laughed at the dog's reaction. "You shouldn't tell a lady that she was a bad dog." She added with a chuckle, but couldn't take her eyes off of his bare torso. _He is so damn hot!_ Thankfully, he was paying more attention to the dog.

"Really, then what is this?" He threw his hand to emphasize the destruction of their garden.

"It's not that bad." She chuckled. "And besides, it was really funny. I mean look at us!" She pointed at her soaked and dirty clothes stuck to her body and then at him.

Only then did he look her up and down. Too bad she wasn't wearing anything see-through, but damn did she look hot. Strands of hair were stuck to her cheeks and forehead. Droplets of water were slowly running down her neck and her boobs were enhanced by the soaked clothes stuck to her skin. The universe seemed to be conspiring against him. It was damn difficult to hold back, and this… She was actually blushing! _Are you trying to kill me?_

She bit her lower lip. _And the staring contests starts again… Someone's really trying to torture me…_ She thought. _Me… mostly. Fuck._ Under that gaze of his she blushed, yet she didn't look away. It was wolfish, yet caring at the same time. She couldn't quite believe Daiki had something like that in him; it made her knees weak, and she knew… If he tried something now, she probably wouldn't push him away again. _Please don't do anything…_

Shiro whined and jumped at him. She was offended, yes, but she still hadn't greeted him properly. "Ugrh." The heavy dog made him take a few steps back. "Yeah, yeah, I'm glad to see you too. You uncivilised, stubborn dog."

Aya laughed, inwardly thanking the dog for interference. "See? It's not such a bad thing that they destroyed a few flower pots." She said with a shrug, forcing her stupid emotions under control. "Now, give me the hose, and wash your lovely lady properly."

He wanted to retort something, but decided otherwise. Neither of them needed a further provocation and as he'd conveniently forgotten a second ago his mother was most likely watching them from somewhere.

"We still need to give them a proper bath. I'm not letting them into the house like this." He said with a frown. This was uncalled for.

"Am I allowed to help?"

"Y' don't have a choice."

"Then let's do this." She said with a smile and they started to work on Shiro's thick double coat.

Michiko returned just as they were done with the rough wash. "I've brought you some juice and snacks."

"Thanks." They both said in unison and exchanged surprised glances.

"Daiki! Where's your t-shirt? You don't go undressing just like that." She scolded him good-heartily, not sure if his half-nakedness wasn't embarrassing for Aya-chan. But she was grinning, and Daiki knew she indeed had been watching.

Before he could retort, Aya answered. "It's fine, I see them almost every day in the practise anyways, and I have a brother so… I don't really care."

She straightened up and blinked at Daiki's mother. Due to the chaos, she hadn't had a time to look at the woman properly, or introduce, or anything. The woman was pretty, with long navy blue hair tied in a loose pony tail and the darkest black eyes Aya had ever seen. She was tanned just like Daiki and about the same height as Aya. Though she was still wearing the dirty clothes, just like the two of them…

"Oh! I'm so sorry!" Aya bowed slightly. Because of the situation she had a feeling they knew each other, but… "I'm Kagami Aya, please call me Aya. And I'm so sorry for barging in like that…" _That_ was embarrassing, not Daiki's bare chest.

The woman laughed at that. She had a soft voice and wrinkles of laughter were visible on her face. She struck Aya as a person who smiled and laughed often. "The situation was rather unusual, Aya-chan. And I haven't introduced myself properly either." She smiled at her kindly. "I'm Aomine Michiko, Daiki's mom. And please call me Michiko, or whatever shortening of my name you'd like."

Aya smiled back at her. She liked Michiko, and she had a feeling in might've been mutual. "Thank you."

Daiki jumped in quickly, while he had a chance. "What happened here?"

"Ah…" Michiko rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly and laughed. "I took them out, because I felt like going for a walk and they seemed willing to accompany me… They were sweet, really, but then… Shiro spotted some squirrel or something…"

"Tche, mom!" He scolded her. "That's why we tell you not to take them out on your own." Then he frowned at Michiko's scratched knees and sighed. "They probably pulled you on the ground too, right?"

Michiko blushed in embarrassment and looked away. "The passers-by sure had something to laugh at."

Aya chuckled. "Don't worry about that. They'd already forgotten."

"I doubt that." Daiki smirked.

"Oh, stop it." Aya shot him a glare. "I think we should give them a bath now, so we can do some studying before the last train…"

"Eh? Aren't you staying over?" Michiko looked at her with a look of utmost confusion. "I thought that weekend-study-session is like that. Isn't it? And besides, I already have the dinner and breakfast and all in my mind. I even took vacation for the two days."

"What?" Aya's eyes widened and she stared at the woman, and then at Daiki, who pulled an I-had-no-idea-about-this face but he didn't object. "I didn't… I don't want to be a bother." _If I have a nightmare…_

"No, no, no. You're not a bother. Daiki hadn't brought a friend over for over a year – well, Ryouta-kun doesn't count – and he doesn't talk with us about school much! We need some insight! And he needs someone to keep him in the books! Aya-chan please!"

"Ah…" She was blinking at Michiko. She had no idea how to answer. This was sure an underhanded attack.

"Well… if it won't be a big problem for you…" Michiko pulled a sad puppy face, knowing that Aya probably wouldn't be immune; she was the mother of the boy she liked, and she relied on that.

Aya took a deep breath, she couldn't really say no without offending Michiko. And she was starting to feel that there was some plot behind this offer going on. Then she sighed. "Fine, I'll stay over."

"Yay!" Michiko almost jumped in joy, though she felt some 'but' in there somewhere.

"But…"

 _Yep, it's there._ "But?"

"If it's supposed to be a proper study-sleepover, could I have a futon and sleep in one room with Daiki. It'd be more convenient, who knows when we'll be done with the project and I wouldn't want to wake you up by stumbling around the house in the middle of the night." She said with a rather daring smile, boldly using his name, which hadn't happened before, except that one time during the match against Kirisaki Daiichi.

'What are you doing?' He stared at her thunderstruck. The redhead requested it with such a straight face even he wouldn't be able to pull out.

'You have something to do with this. Let's make this torture worthwhile.' She wasn't sure how much she could convey and how much he understood. She didn't really care. _To hell with it._ If she was supposed to have a nightmare, she didn't want to be in an unknown house all alone.

A wide teasing smile appeared on Michiko's face, as she noticed Daiki's thunderstruck expression; as well as the quiet conversation going on between the two. _Aya-chan sure is something… To actually ask **me** something like this…_ "Sure." She agreed easily. "I don't think it's a big deal. You're _friends_ after all."

"Thanks. It's not like I'd do anything to him, despite my reputation." She winked at Michiko, signalling that she knew they knew about all that.

Daiki was staring between the two women, not sure if it they were in a war zone, or just leading a casual conversation. With his mother one couldn't be too sure, and it was similar with Aya. But there were no daggers flying, so he assumed it was the casual teasing… Still… That they spoke about him as if he wasn't even there was weird, but interesting at the same time. And the thought of Aya doing something to him was quite pleasant, actually. _Tch. You'd rather not think about it._

"You're a daring girl, Aya-chan. Or you trust my son way too much. Either way, I must admit… I like that." And she meant it. As mother she was protective of her son, sure, but she'd learnt the hard way that she wasn't supposed to dictate his life; she was trying to believe in him and his own choices – as long as they didn't involve him breaking his neck.

Aya chuckled. "I wouldn't have survived in the world of competitions for that long otherwise. And honestly… I was just figuring out whether _you_ trust him enough."

Michiko laughed good-heartily, throwing her head backwards. "She's a keeper, Daiki." She teased her son, who blushed and blabbered something that sounded way too similar to 'Go to hell'. "Okay kids! Eat the snacks, get changed into something and go bath the dogs before Daisuke gets home. We'll have dinner than. I'm sure you can lend Aya-chan some dry t-shirt, and I'll get the bath ready for you later on."

"I don't think it's wise to get changed." Aya pointed out. "We're gonna bath them, which involves more water and shampoo."

"Good point." She nodded and retreated back into the house to take a shower and disinfect the scratches and cuts on her knees. She was chuckling the entire way; she couldn't wait for Daisuke meeting Aya-chan. She was sure her husband would be intrigued by the girl too.

"So you won't do anything to me, huh, Sweetheart?" He asked teasingly, after regaining his composure. "You sure 'bout that?"

"Yes. We'll be studying anyways." She shrugged; her eyes turned serious, and despite all the heat, she seemed determined about that. "And honestly, I don't feel like sleeping in a room alone, when I'm in an unknown environment. That way I think I can get at least some minutes of sleep. I think I don't need to tell you about the nightmares, do I?"

"Your brother told me enough." He sighed and gave up. "You're unbelievable, you know that?"

 _Taiga, huh?_ "Pretty much."

"Let's go bath those two devils."

"Lead the way. I'm here for the first time."

######

When Daisuke arrived at home slightly sooner, he was greeted by an unusual sight. His son and a beautiful redheaded girl were both soaked and elbow deep in bubbles, each rubbing a dog clean, in front of their garage. Shiro and Kurome were tied, just in case one of them spotted a rodent and decided to chase it, and bubbly water was trickling down the pavement and into sewers along the road. Akari turned her head to a side in question.

Shiro noticed them first and made a strange sound she did every time she greeted a pack mate.

Daiki didn't even need to look up to know who'd come. "Okaeri'."

"Tadaima. Why is Kagami-chan giving a bath to Kurome?" He asked humorously. "Sure a way to treat the guest."

"Ah, it's fine. I volunteered." Aya got up with a smile and wiped her hands to her jeans (not that it helped much). "I'm Kagami Aya, nice to meet you." She held back the urge to offer a handshake and bowed.

Daisuke watched her with amusement. He noticed how she twitched just before she bowed. "Aomine Daisuke." He bowed too, and then offered her the handshake himself. She blinked at his hand in surprise, and then gave him a proper squeeze. "You can call me Daisuke, just so we avoid confusions, as we are all 'Aomine'." He said with a smile.

Aya was pleasantly surprised by the man's little gesture and the warmth in his icy-blue eyes. He was in his uniform, with a gun attached, but Aya wasn't particularly scared of that anymore. The man was interesting, shorter than Daiki, but he had an aura of intelligence, respect and self-confidence. Nothing aggressive though, she'd definitely trust him. He was clean shaven, with high cheek bones and sharp chin. Quite handsome actually, and she now knew, that Daiki took more after his mother.

Then she looked at the dog obediently sitting at his leg. "You must be Akari." She said and crouched down to look at the dog. "Ah, can I?" She looked up to Daisuke, before stretching her hand towards the dog. If it was a police dog… it probably had a military training and didn't like strangers.

He smiled at her wariness. "Sure. Akari doesn't bite without being ordered to."

"Good to know." She said with a smile and stretched her hand out, waiting for the dog to come to her.

Akari looked at Daisuke for permission. Then she stood up and took two steps towards Aya. Akari generally didn't like unknown people touching her. But she liked the girl's scent and her patience too. She sniffed her palm and then rested her head against it. Aya started scratching her under the chin and on the chest, and Akari enjoyed the affection. She was soon wagging her tail and laying on her back.

Daisuke whistled in surprise. "You're good with dogs, Kagami-chan. I rarely see Akari doing this."

She chuckled. "Dogs know its kind. Right?" Akari barked in agreement. "And please call me Aya."

He chuckled and sat on the ground far enough, so the other two dogs wouldn't reach him and soak him too. They wanted to greet him, he knew, but not while they were like that. He scratched Akari's stomach too. "You don't like people calling you by your family name?" He asked curiously.

"Well… I'm used to people calling me Aya. And I kind of prefer it." She shrugged, conveniently avoiding the full answer.

"As you wish then, Aya-chan." He nodded and smiled at her.

"Thank you."

"So." He cleared his throat and turned to Daiki. "What on earth happened here?"

Daiki rolled his eyes. "Mom thought that taking them out after the yesterday's storm on her own was a good idea… Of course they saw a squirrel, and of course they found a load of mud afterwards."

"Is she okay?" He asked worriedly.

"Feeling humiliated, but other than that, it's just some scratches and torn jeans. Nothing serious."

Daisuke chuckled at the idea of his wife being dragged around by the two dogs. It worried him and amused him at the same time. "I should go and check up on her."

"Mhm." Daiki nodded. "And bring me the blower." Shiro needed to be fully dry before she'd be allowed in.

" _Please._ " Daisuke added and saluted. "I'm on it, sir." He got up and disappeared inside the house with Akari following after him.

Aya raised an eyebrow at Daiki and started to laugh. " _Please._ " She repeated. "You really should use the magic words sometimes…"

"Hey! That's not…" He protested with a blush, feeling somewhat bad. His father hadn't scolded him, but he'd made fun of him instead. "Making fun of me like that…" He muttered.

She sat on the ground and looked at him. "Your parents are amazing. Bringing you up like this…" Then she turned her eyes to chase a cat-shaped cloud with her gaze. "You should be glad to have 'em."

He wanted to retort that they were unbearable at times... But then… "I know." He sighed. "Sometimes I forget."

She smiled at him and jumped into a crouching position again. "Let's get this done, so we can do some studying too."

* * *

 **A/N:** The two are getting closer and closer, spiraling around... It's still a slow burn after all. I hope I didn't overdo anything.

Let me know what you think and remember, reviews are appreciated but never necessary.

S.


	33. Chapter 33: Stormy heart

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone who followed, favourited and reviewed! It makes me very happy :) Here's the long awaited "study session" chapter.

Enjoy! :)

* * *

 _I've never seen anythin' sexier in my life, and she's not even naked yet. ―_ _ **Simone Elkeles, Rules of Attraction**_

 _Home is people. Not a place. If you go back there after the people are gone, then all you can see is what is not there any more._ ― _**Robin Hobb, Fool's Fate**_

 _We are who we are for a lot of reasons ―_ _ **Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower**_

 _...do you actually think that how long a person grieves is a measure of how much they loved someone?_ — _**David Wroblewski**_

 _Never apologize for burning too brightly or collapsing into yourself every night. That is how galaxies are made. ―_ _ **Tyler Kent White**_

 _Love is not a maybe thing, you know when you love someone._ ― _**Lauren Conrad**_

 _And I guess I realized at that moment that I really did love her. Because there was nothing to gain, and that didn't matter._ ― _**Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower**_

 _The love that comes from friendship is the underlying facet of a happy life._ – _**Chelsea Handler**_

* * *

"Finally done?" Daisuke asked the teenagers when they walked into the kitchen. The dogs were clean and blow-dried, while Daiki and Aya were soaked and dirty. He chuckled at the sight. "You did a good job."

"Thanks to someone, we had to." He teased his mother, who was cooking. He sniffed and grinned. "You making teriyaki noodles?"

"Yeah. Thought you might be happy." She smiled at him. "I hope you like teriyaki, Aya-chan?"

"Of course." Aya nodded with a smile. "I eat about anything. Well… besides still living things and escargots. Urgh…" She shuddered at the memory of being forced to eat one alive.

"Es – What?" Daiki asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Snails." She elucidated and laughed at his disgusted expression. "Yep, that's the right reaction."

"You're part French, right, Aya-chan?" Michiko asked just to be sure.

"Yeah. My grandpa is French. But! Frogs and snails are really not something they eat. Not at all." People loved to jump to that conclusion, thought she never really got the reason why.

Michiko chuckled; happy that Aya-chan was feeling relaxed in their company. "No one said that. I was – Hey!" She slapped Daiki's hand, which was about to steal a piece of chicken, away. "Wait for the dinner!"

"Tch." He rolled his eyes. "I'm hungry."

"Go take a bath first. Then come for dinner."

"Yeah, yeah." He headed towards stairs followed by Shiro.

"And let Aya-chan go first! And give her a change of clothes!"

He waved his hand at Aya to follow him. "Gee'. Yes. Come on, or you'll be the last one bathing."

Aya just shook her head, but quickly followed. She didn't mind being left alone with his parents; she just didn't want to stumble around the house trying to find the bathroom, or his room. They climbed up the stairs and Aya was looking all around her, trying to notice as many things as she could. It was an interesting house, a combination of something traditional and modern. At the upper floor there was a relatively narrow corridor and several rooms. They had a dog fence at the top of the stairs, which could've been closed to keep the dogs either down or up; given they weren't crazy enough to jump over it.

"Well that was quick." He muttered as he walked into his room, eyeing the futon his mother had already prepared, though it was thankfully still folded up.

"Uhm…" Aya stood at the threshold. "Can I come in, or am I supposed to ask permission, or something?"

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Why? You nominated yourself to sleep here. No reason to act shy now, Sweetheart." He teased with a smirk.

If she hadn't known him she might've been offended by his words. "Very well then." She shrugged and walked in mapping his room.

It was neater than she'd expected and about as big as hers, nothing overly spacious but nothing too small either. Shiro's bed was in a corner of the room, hidden between the wardrobe and his bed. He had a big window above a big desk and several shelves with books. _You don't read, huh?_ She thought as she tried to read the titles, but they were too far away from her to see. He had another shelf with two basketballs and couple of medals and trophies earned in competitions. She smiled at that. A small coffee table was set in the middle, probably for them to study at, and her bag was already placed near it. She hadn't realised Michiko had taken the bag.

Peripherally she noticed Daiki rummaging through his wardrobe and before she could ask anything, he threw a t-shirt at her. "Here."

She caught it and stared at him for a moment. "To change into, I s'pose?"

"I don't have anything smaller." He shrugged. "About shorts, I'll go ask mom to give you hers."

"No need to. I have my own."

"You have a change of clothes?" He asked in surprise.

"I wear them under the uniform, remember? And the uniform didn't get dirty. But thanks for the t-shirt." She smiled and kneeled to fish out the shorts from her bag. They were super short, but in combination with Daiki's huge t-shirt it shouldn't be a problem. Besides… she never minded short shorts.

"The bathroom is at the end of the hall. Put your clothes in the basket and mom will wash it."

"Huh?" She blinked at him unused to have someone taking care of things like that. "Oh. Yeah, right."

He noticed her faltering. "What?"

Hiding it behind a smile, she answered: "It's nothing. I'll be quick, so don't worry, you'll get to eat soon enough."

Daiki rolled his eyes and waved a hand at her. "Go already. Shoo."

"Hai, hai." She chuckled and turned to leave, but before she exited the room, "and don't even think about spying," she added over her shoulder.

A wolfish grin flashed on his face. "I haven't thought about it, until you suggested it."

Daiki:1, Aya:0. "You'd better quickly forget it again then, Honey bun."

"Why? It's a pretty nice image."

She didn't answer to that. She turned on her heel and quickly walked towards the bathroom, not looking back at him. That grin of his made her stomach quiver, and she wondered about her sanity. Comments like those should've made her feel grossed out, or something, but she was actually what? Excited? She couldn't really grasp it herself.

The bathroom didn't have a lock, which was questionable but understandable, and at the given situation it made her really worried. At least, she trusted that Daiki wasn't the type of guy who'd walk in on her. Though, she decided to take a quick shower rather than a bath, which Michiko had prepared earlier.

Daiki slumped onto his bed when she'd left. "This is gonna be one hell of a long weekend." He muttered and stared at the ceiling.

She was back in less than 10 minutes, rubbing her hair dry. "Uhm, where should I put the towel to dry?" She asked as there was no obvious place for it in the bathroom.

He blinked at her, ignoring her question. The t-shirt reached her thighs and completely covered the shorts, making it look as if she had nothing under it. And it was _his_ t-shirt she was wearing. At that moment he thought all the idol magazines could go to hell, because he'd never seen anything sexier than Aya wearing his clothes. He was wondering if she was wearing a bra or not, and he thought that she wasn't. It must've been as soaked as the rest of her clothes so…

She rolled her eyes at that slight blush and absent minded look on his face. "Aomine. Are you listening?"

"Uh... What?" He blinked and finally looked at her face.

"Where can I put the towel to dry?" She repeated the question.

"Balcony in the guest room." He said and got up to show her which room it was. When he walked past her he stopped for a moment staring down at her in shock. "Did you use my shower gel?"

"So it _was_ yours. Well then, I guess I did use yours." She smirked.

It left him speechless for a moment. She was too much, really, provoking him like that. "Do you realise what you're doing, or are you testing my self-control?"

"Yes and yes." She laughed teasingly.

He shook his head and rather headed towards the guest room or he'd seriously do something to her. He was thinking of getting off in the shower to survive the evening, anyways. He took a towel from her and went to hang it over the clothes dryer.

"Not really." She said with a sigh, leaning against the door frame.

"Huh?"

"I'm not a guy so I don't really know how you see this, but I'm not trying to test your self-control." She smiled. "I know I should've used your mom's stuff, but…" She bit her lower lip and continued in a quieter voice. "I'm sorry, but I can't stand the sweet flowery scents. Least of all the rose scented things." Which was exactly what Michiko had.

"…" That apologetic expression of hers was damn cute. _No, she doesn't know how I see this…_ "You should go downstairs."

"…" The hungry look in his eyes made his suggestion seem like a very good idea, because it was contagious. She partly wished they hadn't had this vibe. _Stupid, you love this vibe._ "Yeah, I should. I'll go ask if your mom doesn't need help." She said, turned around and tying her hair, she headed out of the room, hoping it would go away once they'd start studying.

 _So she doesn't like flowery scents…_ He made a mental note about it and then he rubbed his face in despair. If it hadn't been Aya, he wouldn't have noticed such a comment. Yes. He needed a cold shower.

######

"Took you long enough!" Daisuke laughed, when Daiki came to the kitchen almost half an hour after Aya-chan. He had a pretty good idea what his son had been doing.

"Tch. So? Any problems?"

"Nothin' at all." He chuckled and looked at the two women ignoring them and talking about the food on the stove. "Aya-chan is… I thought she'd be a bit gloomy or angry or... I don't know. She is like sunshine and a hurricane at the same time."

Daiki shrugged and looked at Aya's back with a small smile. "Didn't I tell you that?"

The expression Daiki had was unusually soft and kind. "Hmph…" Daisuke huffed proudly. "So my son finally respects and admires a girl. Thought it would take you years…"

"Tch. Leave it."

"Hm?" Aya turned around. "What's up?"

Daisuke smiled brightly and pointed at Aya's bruised thigh. "Just wondering who you fought with to have those... And how that person looked like at the end."

"Worse than me…" She laughed. "But no. It was an accident during the practise. Couple of accidents…" She added begrudgingly under the Daisuke's strict but kind glance. "But everything's fine. Things like these happen."

"I always thought that dancing was safe." Michiko said with a smile and started setting the food on the table.

"Appearances can be deceptive." Aya turned around with a chuckle. "Oh, I'll help." She was willing to help and avoid the topic too, but Michiko put a hand on her shoulder and pushed her to sit on a chair.

"You're our honoured guest Aya-chan. Let me serve, or I'll be offended." She said with a meaningful look in her black eyes.

Aya sighed. "Okay, but if I can help with something, let me know. I'm not used to being spoiled like this." They did have a housekeeper back in L.A., who did the cooking and all, but…

"Spoiled? By being fed a dinner? Aya-chan please." Michiko rolled her eyes theatrically and put down the last serving for herself. "It's the least I can do, for all your help with this mildly dumb basketball freak, who barely tells us anything." She said giving a pointed look at Daiki, who rolled his eyes in response. He had told them quite a lot actually…

"Alright then." She nodded and smiled. The food smelled amazingly well; she couldn't wait to dig into it.

At first, Michiko had thought it would be difficult to lead a conversation with Aya-chan. But soon she learned that it was the easiest thing to do. She herself was open and cheerful, and so was Aya. The conversation flowed naturally and Aya was happily talking about the school and teachers, practises and matches... Daiki kept quiet and listened to the talk, rarely jumping in to correct some of Aya's 'practise' stories. And she finally explained Michiko the rules of the sport named basketball, which meant so much for her son, and who had considered the explanation to be too much of a drag.

"I can't believe you haven't explained this to your mom. Really…" Aya shook her head in disapproval, but she had an amused expression. This was like Daiki. "But…" She looked at Michiko again. "Haven't you been to his matches?"

"Ah…" The woman looked away from the big reddish brown eyes staring right at her. "Well… I either work, or Daiki forbids me to go... And I wouldn't get it either way." She shrugged and got up to wash the dishes.

He nodded to that. "That's right, whose mother goes to their matches? Tch."

"Maybe yours should start with it. Right, Michi?" Daisuke winked at her and passed her his plates. "And I probably should as well."

"Urgh… Couldn't you rather give us tips for the project?" His father was a kind of a history freak after all; who else should he ask if not him?

"I've already given you my tips. Now you two have to sit by the books and net, and put it all together. I hope you informed Aya-chan, right?" He looked at her for a confirmation.

"Yep. I was enlightened on our way here. And it is really interesting." She nodded. "I don't really know much about Japanese history, as it wasn't a subject in the States. But I'm actually glad we have to do this. The formation of shogunate and its function… I mean, there is so much to learn. The paper is too short for that…"

"Too short? It's 15 goddamn pages!" Daiki protested immediately. He liked history, but 15 pages were just too many.

"Language young man!" Michiko scolded him.

"Tch. Yeah, yeah… Anyways…" He raised an eyebrow at Aya. "You aren't much into history, or…?" He'd never noticed if she had a favourite subject or not, she was fine with everything, maybe except math, physics and chemistry…

She shrugged with a smirk. "More than into chemistry, definitely… Aaand… to me, it really depends on the person explaining. Ueda-sensei, for example, does a very decent job in keeping me interested, so do my grandfathers; but the sensei in Akita was terribly monotonous and boring."

Daisuke laughed at that. "I completely understand that. Had some lame teachers in the high-school too."

"Same here!" Michiko added over her shoulder and dipped a plate into water. "What's the time, honey? When do we need to leave?"

"?" Daiki looked between them in utter confusion. Weren't they supposed to stay at home?

"Date night." He replied seriously and then looked at Michiko. "We still have half an hour to get ready."

"Where are you going?" He asked for a more detailed explanation than just a 'date night'.

"Cinema and a late night dinner afterwards. There is something mom wants to see."

"Oh… Good luck on surviving the movie." Daiki cringed, already pitying his father; he knew what type of movies his mother loved, and it definitely wasn't something for either of them.

Daisuke sighed, inwardly agreeing with his son. He couldn't handle horror movies just as much. But… "What wouldn't I do for my lovely lady, eh?" He teased her lovingly. "And I'll check up on your progress when we get back, so behave. Akari will keep an eye on you."

He rolled his eyes in annoyance and decided to change the topic. "Do I need to take 'em out?"

"Nah, Akari had her walk before I'd come home and the two devils were walked by mom. Let the back door opened for them, just in case, but the walk isn't necessary today."

"'kay. So we'll do the project. Hopefully the whole damn thing, right?" He sighed and looked at Aya, but she wasn't paying attention to him, and was staring into nowhere in particular, lost in thoughts. She was holding onto her scarred shoulder, and he wondered if she realised it, or if it was just an unconscious impulse of hers.

Daisuke noticed too and blinked at his son in question, who responded with a shrug.

"Would you like a tea, Aya-chan?" Michiko asked cheerfully, putting a kettle on; oblivious to a warning look Daisuke sent her.

"Ah, uhm," Aya blinked at the sudden question aimed at her. She got too consumed by their 'date night' plans and the whole feeling and dynamics of Aomine family. It reminded her so much of what she'd once had and lost; of how her own parents used to interact, and she couldn't help but feel sad and a bit envious. She missed this…

"Are you okay?" She asked immediately with concern in her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah." She stammered. "Sorry. I'm fine. And, uhm… I'd like a coffee, if it's okay. I'm just a bit tired."

"If you say so." Michiko hummed and decided not to probe. They needed to leave soon anyways. "But don't overwork. If you want to sleep, take a nap."

"I'll keep that in mind." She smiled, hoping it was reassuring enough.

In half an hour, Daisuke and Michiko left for their date night, and the two teenagers were left alone to write the paper and study for the final exams.

"We should get started." Aya said and washed her coffee cup.

He took out two glasses and a juice his mom had put in the fridge. "You want any snacks?"

"Not yet. I'll let you know if I want something." She nodded with a surprised smile. "To think that you'd be this hospitable, Honey-bun…"

"Tch. Very funny…" He shook his head and headed to the stairs, followed by the dogs. _So she's fine, huh?_ He didn't buy it. "Hey," suddenly he whipped around to ask her if she was really okay, but…

"Uff." She was close behind him, so when he suddenly stopped and turned she bumped into him, barely catching one of the glasses she knocked out of his hand. "Watch it." She mumbled and rubbed her nose.

"You really okay?" He asked what he wanted before he'd lose the courage or she'd start with something else, and took the glass from her again.

She blinked at him. "Yeah, fine."

His eyes narrowed. "Y' didn't seem 'fine'."

"Tch. And what do you want to hear?!" She asked frowning, a sharp edge appearing in her voice. "That I miss mom?! That your family is the splitting image of what mine used to be once? And that it reminds me of what doesn't exist for me anymore?"

 _What?_ He blinked and took a step back.

Noticing Daiki's shocked and confused expression, which was a perfect reflexion of 'oh… I don't know how to react now', she pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. She shouldn't have let that out, and not in that almost angry tone. Those few days before Keiko's anniversary were always difficult for her, and Aomine's family was like a life's way of mocking her, another nail in the coffin. She had no real reason to be angry or envious, but some part of her heart just couldn't get rid of the panging emptiness and longing she felt.

"Sorry." She muttered and locked it all away. This really wasn't Daiki's fault and she had no right to be upset.

"That's…" He stammered; he had no idea Aya could feel like this. Heck, he could've, should've expected it, given her circumstances… But there was nothing he could do. _What the hell is wrong with me? I shouldn't have asked at all…_

"…my problem and I should've been used to it by now. I'm sorry for that, and don't worry, I'll be fine." She said with a kind smile. She was genuinely surprised by the bluenette's care. It was just so unusual.

"…you're not upset…" He half-said half-asked, using a very careful tone, which wasn't usual for him.

"I miss her, I'm a bit sad, but I have no right and no reason to be upset. Though… If you ask it one more time…" _I will be._

"Right." He nodded. "Let's do the damn assignment." He said in an order-like voice.

"Yes, sir!" She saluted and chuckled shortly.

 _A quicksilver._ He thought again and headed up to his room.

He set the juice on the desk and started setting up his laptop and books on the smaller table, his mom had prepared for the studying. He really wanted to have this done already. The dogs were all crammed in Shiro's bed, and were watching him curiously from their bundle of legs and tails. He'd never believed they could be comfortable in those yoga positions they performed.

"No way!" Aya squealed out of nowhere, which startled him a bit.

"What?" He glanced up at her and raised an eyebrow at the sight. She was kneeling on his bed, boldly checking out his book shelves.

"You have the 'Ranger's Apprentice' series! No way!" She pulled out one of the books with an overexcited expression. It must've been read several times; the corners were chipped, and the cover was worn down.

His jaw dropped. "…you know it?" He was flabbergasted. It was his third favourite series, which was considered a boyish one, and Aya was a girl, a dancer… Well… A tree climbing and basketball playing girl and a dancer… _No way…_

"If I know it?!" She asked incredulously. "I freaking read it in three different languages, but the original is just the best!"

"You're kidding me…"

######

"Kagami-kun! Focus, please." Kuroko tapped his pencil against the Classical Japanese textbook impatiently. He'd explained the stuff several times already, but Kagami-kun just wasn't listening. It was well past 10 PM on Friday and everyone was tired, but they had to cram everything into Kagami's skull or he'd be unable to go to the training camp.

Though, Kuroko had to admit that Kagami-kun had gotten a bit better, but it was still insufficient. Without Midorima-kun's pencil there was only a very slight, almost nonexistent, chance of Kagami-kun passing the tests.

"I'm tryin', all right?!" He threw his hands up in a desperate gesture, almost hitting Furihata in the process. His brain just wasn't adjusted for cramming or studying like this. Mainly when he was thinking (and worrying) about Aya and mom; now he was doubting his decision to get Aomine involved.

"Then try more!" Riko scolded him almost immediately. "We can't spend the whole weekend on one subject only!"

"Urgh! But it's impossible, when Ay– ah…" He bit his tongue.

"When what?" Kuroko asked staring at Taiga.

The redhead backed away under the ghostly stare. He wasn't quite used to it yet. And after their little argument, he felt weirdly self-conscious, because he knew he'd hurt Kuroko and had never apologised – nor planned to apologise. "It's nothing…" He mumbled.

"It's not _nothing_ when you are this distressed."

He frowned at Kuroko. "It's none of your business, then."

"Aya-san?" Kuroko guessed, not backing away. He knew that when he pushed enough, Kagami-kun would give way.

Taiga grumbled something under his breath.

"What's up with Aya-chan?" Riko asked curiously, which only put more pressure on Taiga.

"And who is this Aya-chan?" Kiyoshi asked confusedly. He hadn't been lucky enough to meet the girl everyone else seemed to know.

"Kagami-kun's twin sister." Koganei cleared for him.

"Oh… I didn't know. And what's up with Aya-chan then?" Kiyoshi joined the interrogation with an expression of utter innocence.

"Urgh…" Taiga rubbed his hair in despair. He couldn't run from it as he really needed the help. "Writing an assignment…"

Kuroko stared at him with his blank expression, but Taiga'd swear that **this** blank expression was equal to a raised eyebrow.

"With Aomine…" He added begrudgingly, which caused several gasps and whispers among his team. "…alone…" He added; his despair magnifying. "…at his place…"

"Uuuhm…" Riko was blushing by now. She didn't like Aomine, and he had mocked her team, but… well… She could clearly see his built with her inner eye, and well… Forgetting the face and the personality, he was damn hot.

Taiga shot her almost a panicky glance. "What do you mean by that?!"

It was probably the first time in Kuroko's life when he had to suppress an eye roll. This was ridiculous. No matter how much he'd changed, Aomine-kun was definitely not the type to hurt Aya-san in any way. "Why don't you just call her?"

"No way! She'll know I'm checking up on her and then…" He paled. "No."

Everyone sighed. _How stupid…_

"Fine." Riko fetched her phone and dialled Aya's number, making sure she was far out of Taiga's reach. "I'll do it."

"No!" Taiga jumped up and threw himself over the study table and several guys to snatch the phone. He knocked over several glasses of water causing a little flood. The hit boys grumbled and groaned under Taiga's weight, sharp elbows and knees, cursing the impulsive redhead.

"Oi, what are you doing, Bakagami?!" Hyuuga yelled at him angrily.

Riko squealed in fright, she hadn't expected him to be so quick and nimble at the moment so it startled her and the phone flew across the room, already dialling Aya.

" _Yes?"_ Aya's voice sounded on the other end almost immediately and everyone in Riko's room froze. " _Riko?"_

Kuroko picked up the phone and turned it on the speaker. "Hello, Aya-san." He greeted calmly, it was rude to ignore her like that.

" _Kuroko-kun? Uhm… Did something happen?"_

"Not really. Kagami-kun is just worried about you, thus unable to focus on studying, so–" Kuroko said the truth straight faced.

" _Shut up!_ " Taiga shouted in English and roughly slapped his hand across Kuroko's mouth, which earned him a nasty glare from the shadow.

" _Taiga?"_ Aya sounded irritated, that tone demanded an immediate explanation.

"Ahaha… It's nothing. Nothing at all."

"… _we'll settle it at home…"_ She said ominously, and Taiga was suddenly scared for his life. " _But… I'm fine, we're on the 8_ _th_ _page of the assignment and three huge dogs were ordered to watch us. So… anything else?"_

"No." He peeped.

" _Good. Focus on studying. If you don't pass you'll be ironing the clothes for the next semester."_

"The whole semester?" He asked carefully. Ironing was the one thing he hated and never had to do.

" _Or maybe until the end of the school year?"_ Aya's voice was sweet, but unbelievably frosty at the same time.

"I'll study!" Taiga shrieked in terror. "Anything but ironing."

" _Very good then… Oh… Aomine's sending you greetings. Hey!"_ There was a shuffling sound as Aomine snatched Aya's phone. " _Yo, don't worry, sister-complex, she's safe an' sound."_ Aomine's voice was lazy, and sounded unbelievably arrogant. " _You should focus, Mr. loser, wouldn't it be sad if you couldn't practise?"_

"Aomineee!" Taiga growled.

Aomine cackled shortly. " _Determination is good, but it won't help you–"_ They could hear another shuffling and something that sounded awfully close to a smack on the back of Aomine's head and then his muffled protests and curses. " _Sorry. He can be more unbearable than Kouta at times. I bet I'm on the speaker, so, Hi everyone! Please help the Bakagami in my stead. You have my blessing to beat some knowledge into him! And a little advice on the English… Don't let him think about it. He usually gets it right when he doesn't have the time to analyse it."_

"Mm-hm…" They all hummed collectively, baffled by the exchange.

" _Great then! I hope to see you at some of the Interhigh matches! Oh and! Tatsuya caught up the entire first semester in couple of days; do you wanna let him win again, dear twin?"_ She added another argument she knew would work.

"I hate you. But fuck no!" He shouted, which earned him a smack from Riko. "Quiet, my parents are in the house!" She hissed.

" _Love you too, bro."_ She said in a mocking tone, knowing he hated when she called him 'bro'. " _Study hard. Good luck and bye, bye!"_ Aya hung up.

"So Aya-chan." Kiyoshi said shaking his head, looking at the disaster Taiga had caused while trying to snatch the phone. The way she could handle Kagami was something he hadn't seen so far. _She must be an interesting person._

"Aya-chan." Riko nodded in confirmation, half-reading Teppei's mind.

"Who's Tatsuya?" Hyuuga asked. "And Kouta?"

Taiga rolled his eyes. "No one important…" _But if he plays in the winter… Damn it!_

"Okay!" Riko clapped. "Let's focus on the studying for real! You –" she pointed at Taiga, "go out for a short run to cool off. Hyuuga-kun, please go with him so he doesn't run away."

"Ossu." They both nodded and left.

"The rest of you, let's tidy up this mess." She sighed desperately.

######

"Ouch." Daiki was rubbing the spot where Aya had hit him to get the phone back. "What was that for?!" He glared at her nastily, which reminded her of their first meeting so many weeks ago.

"Shall we stop exaggerating?" She raised an eyebrow at him, confidently withstanding the glare which had sent so many girls running away in tears. "I didn't use any strength at all. And… You do **not** steal my phone like that ever again. Understood?"

The annoyance by Taiga's check up was still obvious in her voice and expression. "Tch, yeah, whatever." He decided it was wiser to retreat. He had just witnessed her icy anger. He didn't wish to be on the receiving end.

"Great." She smiled, and the frosty smile sent a shiver down his spine.

Then she sighed and he could see how all the annoyance and frost disappeared from her expression and a small kindling fire returned to her eyes. This ability of hers amazed him to no ends. He didn't realise that a kind smile settled on his face.

"What?" She asked, baffled and amused by his expression. It was so rare she wasn't sure she saw right. It was close to 11 PM, she might've had a hallucination caused by fatigue.

"Hm?" He blinked and the smile disappeared like a ghost.

"Nothin'." She shook her head. "Let's get on with this." She pointed at the laptop in front of her, where she was writing the assignment, while Daiki was telling her or discussing with her what to write, or explaining some history stuff along the way. Her typing skills were much quicker and she made fewer mistakes so this was an obvious solution. Though his explanations sucked sometimes…

A yawn escaped him. "Can't we take a break?"

That didn't sound like such a bad idea. They had been working for a couple of hours. She yawned too and stretched. "If you want to sleep, you can take a nap… Am I allowed to prepare a coffee for myself?"

He nodded. "I don't know how you like i– your coffee." He specified in the last moment to avoid an embarrassing innuendo.

"I'll show you, but you have to tell me where you have all the things." She smiled and got up. "Come on."

With a snicker he followed after her to the kitchen. All three dogs fought to untangle and ran down the stairs after the two teenagers.

"That sounded like a thunderstorm." Aya mused as the three animals showed up wagging their tails. They were still overgrown pups, except Akari, but she liked to fit in with the rest. "Do you want some coffee too?"

"Urgh…" He shuddered. "I don't drink coffee. It's bitter." He made a grimace. "I'd rather have some energy drink than coffee."

"Hmmm… so you don't like bitter stuff?" She glanced at him as she measured the amount of coffee.

He just shook his head like a little kid refusing to eat something.

"But you are tired, right? You can go to sleep if you want. I can finish it by tomorrow on my own."

True, he wasn't used to staying up too late. But right now was a special occasion. He didn't want to go to sleep. Plus the topic interested him. "Forget that… I chose the topic, so I want to finish it together."

"Then I'll make a coffee for you too. I s'pose you don't have any energy drinks?" She raised an eyebrow at him in question. Despite his disgust with the taste of black coffee there was a slight hesitation, followed by another long yawn. And Aya knew how to use that. "You'll like it, trust me."

"Is that a challenge?"

She shrugged and smirked. "If you want it to be."

"Oh." He raised an eyebrow and nodded slowly in agreement. "Then…I could try…"

"Okay then. I'll need sugar and milk or cream, whichever you have and… do you like and have any ground cinnamon?"

"I guess I'm fine with cinnamon." He nodded to himself and shuffled to the counter to search for it.

Afterwards, he sat on a chair and observed Aya doing her magic. Only the lights above the counter were turned on, and all he could see was Aya silhouette against the light. Her hair was tied up in a loose messy bun, some strands escaping here and there, making the nape of her neck look really cute. It took him a moment to notice that she was very quietly humming and moving to the rhythm ever so slightly. Her movements were so smooth and so slight he'd barely noticed.

"Ready and done!" She said cheerfully and whipped around with both coffees ready. His was in a much bigger mug than hers. "Give it a try." The mug was pushed into his hand and he had no other choice.

"Come." He said and walked out of the kitchen.

"Oi, wait. Where?"

"Tch, just move those legs of yours." He grumbled impatiently. A 20 minute break wouldn't kill them.

"Exquisite legs, if you'd mind." She said overly seriously, but the teasing humour was obvious in her voice. "Kano and Ishii assumed so on the very first day. I must admit. I liked the appreciation."

A smirk appeared on Daiki's face as he pulled the door leading to the back porch and the garden open and let her go out first. "Pardon me, Sweetheart, I appreciate the other parts a bit more, but they weren't wrong in their assumption." He said his over the top reply in the same overly serious tone.

They stared at each other, or tried to in the dark house, and then they both laughed.

"Come on." He motioned his hand to make her go out.

She stepped onto the porch, the three dogs almost knocking her down as they stormed out too. "Hey!" She protested and tightened the hold on her coffee mug. Then she looked out. "Wow." She breathed out. The high fence and the hedge planted all around it completely shaded the small garden from streetlights, which created a special place for Michiko to decorate. There were numerous garden lights, probably running on solar energy they gathered throughout the day. Some colourful lanterns were lining the wooden railing.

"And that the dogs destroyed the garden…" Aya shook her head. "It's beautiful."

"Thought you might like mom's other _kid_." He said with a shrug and sat down. He carefully smelled the coffee, as he leaned his shoulder against the railing and stretched his feet out of the porch.

She followed his example and sat down on the other side of the steps leading to the garden. But unlike him, she turned towards him, leaning her back against the railing and resting the mug on her bent knees. She sniffed the air for the moment. "Is that… uhm… wisteria?"

"Huh? Oh, the purple dangling stuff?"

She laughed at his description. "Yeah. It has quite a special scent."

"You mind it?"

"Not yet."

"So wisteria, huh?" He repeated the strange name of the weird dangling plant. He'd never cared about what plants his mother had there, but he'd mow the lawn every once in a while. He didn't mind that, it was a simple enough task.

"How's the coffee?" She asked curiously, staring at his still full mug.

Only then he sipped a bit. The taste was so… sweet and tasty he didn't believe it was a legit coffee anymore. He loved the cinnamon added. But he couldn't just admit it. "…not bad…"

"Mhmm…" The grin on her face was hearable. "Delicious, you mean?" She asked teasingly. He grumbled something under his breath in reply, which she couldn't understand, but it only made her smile more. "Glad you like it. Wanna try mine?"

"What do y' have anyways?"

"A pure black coffee. The same stuff you have somewhere in there too."

He reached his hand to take her mug and sniffed it carefully. The scent almost blew off the top of his head. "Geh, what's that?" He scowled and returned her the coffee without trying it. "How can you drink it?"

"When I need to work late, it keeps me awake."

He snorted and glared at the black liquid suspiciously. "That would wake up the dead."

"Exactly what I need~" She smiled and sipped from her hot coffee contently.

Soon the dogs returned and settled near the teenagers, who were quietly enjoying the warm summer night. Kurome seemed to be very fond of Aya, because she forced Aya to straighten her legs and then rested her big furry head on top of Aya's thighs. Aya scratched her behind the ears, and Kurome let out a content sigh.

"Ne?" Daiki broke the silence carefully. "Uhm…If… if my parents did something you didn't like, then–" There was something about late night talks he had never understood. Not until he was sitting on the porch with Aya by his side and the three dogs curled up around them. It was nice and strange at the same time; an intimacy on a whole different level than he'd imagined. And he actually didn't mind talking about whatever.

"Stop right there." She interrupted him, immediately. "Your parents did nothing I disliked. They are awesome people, outgoing, kind, funny… I like them. I just… With mom's anniversary in a couple of days…" She sighed. "I don't know. I get this longing feeling. Like… There's something missing, lost, something that can never be replaced. On that day we didn't lose just our mom, we lost both of them, I think." It was easier to talk openly in this small wonderland and maybe she wanted to get it off her chest. And Daiki wouldn't interrupt her. "Yeah," she chuckled humourlessly, "living without parents and their constant questions and lectures seems great, until it becomes a reality and you realise that there is no one to run to when things get nasty, or when you're hurt and struggling and need advice..."

"I'm sorry…" He said quietly.

"Don't be, it has its positive sides too. We've become adults rather quickly." She shrugged. "We travelled a lot, learned a lot… by stupid decisions mostly. Met hundreds of interesting people…" She chuckled. "Maybe we'd never have that otherwise. Maybe we'd be different. I don't know. But nothing's just black and white. Aaah… Taiga's right, I'm just weird and can't let go."

"Letting go is never easy." He sighed in agreement.

"That's an experience talking."

"?"

"I think I know you already. So… I've answered your question from the afternoon. I wanna know what's bothering you too." She said with a smile and watched him.

He sighed and turned around to face her, bending his legs so that they didn't bump into each other. "Satsuki must've told you everything already."

"You'd be surprised, I mean… I know your shoe size, but I have no idea what really happened at Teiko. Or, I don't know… Taiga heard something from Kuroko-kun, but he refused to tell me, and besides… I think your point of view must be different after all."

He frowned at that. "…it's complicated."

"I don't mind complicated."

"Uhm…" He really wasn't good at explaining his thoughts and feelings. He didn't like poking in it any more than absolutely necessary. He was changing, somehow. He knew; he just didn't want to analyse it. He definitely didn't want to admit that he was softening up or something. He didn't care, shouldn't care. This just wasn't his style.

"Hmmm…" Aya hummed. "I guess talking about what's going through your head isn't your style, huh?"

He smirked at her, and there was something apologetic about it. "Not really."

"And if I ask directly? Will you answer?"

"I might try. For the coffee." He shook the mug in his hand and gulped the last bits of the delicious beverage she'd prepared.

"When you drifted off… What was the coach doing?"

He blinked, surprised by the question. "…persuading me to attend practises, and then laying in a hospital… We had a substitute coach after that." He scowled at that a bit.

She had a feeling she hit the nail. One person could have an unbelievable influence in another's life, she knew. "Who… I bet, told you not to come, if you felt you didn't need it…" She guessed, and by his frown she knew she guessed right. Then she started to put together a story from the pieces she'd learned so far. "You were rapidly improving, practising like an idiot, because you loved it. You had Kuroko-kun, who was your shadow, aiding you whenever needed. And then… suddenly you figured you were above everyone else, you didn't need Kuroko-kun anymore, you didn't have an equal and even Kise wasn't entertaining you enough. You were alone, far from people who were actually close. Kuroko, the older coach, Satsuki, and maybe even Kise were dragging you to practises in their own ways. And they were still managing, somehow… And then… and then the substitute coach came, telling you not to come, which only estranged you from the others even more. And it numbed you completely."

By his dead silence she knew she was piecing it together perfectly. "Your response was normal, after a while you shut out everything and everyone. I would've done the same."

"But you didn't."

"I was in a different environment. And in the Ballroom, you can't win alone, you can't enter a competition alone and during the competition, you can be only as good as your partner is. And I just love dancing."

"I don't think I can say the same anymore." He said with a sigh, remembering the match against Tetsu. … _hating the only thing you love… Tch…_

"You know what I think?"

He glanced up at her, and literally felt the intensity of her stare. He raised an eyebrow in a silent question.

"That you're just lying to yourself, trying to punish yourself for drifting away… I don't think you'd play with me, or try to help Kano and Arai if you truly hated the game. That's not what a person hating basketball does. And I think that you're actually excited."

"Excited?"

"You'll face your former teammates in the Interhigh. You do acknowledge them, which means you want to play against them."

"…and win. As I always do."

"Oh really? Well then… Imagine we end up facing Rakuzan… Who do you think will win? You, or Seijuurou?"

"I don't lose." He replied immediately, overlooking the fact that Aya called Akashi by his name.

"Neither does he." She opposed.

"Tch." He bit his lip and realised than indeed, he wanted that match in particular to happen. To figure this out, because this truly was a question he couldn't answer. They played different positions, had different styles, and yet… His former captain didn't lose. And the only one who could beat Daiki, was him. He actually got goosebumps thanks to Aya's simple comment.

"Well then… I hope I'll get to see the match." She said with a smirk.

"Me too." He said with a devious grin on his face. "I want to face Yosen as well." He added.

"During the training camp, you will for sure. In the Interhigh… depends on which bracket we end up in."

"That's not the same as an official match…" He grumbled.

"True… Which reminds me… I know your style is streetball, buuut…"

He raised an eyebrow. "But?"

"Tatsuya showed me something when I was there. I didn't ask Taiga because, duh… He wouldn't even listen. Probably… but I can't figure it out."

That sudden change of topic confused the hell out of him. "I'm not following."

She sighed and explained the miraculous shot Tatsuya had showed her.

"Mirage shot, you mean?" He filled in almost instantly. Truth to be told, he knew about it, but he'd never seen anyone pull it off successfully. He himself didn't know the trick; had never tried it. Technically, he knew how it worked, practically; he could probably do it, but it just didn't fit his style. Why lose time by throwing the ball up twice, if he could get it into the hoop on the first throw?

"It even has a name… Then, can you… uhm…"

"Do it? Maybe, but it's not my style. Never seen anyone pull it off correctly and never had to guard against anyone like that. You sure he did it?"

"100%. My reflexes are good enough, so are my jumps. And Tatsuya isn't as tall as you, so… He pulled it off. Perfectly."

"Hmph. I wanna see that."

"You will… Let me know how to guard against it then... When you figure it out."

"With pleasure." He grinned at her, and forced Shiro's head out of his lap while getting up. They needed to finish the project. The basketball talk only made him eager to play.

"We should get the work done, right?" She forced herself up too, sending the last glance towards the beautiful garden.

"I don't want to, but…" _The summer classes are drag._

"The deadline." She sighed in disappointment. She'd rather play basketball too. Her nose twitched and she sneezed. "And the wisteria."

 _And they'll definitely need me in the Interhigh_. He thought as he followed her. Maybe he _**was**_ excited. The girl in front of him was slowly rekindling the spark, which was buried under the heaps of ashes. It was the truth whether he wanted to admit it or not.

######

"Tadaima. How's it going?" Daisuke's head peeked into Daiki's room well past midnight, as they returned home from the date.

"Okaeri'. Almost done." He replied with a long, wide yawn.

Aya copied him, she just covered her mouth. "One last page, and it's done, and we can finally take a nap."

"Well…" Daisuke chuckled. "You need to take the dogs out at four thirty, which is… in an hour an half."

Daiki groaned. "Can't you go? Look at that." He desperately pointed at the pile of books waiting to be studied.

"I will… With you."

"Seriously?"

"I can go in your stead." Aya offered herself, and then glanced at Daiki's father. "If it's okay."

"No can do." Daisuke said with a smile. "I don't mind you going, but Shiro's his; which means she is his responsibility as long as he is at home. And you're a guest Aya-chan. He can sleep a bit when he gets home, and let's be honest… one or two all-nighters never killed anyone."

"Tch, whatever." He grumbled, too tired to argue. "Let's finish this damn page."

* * *

Daiki returned from the morning walk dead tired. He could barely see where he was going. He shuffled to his room and almost tripped over Aya, who was curled up on the futon she'd spread on the ground.

"Shit…" He muttered as he stopped in the last second before accidentally kicking into her thigh and giving her another bruise and a really nasty wake up. But Aya didn't seem to register anything. Unlike him, she continued sleeping calmly, curled on her side. The red hair was let down and spread on the pillow in thick waves.

He was way too tired to pay any more attention to the sleeping girl in his room. He fell into his bed face-down and was cold within seconds.

######

"Mooom?" Satsuki called out to her mother on the Saturday's morning. "Where are you?"

"The bedroom! Reading!" The woman called back to her daughter.

Satsuki's quick steps echoed through the house as she ran to her mom and then jumped onto the father's side of the bed. He was in the hospital for the whole weekend so they had the entire weekend for themselves, and studying.

"What should I buy father for his birthday?" Satsuki asked with a desperate sigh. She just never knew.

"Takuma's birthday is in October. Aren't you thinking about it a bit too soon?"

"But Aoi-otou-san's birthday is tomorrow." She protested with a pout. "I've already told you, that Takuma is 'dad' and Aoi is 'father', can't you remember it?"

"Oh, sorry… So, Takano Aoi's…" She muttered, remembering the man she'd once loved, but divorced when he'd gotten involved with some very dangerous people, who had been threatening them, and Satsuki. As a mother, she'd chosen to protect her child. And it'd been the easiest choice in her life. "How is he anyways? At least he keeps in a proper contact with you…" She was happy that Satsuki hadn't lost the contact with her biological father, because she loved him as much as she loved her step-father.

"Fine. He had some girlfriend the last time I spoke with him, but we have a deal to go out for a lunch tomorrow, so I'll ask him again. What should I buy? Please help me! I never know…" She pleaded.

"He is a mechanic, what about some motorbike model? He's always loved those." She suggested. "And something sweet… but you shouldn't worry about it. Anything is fine."

"Thanks, mom." Satsuki hummed. "Wanna go shopping with me?"

"Shouldn't you study for the finals?"

"Nah, I just need to revise it. It should be fine. Though, maybe I'll call Aya-chan to help me with English… But! Shopping! Come with me!"

"Hmmm… I don't feel like going anywhere. Can't you go with someone else?"

"Aomine-kun won't go with me and Aya-chan is studying. Maybe I could give a call to Michan or Ki-chan."

"That sounds like a better company than me." She laughed and patted Satsuki's hair.

Satsuki nodded, but remained laying next to her mom and stared into the ceiling. Aya's reaction when she'd learned about Satsuki's short-lived ballet past was quite strange… It kept weighting her mind, but she couldn't remember. _Hmmm…._ "Mom? Where did I attend ballet classes?"

"Huh?" She blinked at her daughter in surprise. "You still remember that? I thought you'd forgotten long time ago…"

"Well yeah… It's not something I could completely forget. I remember some bits, but I can't make out the place. Where was it? Who taught me?"

"Hmmm…" Truth to be told, she had to think about it too. "I think it was Shiranui's ballet class. The old man and his wife were renowned teachers. I wanted you to learn from the best. Why?"

Satuski's eyes widened… "Uuuhm… Did I… Did I have any friends there?" She asked carefully, already guessing the answer.

"There were some twins… I don't remember the names, but they were partly the reason why you quit." She huffed. "You fixated on them too much, and when they left to America, you refused to go to the club anymore."

"I wasn't that good anyways…" She mumbled, but it was slowly coming back to Satsuki. The void she felt when her best friends had suddenly disappeared on her, the embarrassment when the other kids had made fun of her after that… Now she was 95% sure it had been Aya-chan and Taiga-kun. They had both asked if they hadn't met her before, but they hadn't been sure and she guessed it was caused by her change of name. The twins had known her as Takano Satsuki. Or well… _Pinky… They had called me pinky. Because I was small and had pink hair…_

"If you're curious, there should be some photos in the box… You know which one." She looked at her daughter by the corner of her eye. "Why are you asking now?"

"…I just… had a feeling, that… well, it's nothing, I'm just curious."

"Satsuki," she stared at her more intensely. "Don't tell me the twins are back."

"Oh, I think they are. I just couldn't remember before, and they can't figure it out either. But Aya-chan asked me like million times if we hadn't met before… Thanks for helping me, mom."

"If they hurt you again…"

"Mom, please. I don't remember it much. And it's not like a five year old can choose whether they leave with their parents or not."

"Still." She huffed. "At least Takuma assigned you for that mini basketball after that."

Satsuki chuckled. "Yeah, and to this day I wonder how it was possible that _you_ approved."

"Love is blind, my dear." She laughed and picked up her book again. _So the twins are back…_

Satsuki got up and ran to get the box. She needed to be 100% sure before she'd say something to Aya-chan. And she had to think it through. She didn't want to tell her about her parents' divorce, or her change of name. It wasn't that strange, but she felt that Aoi-otou-san just gave her up; she knew it was only practical that she shared the same name as her mother, but… She didn't like talking about it, and she hadn't told this to Aomine either. It was none of anyone's business. _But Aya feels I'm hiding something…_

 _Ah. Here it is…_ She pulled out several pictures from the ballet class. At the back of the photo was a date and names of all the people. 'Kagami Aya (on the right), Taiga (on the left)' and she was in the middle. The twins were unrecognisable from one another, and the photo was taken after practise, so they were both dressed in the exactly same jeans and simple t-shirts and both of them had their hair short. On the other photo it was Satsuki standing below the tree growing in front of the gym and staring into the tree, where Aya was hanging upside down – laughing (or at least Satsuki believed it was Aya, because this was so like her) and Taiga was clutching to the trunk and crying – probably too afraid to climb down. She had to laugh at the picture. She went through the other ones, from practises, or playground…

Satsuki picked up her phone and dialled a number. When the person on the other end picked up, she spoke quickly and urgently. "Ki-chan. I need to talk with you. And it's personal."

" _Momocchi! What's going on?"_ He asked in surprise. For Satsuki he was a perfect person to confide in. He was jovial, could listen, and knew when to keep his mouth shut. " _Where do we meet?"_ And when his friend needed help… He could postpone the studying easily.

"Pick me up in an hour." She said seriously. Her heart was beating like crazy, but it was easier to talk to Kise first. The blonde could always advise her well, and she should train on spilling out the beans.

" _Ossu. Count on it."_

######

"Aya-chan. Mornin'." Daisuke greeted her. She was up sooner than Daiki, but they had returned from walking the dogs just recently, and Daiki must've been dead tired.

"Mornin'. Is it okay, if I make myself a coffee?" She asked carefully, behaving like at home was probably not the wisest idea when she was here as a guest.

"Sure, could you make some for me too?" The girl was just amusing. "Michi had to run for work, again, and she barely managed to prepare some breakfast for you. It's in the fridge."

"Sure, gladly, any special requests?" She asked with a smile and reached for the coffee.

"No. Just a pure black coffee." He yawned as if underwriting his request. "Nothing else would work on a policeman working all weird hours."

"I believe that."

"Daiki's still sleeping?"

"Yup. I'm actually surprised he didn't wake up when I crawled out of the futon. I've never seen him sleep so calmly."

"Skipping classed or trying to sleep through them, huh?" He sighed. "I wish we had more time to actually be with him."

Aya blinked at him incredulously. "Aren't you? I thought…"

"We're trying. But it's difficult. We work on shifts, or as you can see, whenever it's necessary. And Daiki's quite complicated too; it's worth a celebration if he talks with us. Especially the past year and half. Ah, adolescence." He shook his head, maybe he shouldn't discuss this with Aya-chan, but right now, she was probably closer with Daiki than Satsuki. And he wanted to subtly interrogate the girl too.

"He had it quite difficult… And yet, he trusts you enough to confide in you. In my opinion, you are great parents." She shrugged.

"Confide in? Ah, the articles, you mean?"

"Yup." She nodded and brewed the coffee for them. Kurome was leaning against Aya's leg almost the whole time. With a sigh, she leaned down and scratched the dog. "Yes, yes, you're a big cuddly monster. Mornin' to you too." She hummed.

Daisuke watched it with softness in his eyes. Kurome was in their pack the shortest, and they had adopted her from a shelter. Maybe the dog felt a bit left out; the way it clung to Aya immediately, it must've felt some sort of a kindred spirit in the girl. "Aya-chan, may I ask you something personal?"

"Hm?" She looked up at him cautiously. "Ah… Well, you're having me over for the weekend, it's only fair. I guess." Honestly, when Daiki had said his parents knew, she kind of expected an interrogation sooner or later.

"Your father… He believes those articles?"

"Yes. He's never really heard me out. It's like talking to a brick wall." She shrugged.

"Does he know you're here? At our place, I mean."

"No. He is America. And even when we lived in the same house, he never cared where or when I went, as long as I didn't _shame him_ in any way. So why should I tell him now? Honestly, I think he doesn't know which schools we attend, let alone what I do on my weekends."

"Do you hate him?" He asked lightly but directly. He didn't want to corner her, he was just curious. And he seriously wanted to know her better.

A heavy sigh escaped Aya as she placed two coffees on the table and sat down. Suddenly, she didn't feel hungry. Talking about her father was never welcomed, but somehow, Daisuke made it almost easy. He had this air of reliance and fatherhood around him she couldn't explain, but it made her feel at ease. Maybe it was a policemen's thing.

"I don't know." She said finally. "I know he misses mom. I know he loved her very much, and us, but I think that in his heart he blames us. I can't explain it; it's just a feeling, but… I think I can't trust him with anything; he's never had my back in the past years. And I don't want to give him any leverage over me." She chuckled dryly. "Isn't it weird?"

"Leverage? What do you mean?"

"We have some sort of a cold war. When he has anything he can use to make me do something he needs, he will. If it's important for him… I'm a difficult person to handle after all, so this is the easiest way for him. Otherwise, he doesn't care."

"That's a blackmailing." He said with a deep frown. He wasn't a perfect father, but he'd never seriously blackmail his son with anything.

"I guess it is, but I can handle so far. I have a handful of things I can use against him, but… I've never done it yet, I can't; it makes my stomach turn. He is my father after all."

"Why don't you talk with him like this?"

"Talk?" She laughed. "I've tried, trust me. If only he's ever listened. For him, I'm a good for nothing whore, who can only dance well and do the work that he needs to be done…"

His eyes widened in shock when Aya shamelessly said that out loud. The girl had a handful of her problems and misery; she usually decided not to bother anyone with. And as a father, he couldn't believe what he was hearing. Such behaviour of a father was in his opinion unacceptable. "I don't think it's true."

"He told me himself. Whether he meant it or not, I don't know." She sighed. "But... I want to try talking to him one last time. The time apart might've helped, somehow… He is the only parent we have left… Maybe I'm a masochist, but I guess I can't hate him after all."

"You're a very special daughter then, because if Daiki was in your position, he'd have left long time ago."

 _Special daughter?!_ "I wanted to… Gods, I still want to slam the door so much, but…" Her eyes turned glassy from held in tears; to hear that she was a special daughter from basically a complete stranger… She didn't tell him that for pity, or encouragement. Maybe she hoped for some advice, or understanding, she didn't know. "But then I remember all those times he danced with me standing on his feet, or taught me how to dribble, or climbed trees with us… And I just…" She bit the inside of her cheek to stop the tears from spilling out and took a deep breath. "He might not like me, but somehow, I can't believe that the person who once cared for us so much is completely gone. I just can't."

Daisuke chuckled dryly. "Then we are both hopeless idiots."

She blinked at him in astonishment. "What?"

"I hope that it will work out for you as it worked out for me and Michiko." Aya was still sending him incredulous look, so he continued. "Would you believe if I told you we were on a verge of divorce twelve years ago? And that, for the time being, we sent Daiki to Thailand to grandma, just so he wouldn't be a victim or a weapon? Or rather… The grandma took him away after seeing the state of our relationship at the time. _The time being_ was three years. Three damn years, when we didn't see our son at all."

"Oh… I… He didn't tell me."

"It was a long time ago and he, thankfully, doesn't remember much of it. Plus… He couldn't tell you, because he doesn't know why we 'put him away' then. We want to talk with him, when he is 'old enough to understand', but we're just postponing it. There are some things we don't want you kids to know. And it gets harder and harder as the years pass by." He knew he shouldn't be discussing this with Aya, but he couldn't help it. If he was trustworthy for Aya, she was trustworthy for him. She was a mature girl, who had more than enough bad experiences, but kept her smile and a certain distance. Now he understood why his son respected the girl so much.

"Postponed truths do tend to weigh people down." She nodded and stared into her mug, which was halfway empty now. "And if you don't want to, I won't talk about this with Daiki. He doesn't like talking about himself anyways. But… Why? If I may ask…"

His icy blue eyes stared at her in confliction. He wanted to get it off his chest, at least like this, but it wasn't only his 'secret' to tell. Michiko should've known. "I'd like to explain further but… It's not just mine, and Michiko isn't here. When we finally decide to tell Daiki, I think you'll be the first one to know."

Aya smiled. "I understand. Thanks for talking to me like this. I really appreciate it."

"It was my pleasure, young lady. You're used to dealing with adults right?"

"Can't help it…" She shrugged.

"You should eat something."

"I'm not that hungry now. I feel like having a cigarette mo–" – _re._ She slapped a hand across her mouth in dread. She relaxed too much for her tongue to slip like that.

Daisuke raised an eyebrow at her. "I haven't heard anything. Just don't get Daiki into smoking too, please."

"Definitely not!" She exclaimed loudly, then blushed in embarrassment and bit her lip. She glanced at Daisuke apologetically. "Ah… I'm sorry?"

"Why?"

She understood what he wanted to hear. "Helps with nerves, and stress… Calms me down after a nightmare." She blabbered quickly. "My brother hates it, he always scolds me. I'm really only an occasional smoker."

"How often is that?" He asked, switching into his policeman mode – to tease the girl a little.

"Twice a month? Or… depends on the month and the situation, and well…"

He chuckled at her nervousness. "It's your health, Aya-chan. And I'm not your parent. But you're too young to be slowly destroying it."

She looked at Kurome, guiltily. "I know." She mumbled under her breath.

"Now! Could I see the assignment? I'm really curious what you created." He said cheerfully, changing his behaviour as quickly as Aya.

"Uhm… Is it okay? Won't it bother you?"

"Me? Oh, no. It's Daiki who'll be fussing over it. He would've never shown me. So, Aya-chan, I'm relying that he's sleeping, and that you'll gladly become my partner in crime." He winked at her conspiratorially.

"Says a policeman. And that people should trust them… tcs, tcs, tcs." She chuckled and got up. "I'll fetch the laptop. Do you think I won't wake him up?"

"He is a light sleeper, but I think he won't be up till ten."

"Okay. I don't want to be caught in crime." She grinned widely and disappeared on the staircase.

 _She is like a quicksilver…_ He thought and chuckled to himself.

######

"Oh, sleeping beauty is up?" Aya chuckled when Daiki finally shuffled down the stairs to the kitchen.

He glared at her and grumbled something incoherent, still too groggy to answer properly. He hadn't slept for that long, only for a couple of hours.

Daisuke raised his gaze from the laptop, chuckling at Aya's comment. "You did a really good job with that project."

"Huh?" He blinked at the two sitting at the table with tea in their hands. "You read it?"

"Just finishing. And you really overdid yourselves. I'm proud. Good job." He hummed. "Now only if you study enough to pass like you did the last time…"

"Urgh… Leave me. I just woke up." He grumbled and searched for something edible in the fridge. Thankfully, mom had made him breakfast too, so he took it out and slumped to the table, stretching his long legs under it. "Where's mom?"

"They called her to work. Someone had called in sick and they needed to fill it…" Daisuke sighed in disappointment. He really hoped to be with his wife during the Saturday.

Daiki shrugged, this was nothing new. "At least I have a breakfast." He took the first bite and only then he finally woke up. "Wait… Why are you reading the project?" He looked at his father suspiciously.

Daisuke returned the look steadily. "Because I asked to see it."

"Tch. How could you give it to him?!" He snapped at Aya.

"Pardon me? I didn't know it was a secret project?" She raised an eyebrow at him in surprise. "What's the problem?"

"Tch… It's a principle! You should've asked me, dammit!"

She wanted to roll her eyes, and argue further, but then… "You were cute while sleeping." She teased him instead. "I didn't want to wake you up."

"Don't call me cute!" He growled at her in annoyance.

"But it's the truth!"

"Oh, just you wait you witch."

"What for?" She challenged him easily.

Daisuke started laughing at their bickering. "You two are simply hilarious."

"Huh?!" They both snapped their heads at him.

######

"Oh fuck this!" Daiki slammed a pen against a math textbook. He hated math. It was the subject he skipped the most, and always copied the homework from Sakurai.

Aya didn't startle, but Shiro barked in surprise and Kurome twitched, hiding her head under Aya's t-shirt.

"No, Honey-bun, we need to learn this." She said calmly; she'd been expecting some sort of an outburst sooner or later. It was math after all, she didn't like it much either, but she understood it most of the time. But this was geometry; she didn't get it that much.

"The hell?! I'll guess it." He scowled at the poor pen.

"Where do you take the confidence?"

He shrugged, still scowling. "I've never failed."

She sighed. "Somehow, I wish you do and learn a lesson. Then again, you're needed on the court, so we need you to pass."

The scowl was replaced by his typical smirk. "Aren't you conflicted, Sweetheart?"

She snorted. "A bit. But I need to pass too, you know. I'm not that lucky to guess, so I want to understand this crap as much as I can. You're no help… but maybe I should call Tatsuya to give us a short explanation."

He frowned at the idea. "Why not Ishii? Isn't he good at math too?"

"Oh, so you do know your teammates after all."

"Tch." He rolled his eyes at the statement.

She laughed. "…because Tatsuya has a better knack of explaining math to the idiot me already. And Ishii's probably too busy teaching Kano everything."

"Uhm, kids?" Daisuke's head peeked inside the room, interrupting whatever Daiki wanted to say. "About lunch…"

"God no!" Daiki shouted in terror and glared at his father, everything else forgotten.

Daisuke scratched the back of his neck sheepishly and chuckled. "I thought so… That's why I'm here…" He glanced at Aya expectantly. His cooking skills were rather terrible. He could make an edible food, even tasty sometimes, but it looked disgusting no matter what. There was no way he could serve something like that to a guest; Michiko would kill him for that.

"You want me to cook?" She caught up quickly and shrugged. "Sure, why not? If it's okay with you to let a stranger into your kitchen?" She teased the older man with a smile.

"Michi would kill me if I hadn't so… The kitchen is all yours. I hope it's not such a distraction." _And I'm a bit curious what kind of food got Daiki into studying before…_

Aya smiled and got up. "I think we need a distraction right now. We can always go through English while I cook, right?" She glanced at Daiki, who frowned again.

"I hoped to get some rest…"

"No can do. Take the book and we'll do it in the kitchen."

He raised an eyebrow at her in a hidden innuendo.

She rolled her eyes. "Just move that cute ass of yours already." She spun on her heel and followed after Daisuke, who'd left a moment ago.

"Hey!" He protested. "Take it back!"

"When hell freezes over!" She called over her shoulder. _Father sure has a good show…_ She thought.

######

Aya really did call Tatsuya in the late evening, when they were back at math and really desperate. It made Daiki's mood sour, but soon he understood that it was probably the best thing she could've done. Tatsuya was on the speaker and all he did was explain the stuff to them in the simplest words possible. Daiki kept quiet the entire time, he had no reason to talk to the stranger on the phone, and Aya didn't tell Tatsuya there were two of them listening to the explanation. Daiki was a bit curious why, but he decided to ask her later.

" _And that's about it… Was it helpful?"_ Tatsuya asked when he was done with everything that was supposed to be on the test.

Aya quickly glanced at Daiki, who nodded. What else could he do then begrudgingly admit that Tatsuya was really good at math? Although it did hurt his ego…

"Yup. Thanks a lot. And sorry for the late night disturbance."

" _You're never a disturbance, Robin. Actually, this helped me with Japanese a bit too. I was used to explain math in English only. So, pleasure is mine."_ He said smoothly.

She rolled her eyes. "I hope to call you during a steamy sex once. I'm really curious if you pick up."

" _Hah… You're terrible. That's not happening anytime soon."_

"Mhm… You know who to tell that... And by the way, did Hero tell you about the training camp?"

" _With Touou? Yeah. Honestly, I wanted to visit mom around the date, but I guess I'll stay. I'm curious about that Aomine. Might be worth my while."_

Daiki raised an eyebrow and scowled at the phone. No, he didn't like this guy. But Aya sighed and he blinked at her in surprise.

"Just keep your shoulder in place till then."

" _Yeah, right… There's no gambling basket around here, and I'm not going home during the summer break either, so I'm safe and sound. Don't worry."_

"Whatever. Thanks for the help–"

" _You owe me."_

"A coffee and a cake maybe, but that's that." She said icily, remembering the last time he had 'helped' her and Hero out.

He sighed heavily. " _I didn't mean it like_ _ **that**_ _._ _And–"_ They could hear a soft knocking. " _I need to go now."_

Aya blinked in surprise. "Sure. Thanks again. And good luck~" She hummed.

" _Go to hell, Robin."_ He growled and hung up.

She was chuckling quietly. "Not happening anytime soon, huh?"

Daiki blinked at her in surprise. "A girl?"

"Or Atsushi. But I'm 95% positive it is a girl. He sent me to hell, _and_ I know him. Now that he doesn't have a girlfriend weighing him down, it was just a matter of time really."

Daiki snorted. "What a bastard."

 _Envious?_ "You think? He's always had it in him and maybe this fling will finally get him over me and to someone who'd be a better match for him." She shrugged, not affected by the fact that her ex was probably having a girl in his bed about now. She really didn't care; she just didn't want to know the details.

"I thought you'd be… angry?" He asked, glancing at her carefully. The more time he spent with her the more he learned about her. And it was worth putting his own mask away for a while.

"Tatsuya is one of the few things I've been seriously settled with for quite some time now. I'm not angry, but I'm not curious either. His relationships are his only." She shrugged. "I wish him well. We really didn't break up because we hated each other. It simply didn't work."

From her eyes, he knew she was saying the truth. "Right…" He muttered. He didn't get it, but… What did he know about relationships anyways?

"Let's go through biology next, and then we should try to get some sleep. Is that okay?"

He nodded in agreement and suppressed a yawn.

######

 _Aya was woken up by thirst. The moment she'd opened her eyes, she knew she was in an unfamiliar place. Everything was strange. Her blanket was too thin and she was cold. She sat up and peered around the dark room. There were some things she remembered; a massive wooden chest, which belonged to her mother, but there was no reason for her to have it in her room, heck it'd been thrown out years ago. In a corner were her ballet shoes and a tattered dress form the first competition she'd been to. In a corner of the room was a dressing table. She looked at herself in the mirror. There was nothing strange about the image, but it made her feel scared, watched, like she didn't belong there._

" _Taiga?" She called out, but her voice was just a barely audible whisper._

 _She got up and quickly walked to the door. She needed to get out of the room, preferably out of that place, whatever it was. The door led her into a dark corridor with no source of light, but her feet led her to the right. Why, she had no idea. But she felt as if she was in a basement._

 _She reached a kitchen, poured herself a glass of water and drank. Suddenly, she felt a presence behind her and she didn't dare to turn around._

" _My sweet little Robin." The voice of her mother said._

 _She gasped and spun around, half-happy half-scared of what she might see. The second feeling had been the correct one. Fear. She should've been scared. She shouldn't have turned around._

 _It was her mother, with blood trailing down her face and neck. One of her eyes had been gouged out; her clothes were tattered, dirty and soaked with something black and sticky. She stretched her bloodied arms towards Aya, and took several steps towards her._

' _No.' She wanted to say, to scream, her lips moved, but no sound came out._

 _That wasn't how her mother had looked on the day of the shooting, Aya knew. By now she realised it was a dream. Terrible, terrible dream. She wanted to wake up, but she couldn't. She was trapped there, unable to move, or talk, and she was terrified._

" _Tell me," the woman tilted her head to a side gently but it made a terrible cracking sound, "why did you kill me?"_

 _Aya didn't answer. She couldn't. Tears filled her eyes._ I wanna wake up _. She thought._

" _Why did you lead me to that park? Why did you kill me?" She asked again. "Didn't you love me?"_

" _I did… I loved you so much." She whispered and couldn't hold back the tears. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I-I'm sorry."_

 _The woman smirked and appeared right in front of Aya._

 _Aya startled and wanted to take a step back, but there was the kitchen counter. She could smell blood and oil and sticky old mud. It was disgusting. She was scared; she didn't want to be trapped there. More than of remorse, she was crying because of the fear she felt._

 _The woman grasped her neck and squeezed, staring at Aya with that one eye of hers. "Sorry? Now?" She cackled. "It's too late. Little Robin… You failed me. Killed me. You don't deserve to –"_

" _No! That's not true!–"_

"No." Aya sprang up on the futon, instinctively touching her sore throat. Her breathing was ragged; she was soaked in cold sweat and scared. For a moment she was disoriented and looking all around her. The place was unfamiliar and for a moment she thought it might've been another nightmare. In the darkness of the room she could make out a dog shape. The dog raised its head to look at her.

"Hey. You okay?" Daiki asked her softly and carefully. Given the soft sobs and words she'd spoken before springing up, he had no idea what to expect. He'd never seen a person to wake up like that. Sure, some boys had sleep-talked during the training camp, but this was not a casual sleep-talking.

"?!" She turned her face to him in surprise. She bit the inside of her cheek; just to make sure she was awake. With a part of her mind, she was still trapped in the strange dark house, with a maimed woman, who looked like Keiko, and not like Keiko at all.

Then, in a second she put everything together. She was at Aomine's, sleeping on the futon on the ground. The sweated-through t-shirt was stuck to her back and despite the warm summer night, she felt cold. Sometime during her sleep she'd started crying. And. She'd been woken up by a nightmare. She woke up on her own; thankfully.

She forced her breathing to calm down. "Oh…" She muttered and wiped her tears away immediately. This was embarrassing. "I'm sorry… Did I wake you up?" Her voice was a croaky but barely audible whisper. _Did I scream?_ She meant, but Daiki couldn't possibly decipher it.

"That's not important. Are you okay?"

The softness of his voice soothed her, and amused her at the same time. And she realised; he was the last person she wanted to see her like this. And yet… There he was. Caring and worrying for her. She took a deep breath, pulled her knees to her chest and clenched at the scar. She felt like crying again. _I don't deserve this._

When she didn't answer and curled up instead, he slipped from his bed and knelt on the futon next to her. He reached out to her but then pulled his hand away, he wasn't sure if he could touch her or not. She seemed frightened by something. Whatever it was, he didn't want to make it worse. Shiro seemed to agree with him, because she crawled up close enough so Aya could touch her, but far enough so she wouldn't be in the girl's personal space. The Samoyed whined softly, as if trying to soothe the girl too.

"…Aya?" He tried again, using her name probably for the first time since he'd met her, because the nickname just didn't fit the situation. She turned her face to him, so he continued. "Are you okay?"

She shook her head no, and bit her lower lip to fight off another wave of tears trying to win over her. She took a ragged breath. She wanted a cigarette… "…I will be…Sorry…" This was so different than the routine she'd already had with Taiga. To Taiga, she didn't have to explain anything, he knew.

His inability to help her in any way was a terrible feeling. He had no idea what the nightmare had been about, he hadn't received any advice on what to do in such a case from Taiga, and he'd never seen Aya so vulnerable and fragile. But one thing he knew; she must've hated being seen like that. He would have.

And so, he reached out again, pulling her into a hug and resting his chin on top of her head. "Just don't apologise."

"Wha-?! Don't," she tried to push herself away from him weakly, "I'm sweaty." She protested.

He rolled his eyes. "And I don't care. So shut up, and let me hug you." It sounded a bit harsh, but there wasn't much more he could do. She was cold and he didn't like that.

She chuckled quietly. Normally she'd retort something, but the dream was still replaying in her head, and she couldn't shake off the fright and cold. His presence was calming her down and he was warm. Like a personal heater. And so she did shut up and let him hug her. She shouldn't have let him do this. Yet, she couldn't force herself to get out, she couldn't resist him. Calm and warm and safe… _Protected._ Overwhelmed by the feeling, she leaned into him, clenching his t-shirt. She couldn't hold back those treacherous tears anymore; the more she tried, the worse it would get.

Daiki was completely baffled by this version of Aya. He'd never thought she could be like this. The strong and fiery girl, crumbling down like this… And he was trusted enough to see it, to be there. He realised that if she really hated him seeing her like this that much, she wouldn't have stayed the night, no matter what his mother would have tried, or she'd get up and leave now. He sat back, leaning against the bed to get into a more comfortable position and pulled Aya with him, cradling her like a child and hiding her in his arms.

She didn't protest anymore. His presence and scent were calming her down and she instinctively snuggled closer to him.

"Shhh, it's all right." He murmured softly, gently stroking her hair and back, not sure where the sudden affection came from. It was instinctual. The only thing he wanted right now was to protect her, soothe her. If he could help fight those inner demons of hers, he gladly would. "It was just a bad dream."

When his fingers absent-mindedly traced the scarred skin on her left shoulder, she shuddered and jerked her arm away from him, covering the scar with her own hand. She didn't like him touching the scar.

"Sorry…" He muttered and moved his hand to her forearm instead. To his surprise, she shook her head and rubbed her forehead against his collar bone, her unruly hair tickling him slightly.

They were silent afterwards. She was listening to his strong and steady heartbeat. And soon, her tears dried up and she finally calmed down. Her breathing evened up, she sighed and took a raspy breath. "Thanks." She breathed out and cleared her throat quietly. "And… sorry. I didn't want to freak you out."

"Feeling better?" He asked. The atmosphere of the night didn't allow him to speak louder than a whisper.

"Yeah. I should be fine now." She nodded, but she didn't try to push herself away from him. She rested her head against his shoulder, enjoying the closeness, the warmth. She needed to recharge a bit more. "Sorry for waking you up."

"Tch. Would you stop apologising?" He asked a bit annoyed, his husky voice vibrating deep inside his chest.

"Hai, hai. As you wish, Honey-bun." She chuckled.

"Yeah, feeling better." He confirmed and chuckled too. "So, uh… Is this okay?" _Was I allowed to do this? Did I do the right thing?_ He asked, suddenly feeling embarrassed. It was the first time he was handling Aya with nightmares; he had no idea. But he could feel he was starting to blush. There was no need to stay like this, yet she didn't seem willing to let go. Well, and Shiro crawled over Aya's legs, keeping her at place too. _Clever dog…_

"Hugging me? Or if you handled me well?" She rephrased his question as if reading his mind, blushing as well, grateful that he couldn't see her now. Then she chuckled. "First, I don't mind at all. Second, given you had no idea what to expect, you did great. I didn't know you had it in you…" She teased.

He couldn't find a suitable retort, so he let out a low sound, almost a growl, which sent shivers down her spine. And she chuckled again.

"I hoped it wouldn't happen. Well –"

"If you say 'sorry' again, I swear I'll do something to you." He warned her in that dangerously low drawl.

"And we wouldn't want that. I get it." She smiled. "No. Thank you, really. Uhm… I… Didn't scream… or anything?"

Turning this cosy atmosphere into something heated and dirty wasn't his intention, and by the topic change, he knew it wasn't hers either; though he wouldn't really mind if _she_ did something. "Ah… No. You just sleep-talked. You apologised and said something wasn't the truth…?"

Aya sighed in relief. "Good then."

"…What did you dream about?" He asked curiously, and waited for her answer.

"If you were Taiga, I'd say 'I bet you know', but…" She sighed again, snuggled against his chest and rubbed Shiro's fur. The dog made an appreciative sound, almost like purring. "Mom… I dreamt 'bout mom. But the woman didn't look quite like her. No. It wasn't her." She said as if to persuade herself. "It was in an eerie, empty, dark basement-like house… She asked why I had killed her, if I hadn't loved her. She wanted to strangle me, saying I'd failed her, killed her; that I don't deserve to... Ah…" She blinked and realised that she clenched Daiki's wrist. Opening up like this… She let go.

He groaned in annoyance. Why did it have to be Aya, who was tortured by such dreams? He stroked her hair again softly. "It's fine. Y' didn't kill anyone, and it's not your fault. The woman didn't look like your mom, because it wasn't your mom. I don't think a mom would ever blame her kid for anything… A sane mom…"

"I know… In my head I know… It's just…"

"Just what? It's not your fault. Period." It sounded almost like an order; he didn't think he'd have this conversation with Aya anytime soon. Honestly, he was glad he got to know this side of her, because with each personal dialogue, he felt he was getting closer to her. This weekend was probably the best, despite the studying. _I should thank that Bakagami…_

She had to smile at that. She was really glad to have him there. "You know… You sound like Taiga."

"Urgh… Don't put me into a group with the bum."

"Hey!" She leaned away from him, which made Shiro huff in displease. "The bum is my beloved twin – who would cringe at the words that left my mouth just now – and –!"

He covered her mouth and muffled the next words. "Keep it down, stupid." He hushed her, but he was glad she was feeling better. _A real quicksilver._

She pulled his hand away and rolled her eyes. Not that he could see it properly in the dim moonlight illuminating the room. "We're not doing anything. Even if your parents decided to check up on us… We're just talking."

"Yeah, sure. Just talking. Each on their side of the room." He said sarcastically.

"Ah…" Daiki:1, Aya:0. She was sitting between his legs, supporting herself with one hand against his chest, the other against his thigh in attempt to put some distance between them as she was protecting her brother from badmouthing. She was definitely in his personal space and Shiro was lying across her legs. Honestly, she hadn't realised the position, but she didn't mind it. "…and you two are more similar than you'd think." She finished her previous sentence, this time keeping her voice down. "And now. Let go, I'm sweaty, and it irritates me."

"Tch…" He shook his head. "Do you want to take a shower or is a change of t-shirt good enough?"

She shrugged. "I'd prefer a shower, but… since you don't want to wake up your parents, and we don't want them to think anything… weird… I think a change of t-shirt is my only option."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Sure, but… You need to let me get up, Sweetheart, y' know?"

"Tell that to your lovely lady, who's lying over me."

"Shiro." The dog raised its head and whined. "Place. Now." He ordered quietly, but firmly.

With a grumbling and burbling sound she got up, stretched like a cat, shook off and headed to her bed gracefully, clearly signalling she had been offended.

Aya laughed quietly. "Is that a dog, or a cat, or a person? I swear she is thinking something along the lines 'it was so comfy there with my human'."

"Hah, sometimes I wonder 'bout that too." He got up, completely understanding Shiro's displeasure; it felt good having Aya so close. It was nice and cosy and he liked it. There was no embarrassing nervousness or stuttering. _Natural, yeah, it felt natural._ "Here." He took the first t-shirt he found and threw it at her again.

It landed on top of her head, because she didn't see it coming. "Oi."

He chuckled. "Someone's clumsy."

"I don't see in the dark."

"Me neither and I threw it home." He sat back on the futon, and leaned against the bed again. This time he gave her some personal space.

"Oh, congrats, you scored two points." She teased as she tried to figure out which side of the t-shirt was the front and which the back. She sighed and folded her arms over her lap. A soft smile settled on her face. Despite all, she actually felt happy.

"Nee…" Daiki hummed. The night sure had a strange magic.

"Hm?"

"How can you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Keeping yourself together like that. I mean… The mood changes… What switch do you have?"

"Dunno. I don't like crying. It helps to vent out emotions, but… I don't like it. I'm not like that. Besides… It was a dream. It unsettles me, yes. A lot actually, but… Taiga is right. It's been eight years. I wasn't brooding before, there's no point in starting now. And honestly, would you handle me crying till the morning?"

"If it meant hugging you till the morning, I wouldn't mind." He teased her. "But… Honestly… No… I don't know how to help you." He admitted truthfully, staring at his feet. If she was this honest with him, he would do the same.

"You can't. In situations like these, you can't help, you can't do anything. Except being there. That's all." Surprisingly for her, Daiki did understand that in some strange way. The fact that he hadn't tried talking to her or giving her advice… He knew she didn't need his help. And he'd done what was needed, he'd been there.

He nodded. This was probably a time when he could confess or something. It was night, dark; it felt intimate, calm… But he didn't want to fuck up. Or be an idiot and use the first, or maybe the second?, moment she showed her vulnerability. If it had been Taiga with her, the situation would have probably been the same, maybe better. _If you do something now, she'll reject you._ He thought, and bit back the words he wanted to say.

"Turn around, please."

He raised his gaze just to notice she'd been staring at him. "Huh?"

"I want to change the t-shirt. So if you could…"

"Oh, uh… right." He turned around, but damn how he wanted to peek.

"No peeking." She added, sensing his thoughts. But she was glad there was nothing else happening. She regretted it a bit, but she knew she'd pull away from him. _Guess he can sense that._

"Tch… Not that I'd see anything."

"You'd be surprised, how your eyes can adjust when they need to~" She teased and quickly pulled off the wet t-shirt over her head.

Daiki did peek, of course. It wouldn't be him if he hadn't. But he was disappointed. Aya turned her back to him as well, and all he could see was her silhouette against the window. But even that silhouette was burned into his mind. Her curves were a magnificent image, often hidden by the uniform. Her waist, and hips, he wanted to touch her. To kiss her shoulder. To do so many things to her. Yet, when she pulled on the t-shirt he forced it to the back of his mind. It wasn't right to use the situation. First and foremost, they were friends. And he feared losing what they'd had. There was no way he'd ever find anyone close to who Aya was, so he decided to be patient even if it wasn't one of his virtues. Losing her wasn't an option. But at least now, he finally knew what he wanted. And Aya was definitely a keeper.

When she turned around she saw him peeking over his shoulder. She smirked. "Was my back interesting enough?"

"Ah… I didn't–"

Her soft laughter stole whatever excuse he might've had. "You should go back to sleep, if you want to rest at least a bit."

"And you?" He asked, vacated the futon and laid on his bed, but remained watching her.

She sighed sprawling on her futon. "I won't sleep again tonight. The idea of going back there is way too scary. So…" She fished out her phone and laying on her side she waved it at him. "If you don't mind the light from my phone, I'll be probably playing or chatting with Kouta. We need to agree on choreographies for the competitions."

"Shouldn't there be only one competition?"

"I found another one taking place two days sooner. I haven't competed in acro yet, so I'm quite curious if we can win… Or place at least. And I need to go over it to decide what is possible to manage with Kouta and what to cut out. But I guess I'll truly know only when we actually start practising together."

"You have videos?"

"Yeah, sure. Why?"

"Move." He said and in two seconds he was sprawled on her futon too.

She blinked at him. "Really? You wanna see it?"

"You see me playing all the time. Can't I?"

"I thought you're not interested in dancing…?" She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Not really… But I wanna see."

"Hmmm… All right. Help me choose, but I'll be discussing with Kouta all along so be ready for anything…"

* * *

 **A/N:** Lots of bonding time, lots of contradictory feelings in this chapter! I hope I didn't overdo it too much.

Let me know what you think and remember, reviews are appreciated but never necessary.

S.


	34. Chapter 34: Cat and anniversary

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone who followed, favourited and reviewed! It makes me very happy :)

Here's the new chapter. Enjoy! :)

* * *

 _Whether it's right or wrong, fight for what you believe in. ― **Simone Elkeles, Perfect Chemistry**_

 _Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you. **– Princess Diana**_

 _Love is like the wind, you can't see it but you can feel it. **― Nicholas Sparks, A Walk to Remember**_

 _Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own. **― Robert A. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land**_

 _You fall in love with the little things about someone, like the sound of their laughter and the way their smile forms. — **The Weeknd**_

* * *

"So... he really did nothing to you?" Taiga asked for the nth time during their breakfast on Monday.

"Urgh! When I say we did nothing of the sort, we did nothing of the sort. What the hell are you thinking about, eh?" She threw her arms into the air; she was starting to get seriously pissed off.

"But you were sleeping when I got home. I couldn't talk with you then." He pouted and stuffed his cheeks with food.

"Tch, sister-complex." She grumbled, using Aomine's new nickname for her brother. The tanned ace was starting to rub off on her. _"Never thought you'd be the one to fuss about this…" _She switched to French because she missed the language and because Taiga's pronunciation and accent were totally off as he hadn't used the language as often as her. She found his struggle funny, and it was the only reason for not strangling him.

 _"I just worry! I bet he did use the situation when you were vulnerable."_ He responded to her language change automatically. But she didn't scowl as usual. Oh no…

'Shut up and let me hug you.' Aomine's voice sounded in her head, when she remembered their long late-night hugging session. She blushed slightly. Forgetting his hot, muscular body hiding her from her demons was impossible. It was totally not Taiga, though built-wise they were similar. "Errr…"

Taiga's eyes widened. _"I'm killing him!"_

 _"Hey! He did nothing you wouldn't do!"_ She bristled. Maybe except touching the scar, but… He was exceptionally nice. _"So stop it! Seriously! I'm warning you Taiga."_

"Keh…" He frowned and glared at his sister; he really didn't like Aomine. Why the hell did I get him involved? Fuck.

 _"We had this argument over Tatsuya, but that was your friend and you yielded in the end. Aomine has nothing to do with you – except that he beat your ass – so seriously. Stop arguing with me. We're not dating, or anything."_

"Yet." He scowled in displease.

"Yet…" She echoed. _"And not any time soon. I wanna talk with father first."_

"Hah?! _Have you gone mad?"_

She sighed. _"No, I just… I wanna try it one last time."_

 _"What's with the change of attitude?"_

 _"I talked with Daisuke-san. And I kinda… I can't hate our old man, so uh…"_

Taiga sighed too, and pinched the bridge of his nose. He couldn't hate the man either… _"I'll go with you then."_

 _"God no! You're the good child, remember? He's never yelled at you. You shouldn't get involved."_

 _"And if he hits you again?"_

Aya just shrugged. _"Then I'll be done with him for good. Not like you can hit him back."_ She gave him a crooked smile.

His brows furrowed in thought. _"Will you sell your share of the company then?"_

 _"I'll definitely be thinking about it. Maybe quitting the job would do the job too. Once I cut the strings there, I'll be free from that uptown princess shit."_

 _"You know… If you need the leverage… I don't mind selling my third with you. Not that I could ever manage any of the work you do for him… and anyways, I've never even cared about what's going on with that behemoth or what it's worth."_

 _"Oh, dear. Just so you know, it's worth a few hundred million… But whatever, that would mean our father's leading power would go down by two thirds… It wouldn't be 'his' company anymore. I don't know if we should do that. It's just not fair…"_

 _"Shit! He was an advisor, and now it's… in only 10 years?! Fuck"_ His eyes almost bulged out, when he heard the sum. He had no idea. And he was actually glad he wasn't the one with the responsibility like Aya.

She laughed at the reaction. _ "You know… I thought you had an idea… All those idiotic parties ain't for peasants."_ She sneered.

They both hated those occasions when they had to act like the perfect and sophisticated, yet spoiled and conceited children, all the while they'd rather play basket, climb trees, or do whatever, except congratulating other rich idiots on getting the fortune. Needless to say, they had caused a ruckus on such a party once or twice; no one had ever found them out.

Taiga sneered too and shrugged. _" Well if he won't listen to a reason… Maybe crashing on his butt might help." _He grumbled; he used to talk big too, before Aomine crushed him, injury or not, he realised that big words would get him nowhere, and if he wanted to win against the tanned ace, he'd have to train till he was puking blood and possibly even more. He wasn't going to lose again. Maybe their father needed some eye-opener like that too.

 _"How did this conversation turn into 'how to have an upper hand against father'?" _She shook her head in wonder. That Taiga would be willing to go to such lengths… She hoped she'd never have to use that lever.

"Does it even matter?" He switched back to Japanese, as he couldn't listen to his own messed up accent.

Aya raised an eyebrow. _"Giving up on the language practise?"_

"No. We can continue later, but my first test today is from modern Japanese and then English. I have quite a jumble of languages in my head as it is, don't need to add to it."

 _"If you say so."_ She shrugged.

######

Daiki let out a long sigh as he handed the last paper of the day to a teacher. He stretched out his legs, kicking Aya's chair in the process, and rested his head on his folded arms. The tests on Monday were more difficult than he'd expected. He was tired. Two days to go… He thought desperately and sighed again, closing his eyes. Thinking really required a lot of energy.

"So?" Aya turned around to look at him. "Think you passed?"

"Tch." He clicked his tongue and cracked open one eye to look at her. "Who do you take me for?"

She chuckled. "Glad to hear that."

He kept staring at her. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. There must be something… He thought.

They didn't really talk, because of the tests. The redhead behaved so casually, as if the weekend had never happened, as if she'd never shown him her weaknesses. And despite the fact that it actually disappointed him a bit, he behaved the same.

The sleepover-study-project-nightmare weekend had been strangely magical. It'd been so long since they'd opened up to somebody… They'd gotten to know each other much better; Daiki still hadn't figured out where that consoling spirit of his had come from or where it had disappeared once the morning had come. And maybe it was better if he didn't know, because it made him feel strange, as if he didn't know himself, which was scary and disturbing.

She squirmed slightly under his intense stare. With all her might she was fighting off a mortifying blush, successfully, so far. But it wasn't easy to act all fine and composed. Not after that weekend and not with her mom's anniversary just a couple of days away. There were so many different and contradictory emotions swirling inside of her that she felt like exploding and she had no idea what to do with it. Longing, sadness, remorse mixing up with excitement, love and something giddy she couldn't describe… It wasn't the usual melancholy she'd gotten used to during the years. And it was all Aomine's fault. (And hers too.)

"What?" She asked.

"Nothin'." He answered lazily, but he didn't avert his eyes.

"If you say so." She said with a shrug and chuckled. She'd said the very same thing to Taiga just a few hours earlier. It amazed her how the same meaning could be delivered by such a different words and sounds.

"What's so funny?" His eyebrow quirked upwards in a slight scowl; for some unknown reason, he sure didn't like the idea that she was laughing at him.

"Nah, I was just comparing the languages… and how different the sentence sounds." She smiled.

He didn't respond to that, and this time he averted his eyes to stare out of the window.

Kano and Kiku started to flood Aya with questions about their English test and whether their answers had been right or wrong. And her attention got diverted off of him. She didn't mind it.

######

"Meow!"

"Ah.." Taiga turned towards bushes in a park close to Seirin. He always passed around this place. "Hi there." He hummed and approached the bushes to greet a little tabby cat he'd discovered a few weeks ago when he hadn't wanted to be in the gym.

He didn't mind cats. And when this little fellow had jumped onto his chest while he'd been brooding under a tree in the park, they'd become friends quickly, and he'd started bringing food for the kitty too. Whenever he'd pass the park, the kitty would come and greet him.

Just like now, by gently rubbing its head against Taiga's outstretched arm. It meowed again, demanding more affection and maybe something to eat.

When he observed the kitty closely, he noticed scratches and wounds, and it was walking strangely. He frowned at that. Sure, he knew that strays got into fights, but… He didn't like this.

"Big cats bully you, eh?" He mumbled and scratched the kitty behind its ears. It purred in response, leaning against his hand.

Aya will kill me if I bring it home… He thought. It didn't even have a name. But… I can't just leave it here like that…

After a serious inner war and weighting all pros and cons of bringing the stray cat home, he let out a deep sigh and tilted his head. "I guess you'll sleep in a proper bed tonight." He said to the kitty and lifted it from the ground, all the while checking where the nearest vet had his office. "Er… Let's just hope Aya won't find you right away."

######

"Urgh! I can't get him out of my head! Dammit!" Aya groaned in exasperation and pressed her forehead against a cool glass of the table.

"Oh?" Kiku raised an eyebrow and ate another spoon of her ice-cream. "He did something, after all…"

"Yes! No! I don't know… It's just… Urgh! It's almost mom's anniversary, and here I am, fretting over a guy! Unbelievable! Urgh!" She let out another strangled sound. This wasn't like her.

"You played it well… I haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary today. Except, maybe… Aomine-san was a bit… disappointed? I'm not sure though, I've got no idea about his expressions and I can't really observe him; he is still scary. You sure have an unbelievable self-control, Aya. But you're cute; I didn't know you could be like this too…"

"Huh?"

"Ah, you know… A girl in love, what do I say? It's cute. But… Do you really want to torture yourself that much?"

"You're doing the same thing, so don't lecture me." She took a deep breath and the raging fire in her eyes calmed down. The Interhigh was right around the corner, with that she wouldn't have much time to fret over Aomine and she would leave soon after.

"Well, Wakamatsu-senpai doesn't know me as well as Aomine-san knows you… and about the anniversary… Don't you think your mom would've been happy to see you happy and in love?"

"After the whole whore stuff, certainly… She would've been delighted." Aya mumbled venomously.

"Ah… S-sorry." Kiku looked at her hands, feeling bad for her straightforwardness. Maybe mentioning Aya's mom wasn't the wisest.

"Ah!" The redhead looked at her with a hinge of panic and remorse in her eyes. "Sorry. It wasn't aimed at you."

"Y-y-yeah… I still…"

"You know, you did shut me up pretty well the other day. Where is that Kiku hidden?"

A small blush creeped onto Kiku's cheeks and she looked away. "Dunno. Sometimes she appears to tease you, but it's still…" She mumbled.

Aya laughed and finally zoomed on her own ice-cream already half-melted. She didn't have much of an appetite. "You'd better not turn into Hero later on. I'm afraid you have that personality hidden somewhere deep within."

She hoped not… "I'm actually curious about that girl."

"You'll get to meet her in the summer."

"You sure recover quickly. You were whining about Aomine-san a second ago."

"Urgh! Did you have to bring it up again?!"

######

"Tadaima!" Aya shouted to greet her brother, who was supposed to be at home sooner than her. "How did the exams go?"

"Ah! Okaeri'!" He flashed to the guest room and placed the kitty there. They didn't use the room, it wasn't neighbouring with Aya's bedroom and the girl never checked up that room anyways, so it should be safe. It didn't have windows, except the one on the ceiling, which was basically the rooftop of the building, that meant no curtains for the cat to destroy and it still had some natural light.

"Meow." The kitty looked at him questioningly.

"Stay here and stay quiet." He whispered frantically and shut the door.

When he stumbled to the living room Aya just entered it too. She raised an eyebrow at him. He was behaving suspiciously. "What? Did I interrupt your jerking off session, or something?" She asked teasingly, quickly glancing at his crotch, checking if she wasn't, by a chance, right.

"WHA-?! No! What are you… AYA!" He shouted at her, blushing in mortification and trying to hide his face in his hands. He'd die of embarrassment if his sister ever walked in on him. And then he'd find a way to get back at her, but… He didn't even want to imagine such a scenario.

She started laughing at his red face. "My dear innocent brother."

"Go to hell." He barked at her, but his expression was far from angry or annoyed. More like 'I really don't know how to act, but I've been offended' face.

"Will too." She hummed. "So what's up? You're acting… weird."

"Ahaha… It's nothing, really."

"You failed the tests?"

He scowled. "'f course not. I had the rolling pencil."

She rolled her eyes. "Student of the century."

* * *

"Sandwiches?" Aomine raised an eyebrow at that. He was already used to proper bentos with everything. And today, Aya presented him a couple of sandwiches. Not that he didn't like it; he just didn't expect it.

"Don't want it?" She asked with an annoyed undertone and reached to retreat the lunch she'd given him.

"Tch." He stretched his arm to keep it safely out of her reach. "It's mine." He grumbled.

They were on the rooftop, sitting on the ground and leaning against the fence. If she wanted to reach his lunch, she'd have to get up and walk around him, or crawl all over him. Normally, she'd probably crawl over him without hesitation; however, today he expected neither of those. Aya didn't seem to be in the teasing mood.

She twitched as if she indeed wanted to lean over him to get it, but then she drew her arm back. "Then don't complain." She sighed. "It wasn't my idea."

He looked at her, demanding a further explanation.

Maybe she shouldn't have gone to the rooftop with Aomine alone, but despite her turmoil of emotions, it was easier to be around him than the others. With him, she didn't have to force a smile and act as if everything was okay. Because he knew. Kiku was fine too, but the others wanted to go play basketball and it inevitably meant she couldn't sit in the corner and eat quietly. And that calm and almost bored mood which Aomine had right now was soothing her. It was right about what she needed. After another flood of strange dreams, which were half nightmares, half happy memories… she felt rather melancholic and empty again. So it's still there, huh… I thought it was gone already.

She sighed again and stared at her feet. "I couldn't sleep and when I finally fell asleep… Well, Taiga let me oversleep, and when I got up he'd already prepared breakfast and my lunch. As I didn't have enough time to prepare anything better, I took Taiga's idea and quickly made your share."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "You made this, right?" He waved the paper bag in the air. He sure didn't want to get poisoned by her brother. And maybe he hoped to lure out a small smile…

"Hey!" She bumped into his shoulder in a weak protest, which earned her a low chuckle from the ace. "Taiga'd never make your lunch. Over his dead body." She rolled her eyes. "…but he's acting weird…" She bit her thumb nail in deep thought.

"Isn't it because of the anniversary thing?" He asked and fished out the first sandwich, ensured that it was safe to eat and that she wouldn't snatch it from him anymore. His mom hadn't had any time to prepare him anything.

"Anniversary, huh?" She mumbled and shook her head. "I don't think so. He isn't affected by it as much; I'm the weird one with nightmares, most of the time… It's like… He's hiding something from me. I just can't get it out of him."

"Heh… A girl then?" He guessed, trying to redirect her thoughts and maybe brighten up her mood a bit.

"Nah. I teased him with that and the reaction was the usual. It's something different… I'm usually the one who's up first and in charge of breakfast… Well whatever. I'll figure it out eventually."

"Maybe he is trying to distract you…"

"Huh… are you actually fond of Taiga?" She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Tche, as if. Just sharin' ideas." He bristled. Hmmm… the sandwiches are tasty. He took the third one out and swallowed it in three bites.

"By the way, what's up with Satsuki? I haven't seen her or heard from her since last Friday. I seriously thought she'd want to go somewhere yesterday."

He shrugged. "Haven't seen her either. Can't complain though. The silence is priceless."

She hummed quietly, giving no particular answer to his comment. You're no fun today, Aya… She thought and sighed again. She didn't have the energy to fight the suffocating void. Her sleep had been poor and the dreams had tired her even more than if she hadn't slept at all. Just two more days of misery… She closed her eyes and leaned her head against Aomine's shoulder, as if she could steal a bit of his carelessness for herself by the physical contact. And suddenly, she didn't feel like drowning anymore.

For a split second he froze. It surprised him. Then he realised that yes, something had changed between them during the weekend. The redhead trusted him, and he finally got to see that yes, she could be no fun too, or rather, she could tease him hollowly. And surprisingly, he didn't mind it. He breathed out and continued eating his lunch; silently enjoying her closeness and pleasant summer breeze.

######

Aya arrived home sooner than her brother. She made sure of it. Satsuki could wait one more day, but Taiga's behaviour suggested he had done something she wouldn't like. Snooping around his room was pointless, she'd known about everything he had there… but the rest of the apartment…

The first room she checked was the library, or the office. It was the only room which had been locked during the time when the apartment had been rented to a family. Hundreds of books were framing almost the entire room and a huge desk in the middle of it. They didn't use the room much nowadays, though they had to get rid of the dust collecting there once in a while.

But there was nothing unusual. So she moved to the 'parents' bedroom opposite Taiga's room. It was a smaller room with a double bed, an empty roll-door wardrobe and two night tables. She didn't like that room. It reminded her all too much about the happy times spent with both of their parents. The emptiness of that room was suffocating. And she left it very quickly.

And the guest room was a bit creepy; an L-shaped room with a bed half-hidden behind the bend of the room. It had only a little of natural light coming from the roof window and it was equally empty. Or it was supposed to be empty.

Before she opened the door, she heard a crashing sound. It almost scared the crap out of her. What the hell? But curiosity won over fear (and the lack of knowledge of horror movies), and she yanked the door opened.

The first thing greeting her was a terrible stench. For a moment she really considered an option of a decaying corpse laying there somewhere… But then…

"Meow!" A small tabby kitty stuck its head out from under the bed.

"Kyah!" She startled and jumped backwards, and the kitty hid under the bed; its eyes glowing faintly, reflecting the light. When her heart rate calmed down, she started to laugh. "He's an idiot! Leaving a kitty which wasn't taught to use a litter box alone…"

Lured out by Aya's voice and its natural curiosity, the kitty crawled from under the bed and hesitantly approached the girl.

"Hey, little one, you gave me a fright there." She tried to sound as consoling as she could and stretched her arm out. It was the kitty's choice to come to her.

And as her scent was vaguely similar to Taiga's, the kitty meowed and nudged Aya's hand. Its front left paw was bandaged and it had some scabs. She could understand Taiga's thought processes. The kitty was cute, tabby grey and it had mismatched eyes, one yellow, one crystal blue. She patted its back gently.

"Meow."

Aya chuckled. The little one was winning her heart already. But we can't keep you…

She looked around. Taiga had bought a litter box and all… but he'd forgotten to check if the kitty knew how to use it, plus it was placed really close to its food. Of course the kitty relieved itself somewhere else. Hence the terrible smell in the room.

With a sigh, she looked at the small creature. "I wouldn't want to have a toilet in the kitchen either… Let's see what we can do about this, huh?"

######

Taiga was held up in school. The guys wanted to play some basketball after another round of tests. It was stupid really, he needed to head home. This time, Aya didn't have any plans he'd know of and… But once he got dragged into the game, he forgot all about it.

So when he arrived at home and found Aya playing with the tabby in the living room he froze on the spot. "Uhm…"

"Hey, Tai. Look what I found." She raised an eyebrow at him and waved a ball made out of an old tattered sock tied to a wooden stick by a shoelace in front of the tabby. The kitty immediately started attacking the bouncy makeshift toy.

The immediate shock was washed away by a genuine surprise. He'd expect an argument and not this. Ah... you hid it for 24 hours only… "Uhm… You're not angry?"

She sighed, still observing the playful kitty. "Well… except that it scared the shit out of me today, pooped on the bed in the guest room, destroyed the paper lamp and scratched the mattress… in a single day, because I don't believe it was here longer than that… I probably wouldn't leave a wounded animal out there either." She shrugged. "But we can't keep it Taiga."

He sighed and slumped onto the couch. "Why?"

"Because I'm leaving for the Interhigh next Monday and your training camp starts on Sunday… And because we're leaving Japan in about two weeks and we won't be back for a month. You can't leave it alone in the apartment for that long, it'd be cruel. And no, I'm not taking a cat on a trip 'round the world."

"But look at it."

"You didn't name it?"

"Why name it if we can't keep it?" He shrugged.

"So you knew..."

"Yeah…" He grumbled staring at his feet. "It's just… I don't like the idea of taking it back to the park. Look at him, they're bullying him."

"So him…" She smiled and rubbed the kitty's fur again. "You're too kind for your own good, you know?"

"Ha?! What are you saying I ain't –"

"Yeah, yeah." She waved her hand. No matter how much he protested and refused to admit it, he was kind. And strangely so was Aomine. "So what now? We have a cat that needs litter training, and we're leaving in five days…"

"Can't Katsu take him?"

"Uhm… he is leaving for the Interhigh with us."

"Then Hiroto?"

"Allergic to cats… And Senri and Hikaru are out of the question too. Aomine has three huge dogs and Satsuki doesn't like cats that much. Kiku won't be allowed and I'm not gonna nag the rest of my team. You found it, you deal with it."

His brows furrowed in thought. Then he blinked. "Suzume?" He suggested suddenly, knowing the girl's love for cats. He didn't want to hand the kitty to just anyone, and he definitely wasn't going to throw it out again.

"Do you want to send him via post office, or something?"

"No… but… Isn't Yosen in the Interhigh too?" He asked expectantly.

She blinked at him in disbelief. So she was dealing with his problem in the end anyways. "You aren't implying that I take the cat with me and then throw it at Tatsuya to hand it over?"

"…"

"So you are dumping your problem on me…" She sighed again. But the idea wasn't so bad actually. Suzume loved cats, used to have one before it'd gotten pregnant and Suzume's mother had drowned it. Though it was questionable if she'd be allowed to have a pet in the house with the sweetshop… "Call her, and try to resolve it with her, and her grandparents. Maybe she'll take him."

"Yes! You're the best!" He jumped up and ran back to the hallway to retrieve his bag and get his phone. When he returned, he leaned down to where Aya was still entertaining the tabby; "I love you!" he said and kissed her cheek.

"Gee'… so much affection for delivering a cat… I hope Suzu will give this a go, otherwise you have a problem to deal with."

"She will give it a go." He nodded, 98% sure this would work. "Oh, and... what do we name it?"

"Won't you let Suzu name it herself?"

"I need to sell this idea…"

Aya lifted the kitty off the ground and stared at it intensely. "I'm seeing Dorian Gray here."

"Huh…" He shrugged, not knowing where the name came from, but he couldn't care less. "Why not? So Dorian..."

* * *

"It was a tabby cat." With this announcement, she greeted Aomine by the school gate where they ran into each other the next morning.

"Hah?!" This was the last third day of tests, his brain wasn't functioning right anymore.

"Taiga brought home a tabby tomcat; tried to hide it from me." She sighed and yawned. "Maybe I should've acted as if I haven't found it…"

"So a cat?"

"Yeah." She nodded, and quickly searched for a picture she'd taken for Suzume. "See? It's really cute. Though it kept me awake almost the entire night..." She grumbled at the end.

He leaned down to see it better, and then looked at Aya. "What are you gonna do with it?"

"Well, we can't keep it. I'll deal with it during the Interhigh, hopefully. A friend agreed to take it in, but the logistics will be a problem… Oh, we have a practise in the afternoon, as we have just four and a half days until the first match… Are you coming?"

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Are you?" He hadn't expected her to attend any possible practises that week.

She shrugged. "What else to do?" Brooding and melancholy never helped anyone, and Taiga will go home to be with the cat… I hope.

"I'll pass. I wanna sleep."

"Okay. But we need to go over tomorrow's presentation; just to be sure we know which part is whose."

He wanted to retort that they knew it already and it was a waste of time and energy, but something in her eyes stopped him. He couldn't say what exactly it was. He sighed and scratched the back of his neck.

"I'll wait for you after practise then."

######

"Satsuki, hey." Aya greeted her at the practise. "How did the tests go?"

"Ah, Aya-chan. Hi." She greeted the redhead with a smile, but she couldn't quite look her in the eye. Ki-chan had told her to talk with Aya-chan as soon as possible… It wasn't that easy. "It was okay, I guess."

She narrowed her eyes, not at all pleased by this dodgy behaviour. "Look, if it's about tomorrow's anniversary, keep the sentiment for yourself. I ain't jumping out of a window or anythin'." She said in a quiet voice, but her tone was harsh.

Satsuki's eyes widened in shock, she had no idea what Aya was talking about. "I'm not… Wait what? Anniversary of… Oh…" Her mom… She blinked at the sudden realisation. She had no idea!

"Wait…" Now it was Aya's turn to be surprised. "You didn't know?"

"No! I swear I had no idea!" She blurted out truthfully. "I just… I just knew your mom died… But…"

The redhead pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head, feeling bad about her overreaction. She'd swear that Satsuki knew about everything already… "I'm sorry. I'm kinda… weird these days… Sorry…"

"Yeah… sure… no problem." Satsuki stuttered out and stared at Aya, suddenly not that anxious around her. But she certainly couldn't drop the 'hey, we'd been friends before you left to America' bomb on her. It wasn't walking on eggshells, right? It was being considerate… Or so she thought.

"Right… Uhm, about the Interhigh, you dealt with everything on your own?" Aya asked to break the sudden odd atmosphere.

She played with the hem of her skirt sheepishly. "Yeah, I didn't want to bother you. I thought you had enough to deal with, considering that you stayed over at Aomine-kun's. You could've told me that, you know." The pinkette pouted.

"How…?"

"Michiko-san…"

Of course… Aya thought and rolled her eyes. "I had no idea about it. So I couldn't have told you in advance. And we're not dating, so there's nothing to deal with. I have enough as it is…"

"Hmmm… so what about the Interhigh?" She asked to change the topic. Of course Aya had some questions.

The final tournament was taking place out of Tokyo and it was easier to go and stay in a hotel there than travel everyday, which might cause some absences or problems; mainly when not all the members would participate. It took place during summer holidays after all, and some of the club members were leaving abroad with their families, or they didn't want to participate; it left the club with only the regulars, the usual bench warmers and some scarce additional substitutes. And Aomine would be obliged to attend that way – nowhere for him to run, theoretically.

"It's taking place in Chiba prefecture, right? Somewhere near a beach, right?"

"Yeah, in –"

"That's not important. Uhm… In the hotel you booked, are animals allowed there?"

Satsuki blinked at the redhead. "Uuuuuhm… I don't remember? Why?"

Aya sighed, and quickly described the situation she had with the tabby. Inwardly, she was cursing Taiga for dropping this problem on her, but at the same time she had an 'I owe you', which she could use whenever.

"Awwww! It's so cute!" Satsuki squealed when she saw a picture of the tabby. "I'll check it out, and let you know, 'kay? And if animals are not allowed, I'll persuade them to make an exception! I'm good at that."

Aya chuckled. "I don't doubt that. So, do you think we can win it?" She asked and stared at the boys getting their warm up.

"If Aomine-kun plays in the final matches, most likely… Though I'm worried too. I have no idea what would happen if they face each other. Ki-chan, Muk-kun and Akashi-kun… Ki-chan mostly, we're in the same bracket with him and we will inevitably face them." She got her hands on the Interhigh matchup list sooner than everyone else. Usually the matchups were handed out during the opening ceremony and the matches started a day after that.

"That's sure gonna be an interesting match." Aya smiled a bit slyly. Honestly, she couldn't imagine Kise winning, but she knew the blonde would be one hell of a tough opponent, especially if Aomine underestimated him. She couldn't know that for sure, but that was her gut feeling.

"You're looking forward to it!" The pinkette sounded almost accusatory.

"Aren't you? Finally some matches in sight Aomine can enjoy… Which means it will be a spectacle."

Satsuki giggled and shook her head. "You really do like him, eh?"

This time, Aya didn't try to deny it. She just shrugged and chuckled too. "Can't help it."

* * *

"Come on, Robin. Let's dance together." Keiko outstretched her hand to invite her daughter for a little ballet performance on stage of an old theatre.

"Eeeeh? I can dance with mama?" Little Aya blinked in surprise. It was the theatre her mother used to perform in, and it was right after the very last performance.

"Of course. It's the last chance to be on this stage, Lil' Robin. We're leaving tomorrow." She smiled.

"Taiga too!" She grabbed her brother and despite his protests – he didn't like being watched – even though the auditorium was empty, only their father was sitting there and watching them with a kind smile on his face.

The kids put on their pointes with a learned ease. Taiga hated it, it hurt, but he couldn't really oppose his sister, and basketball was not something he enjoyed – too many huge people and he could never get the ball. And he loved when their mom was happy and smiling.

Their little performance wasn't choreographed or planned. Keiko put on a music she knew the kids would manage and she danced alongside them. She wasn't correcting them, it was the last performance after all and she loved seeing how clumsy they still were. Taiga mostly. However, her daughter already possessed a talent which scared her at times. She wasn't sure she'd be able to handle the rapid growth and Aya's changing interests. But she let none of that show. Every time Aya glanced at her, she smiled encouragingly.

When the music stopped, they all bowed and Haruka clapped and whistled loudly; something unheard of on a ballet performance.

"Oh, dear. You shouldn't do that."

"Why not?" He asked with a goofy grin. "I ain't disturbing anyone and my beloved kids had their first performance on such a huge stage!"

Keiko shook her head and chuckled. She really loved this big goofy basketball player. "Let's wrap it up and go home. We need to leave early."

"Mom?" Aya blinked at her.

"Yes?"

"Can't we take Pinky with us?"

Keiko giggled at the nickname. "Unfortunately not. Her mom would've been very sad if we took her with us, don't you think?"

Aya pouted. "But they'll make fun of her when I'm not there…"

"She's a strong girl too, she'll be okay." She ruffled her daughter's short hair and lifted her in her arms.

"Come on, big boy." Haruka motioned for Taiga to come to him. He'd carry him on his shoulders all the way to the car.

With a wide grin Taiga took off the shoes and ran along the stage to leap onto his father, knowing the man would catch him.

Everything shifted in a blur and they were suddenly at an airport. But Aya and Taiga were standing on one place and they couldn't move. Holding hands, they were watching their parents leave. They couldn't run after them, they were glued to a spot. Their voices were muffled, quiet, they couldn't shout. All they could feel was panic and fear; suddenly being left alone in such a huge place with so many people passing them by.

"Mom! Daddy!" They both shouted, but the couple didn't turn around to look at them. The tears welled up in their eyes. They were trying to fight the paralysis, but none of them could move a muscle.

They were being abandoned, invisible, forgotten…

"Don't leave us!" They shrieked terrified.

They both sprang up on Aya's bed with outstretched hands reaching after ghosts.

"Fuck…" Taiga muttered. He blinked at Aya, knowing he'd see tears rolling down her cheeks. "Airport?" He asked, just to be sure. He'd bet his life they'd dreamt the same stupid dream.

"…airport…" She muttered with a raspy voice. "…what the…" She was glad that Taiga was with her.

Taiga rubbed his face. He rarely had nightmares, and he didn't know if this could've been labelled as one, but he felt so… abandoned, empty. Unlike Aya, he wasn't crying. Still… He reached out and engulfed Aya in a hug. He wasn't sure if he wasn't the one who needed it more; to feel that the other person was there.

Without a word she circled her arms around Taiga's waist and hugged him back. This was not the usual nightmare she'd have. She was crying, she was sad, and it was scary too. But it was scary on a completely different level than her previous dreams. And the dream seemed to be a nice one at first. She would've handled just fine, but this time, it was Taiga who needed the hug. She knew he wasn't used to this fucked up stuff.

"It's fine." She murmured quietly and rubbed Taiga's back. "Could've been much worse."

"I know…" He sighed and let go. "We need to move, or you'll be late…"

She blinked at the clock and indeed. If she wanted to catch the last morning train which was still fine, she'd need to hurry. And she had no time to prepare Aomine's lunch. Fuck…

######

That day, she wanted to curl up in a corner and brood and grieve. It was the only one day when she allowed herself to do that. But once she was in school and with everyone she had to flash smiles and interact with everyone normally.

The presentation of the project was a performance of her lifetime. She'd never had a problem standing in front of people and presenting, or performing, but today she needed to pay extra attention to her expression and voice. Other than her inner struggle, the presentation was perfect.

Aomine handled fine too, he presented his parts monotonously and lazily, as if he was bored to death by the fact that he had to stand in front of everyone and read the important parts of their paper. Though, he rarely glanced into those papers; a detail which went unnoticed by most of the class. They were anxious about their test results and not really paying attention to the pair presenting their assignment.

When they finished, Ueda-sensei looked at them approvingly. "That's what I wanted to see the whole semester." They were the last ones, so they had the longest time to prepare and yet, they exceeded his expectations. "It's a 100."

Aomine blinked at him in surprise. He got a 100? He'd never had a 100 from anything!

Sensei raised an eyebrow at him. "I hope it wasn't only Kagami-san's work."

He glared at the teacher for this accusation. The topic was his damn idea and he did work on it quite a lot too. Though he didn't feel like arguing, it wasn't important after all.

"Of course not." Aya said, fighting the sudden spark of anger. "We wrote it together. The topic and the outline are all Aomine's work."

"Oi." Aomine grumbled. He didn't need the others to know that. He could already see Ishii's raised eyebrow, and he cursed inwardly.

The teacher smiled at that. He did notice the fact that Aomine, just like Kagami, didn't need to read it, which meant the boy must've participated on writing it. He just wanted to see the reaction, and which one of the two would argue. Truthfully, these 100 points were the easiest 100 points he'd ever given to anyone.

"Okay. You can sit." He said to the two. Then he cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "Since the closing ceremony is tomorrow, and I've given you the summer homework, we won't study anything else. I'll hand out your test results." As a homeroom teacher, this was his duty too.

Aya slumped to her chair and stared out of the window. This lesson was the only reason she'd come to school. She wanted it to end, so she could leave. She barely glanced at her test results. Everything was above 90 points, only chemistry was 85 and math 82. She could live with that.

The classroom started buzzing as everyone wanted to discuss their results with the others. Kiku decided to keep Ishii and Kano busy, and grant the two some sort of a public privacy.

Aomine kicked Aya's chair to get her attention.

"Hm?" She turned around.

He pointed at his test results smugly. "I told y'."

She smirked and looked at it. Indeed, he had above 60 from everything. English was above 70 and History above 80. For Aomine, those were stellar results.

"Good job, Honey-bun." She leaned forward and ruffled his hair.

"Oi!" He grabbed her hand and forced it out of his hair. "I ain't a dog." He protested, holding her smaller palm trapped between his long fingers and the desk, in case she'd try another attack. Definitely just a precaution.

"I'm praising you. Nothin' wrong with that." She chuckled, and it actually reached her eyes a bit. She didn't try to free her hand from his grasp. His big calloused palm was strangely soothing.

"Tch." He frowned at her, but a corner of his lips twitched upwards. Then he glanced at their hands and then at her. He didn't want to let go yet, because then she'd turn around and stare out of the window again; she'd be sad again. She was watching him curiously and he had to fight off a blush.

"How're you holding up?" He asked, much aware that all the smiles were an obligation, not a reflection of her real mood.

"Hm?" She blinked at him and then quickly glanced around. Kiku and the boys were like a human shield covering them from the rest of the classroom. And they were preoccupied by going over their test results, and the right answers. The entire class was buzzing with numerous voices, but when she looked back at him, the voices faded away. And all she could focus on were his, strangely caring, dark eyes.

She sighed and her mask slipped off, revealing the emptiness she felt. "Could be better." Her gaze shifted on their hands resting on top of his desk. Aomine didn't seem willing to let go. It was almost like he was offering her a silent support, a comfort she needed. She wouldn't push him away. A ghost of a smile appeared on her face. Out of a simple need to be closer, she intertwined their fingers.

He didn't protest, though his heart was ready to jump out of his chest. How glad he was that she was observing their hands instead of his face, because he wasn't used to this in the slightest. You're the one who grabbed her hand first… He took a deep breath to calm down his heartbeat. Maybe he wasn't supposed to enjoy it as much, but he did. He liked the physical contact. And thanks to his childish refusal to let go, she visibly relaxed. A small, genuine smile appeared on his face. He gave her hand a gentle, reassuring squeeze.

She squeezed his hand back and lifted her gaze to look at him. The soft expression he had caught her off guard. She blinked and took a deep breath to calm down too. She really didn't want to blush.

"Uhm… I'm leaving after this class, and uh… I didn't prepare a lunch today… Sorry?"

He rolled his eyes. "It doesn't matter." He grumbled under his breath, he hadn't really expected her to bring him lunch today; besides, mom had made one for him.

She smiled softly at his reaction. He could magically brighten her mood without even trying.

"Glad to hear that."

######

"Kagami-kun." Kuroko turned around to see the redhead's test results. But Taiga had a hand over it and he kept staring out of the window. "Kagami-kun." He had to raise his voice to get his attention.

"Hm?" Taiga blinked at the shadow, and then at the test results laying on his desk. They weren't interesting in the slightest. "Oh…" He quickly ran through the papers. He had above 60 points from everything. Modern Japanese and English were above 90, because he'd used the rolling pencil on the first one and English… well, he hadn't been thinking twice about the answers.

"That's good. You don't have to attend remedial classes."

"Mhm." He mumbled.

Kuroko stared at his friend. Kagami seemed too out of it. He'd expected the ace to be smug about these results and brag about it, but this… This was Kagami he hadn't known. "Is something wrong?"

A deep sigh escaped him. "Nothing. I'm leaving after this class and I won't come to practise today."

Eh? "Why?"

"I need to go somewhere with Aya."

######

"It's crazy." Taiga mumbled as they floated on their backs in gentle waves.

"It is." She noted and bumped into his leg. She loved the ocean and its salty scent. It'd always been their safe place. Keiko loved it and so did they.

After visiting mother's empty grave and eating some quick lunch. They boarded a train to take them to the ocean. They always went to the ocean during the anniversary. It was their refuge; a place where they could feel closer to their mom than anywhere else.

Keiko's ashes had been scattered in the ocean after her funeral. It'd been her wish. She'd known she'd been dying so she'd had her last will written for a long time. And because she had family all over the world, having only one place where they could go to remember her would've been selfish – or so she'd been thinking. And knowing her restless children, she'd wanted them to be able to remember her wherever they'd be, without an obligation to visit a physical place of a cemetery. However, there were three empty graves, something her father had insisted on: one in California, one in France, and one in Japan.

"Eerie and a bit sick, don't you think?"

"Maybe." Aya shrugged staring at the sky. "But that way… wherever we go, she's with us. The ocean has always calmed me down anyways."

"Me too." He snorted good-heartily. Even before her death, the ocean had been a special place for them all.

"And maybe she'll protect you from a shark wanting to bite off your butt during surfing one day."

"Very funny." He rolled his eyes and stood up. His toes diving into the sand bellow. "You're feeling better." He pulled at her ankle so she wouldn't drift too far.

"At very last. Maybe… Maybe I can finally let go?" She looked at him by the corner of her eye and stood up as well. She was too short to reach the bottom, so she remained floating.

"That'd be nice." He hummed, hating the sudden feeling of his shirt sticking to his shoulders, while the rest of his clothes just floated freely in the water. "Aomine-effect?"

She smiled kindly. "I honestly don't know. Mixture of everyone-and-everything-effect?" She swam around him and launched herself at his back.

"Hey! Wha'cha doin'?"

"I'm getting a piggyback ride to the beach!" She exclaimed, wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist – squeezing the life out of him.

He raised an eyebrow at that and a dangerous smirk appeared on his face. "As you wish." He said and without a warning he grabbed her arms tight and squatted, pulling her under the water with him. When he rose back up she was coughing and spitting.

"Y' wanna kill me?" She slapped his shoulder, but then laughed. This was exactly what she should've expected.

"And lose all the fun? Nah." He shrugged and started wading towards the beach.

On their way home, they ignored all the disapproving stares and whispers people were uttering their way, because they had their uniforms completely soaked and dirty from sand. They couldn't care less.

######

"I'm seriously tired, Katsu." Hiroto complained and yawned. He'd just returned from France and he really hadn't expected his friend to come and demand a one-on-one match.

"One more time." Katsunori muttered and wiped his forehead. It'd been some time since Keiko's anniversary got to him that much. It was the kids' fault, definitely. Seeing Aya fighting with her melancholy like that turned on some weird switch in him and made him think about the woman he didn't want to think about.

"Huh… to see you restless like this during Keiko-chan's anniversary… It's been some years… Did something happen?" He asked as he lazily dribbled the ball. He knew he'd lose, but he wouldn't give the victory to Katsunori without a proper fight. Katsunori had always been better than him, but he didn't care anymore. They were too old for childish brawls like this.

"The kids." He muttered. "They fight it. She misses her, longs for her mother, I can tell, and yet… No one else noticed, she practised normally, she acted normally. What the hell is that girl made off? And I'd swear Taiga managed the same..."

The bartender chuckled and found a way past Katsunori. "It's not only the appearance you inherit from your parents, you know…"

"Dammit." He swore under his breath and spun around to catch up with Hiroto and steal the ball. He knew he could. Even though his instincts were a bit dulled. Catching up was one thing, stopping Hiroto was an entirely different story. I should play more often…

"Besides, do you really think no one else noticed? I'd bet your ace knows." He chuckled and leaped into a fade away to shoot.

"Tch." Katsunori jumped up to stop the ball but he merely tipped it with his fingers. "I'm not sure if I should be glad or worried."

"Glad. Definitely glad." He laughed and went to pick up the ball. He rolled it in his hands for a moment and then threw it to Katsunori. "You miss her too, don't you?"

"Stop it. I don't have the right to miss her." He grumbled and caught the pass.

Hiroto shook his head in exasperation. "It's okay to miss those we loved. And anyways, you've never cheated on Haruka-senpai or anything. More than that, I think you gave up that fight way too easily."

"Shut up." Katsunori growled and using several fakes he dashed past Hiroto, leaped and shot. He frowned, knowing the hasty shot would bounce out. "She never looked my way."

To his surprise Hiroto laughed. "If she had, you would've never had those two rascals getting on your nerves you know."

He had to chuckle at that. He never wanted his own children… "True."

* * *

"Meow." Dorian greeted Aya on Friday morning, while she was preparing coffee and bentos.

"Mornin' Dorian." She smiled at him and the tabby tangled around her ankles. She was feeling much better. Her usual cheerfulness was back, as if nothing bad had ever happened and she was more than grateful for that; mainly for that 8-hour dreamless sleep she'd finally gotten.

"We'll go on a trip on Monday, what do y' say?" She asked and leaned down to pat him.

He stretched and purred, seemingly accepting the name with grace.

Aya sighed. It was easy to get used to another member in the household, but the cat would be better off at Suzume's.

######

She strolled to the gym with Aomine, who yawned, but let her lure him to practise under a promise to play on-on-one with her. It'd been more fun for him as he still hadn't figured out all of her dancing inspired moves and fakes. And well… She was finally back on her usual track it seemed, and the tall ace liked that.

"Sunshine returned!" Tada-senpai smiled at her immediately, which earned him a rather scary glare from Aomine.

"Huh?" She blinked at him. "What are you talking about?"

"Aaah, nothin' at all, right, captain?" He glanced at Imayoshi chatting with Satsuki close by.

"Nothing at all, Aya-chan. We're glad you're feeling better~"

"Huh?!" Her glance was drifting from one to another and then she narrowed her eyes at Satsuki.

The pinkette twitched guiltily and half-hid behind Imayoshi. It wasn't her fault that the captain could be so scary when he wanted. She'd had no choice and they'd noticed Aya's well hidden gloomy behaviour after all.

"Aya-chan's better!" Kano strolled in and cheerfully ruffled her hair, which caused Aomine another surge of rage. "That's nice." He added completely oblivious to Aomine's dangerous aura.

"I'm sorry!" Sakurai bowed immediately, as if Kano's action had been his fault. "I'm sorry Aya-chan…"

She was flabbergasted, looking all around her. Everyone seemed to know about the anniversary, hopefully they knew only about the anniversary and not the whole drama behind it. They didn't need to say it; she could see it in their expressions. And there was no pity. Just a relief that she was back to her usual self. It's only a matter of time 'till they figure out everything.

Katsunori too, gave her an encouraging nod.

She wasn't sure what to feel, but she couldn't possibly be angry at them now. She sighed and a soft, kind smile spread onto her face. Then she shook her head; her smile changing into more of a 'what do I do with you? I still like you all' or 'I give up' expression.

"Gee'! All right! I'm back! Now go to practise! You have a match to play in three days!"

They all laughed at her antics and Imayoshi's curt command got them moving. Only Aomine and Satsuki remained standing at the sidelines. The pinkette fidgeted and decided to widen the distance between them and to not look at Aya, in case the redhead decided to bite her head off, which was not probable, but one could never know.

"Don't smile like that." Aomine grumbled to her, frowning deeply.

"Hah?!"

"Don't smile like that at them." He repeated like a pouty child, a glaring and scarily looking pouty child, to be precise. He didn't like the idea that the others got (and would get) to see this smile. The rare, kind smile he liked so much. It was supposed to be reserved for him only.

'At them', huh? "Why?" She raised an eyebrow at him and that teasing sparkle in her eyes was all too obvious.

"I don't like it."

She shrugged. "Then I won't smile like that at all."

"Tch, that's not…" He suddenly stopped himself. That's not what? "Just don't show it to them." He blurted out without thinking, his mouth working before his brain once more.

"And to you?" She asked with a teasing undertone, staring at him and trying to decipher what he meant.

He scratched the back of his neck in embarrassment and avoided eye-contact staring at the nearest hoop. "That's okay." He mumbled under his breath.

She started laughing at that. He was way too cute now. If they were dating she'd probably just squish his face and flood him with kisses. But all she could do now was laugh and watch how his face slowly changed its colour.

"What?!" He barked at her and turned to look at her. It was a mistake. She was laughing at him, yes, but those burning reddish eyes were telling him that she understood the message. It only made him half hide his face behind his hand out of embarrassment.

"Go get them." She slapped the middle of his back and pushed him towards the jogging boys.

This time, he didn't protest.

* * *

 **A/N:** I admit this chapter might be a little filler-ish, but after the 'study-session' one I felt there needed to be something more before plunging into the Interhigh arc. I hope it wasn't boring for you and I hope I didn't overdo it. :)

The Interghigh is coming next.

Let me know what you think and remember, reviews are appreciated but never necessary.

-S.


	35. Chapter 35: Let the Interhigh begin

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone who followed, favourited and reviewed! It makes me very happy. :)

Here's another, slightly shorter chapter this time.

Enjoy!

* * *

 _Never try to outstubborn a cat. ―_ _ **Robert A. Heinlein, Time Enough for Love**_

 _I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel._ ― _**Maya Angelou**_

 _Arrogance is a creature. It does not have senses. It has only a sharp tongue and the pointing finger. ―_ _ **Toba Beta**_

 _Her courage was her crown, and she wore it like a Queen. ―_ _ **Atticus**_

 _All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost; the old that is strong does not wither, deep roots are not reached by the frost._ – _**J. R. R. Tolkien**_

* * *

"What's that?" Katsunori eyed the tabby meowing in a crate, and a couple of other things Aya had carried with her.

"I'm delivering Dorian to Yosen's team and they'll deliver him to his new home." She shrugged. "Haven't I told you?"

He sighed and pulled at his fringe with an exasperated expression. Aya was the last one to arrive and everyone had been waiting for her. Now he knew what the cause of her delay had been. "You'll be the death of me one day. Get in, we're leaving."

"Sure." She chuckled and hopped into the bus. As there were fewer boys than usual she took an entire double seat in front of Aomine and placed the kitty next to her.

"Meooow." Dorian cried anxiously again. He didn't like being contained it the cage. And Taiga wasn't there, he was stressed and not sure what was going on.

Aomine's head appeared next to her and he stared at the crate. "You sure you won't let him out? He'll keep at this desperate meowing…" And he wanted to really see the kitty too.

Aya turned her head to look at him with a raised eyebrow. "Will _you_ stick him back into that thing then?"

"Ah…" Only then he noticed numerous fresh scratches and cuts on her forearms. She must've struggled with the kitty for quite a while. "Why not? Might be fun." He smirked.

She sighed; she couldn't listen to that constant and desperate meowing either. It made her feel as if she was torturing the cat. "Fine then." She opened the door and Dorian rushed out like possessed, immediately trying to climb the seat and get as far from that container as possible.

Aomine quickly grabbed it by the skin on its neck and pulled it away from the seat, before it could destroy the fabric. "Hey there." He stared at the meowing tabby, which was trying to get away from his grasp. "Y' ain't going anywhere." He muttered and sat back to his seat, waiting for the cat to calm down a bit, only then he let it go. The mismatched eyes fascinated him to no ends.

Aya kneeled on her seat and turned toward the bluenette. "I thought you were a 100% dog person." She noted. She didn't understand Aomine's calming magic. But Dorian seemed to be fine now, curiously walking on Aomine's thighs and checking out everything around him.

He smirked. That was the usual assumption after people got to meet his two overgrown pups. "Cats are fun too."

"What do you have here? I want to see~" Imayoshi walked towards the two and watched the tabby. But when he tried to touch it, the cat hissed on him, the fur on its neck prickling and it stuck out its claws.

"Tch." Aomine scowled at the kitty, which just stuck its sharp claws through his pants and into his thighs. He grabbed Dorian and lifted him up, to get rid of the painful claws.

Aya laughed at the scene. "Animals sense foul personalities for miles, captain~" She hummed.

The captain's eyes narrowed at the manager and he smiled slyly. "Well, I guess I was never a cat person."

After everyone got to see the tabby and the courageous ones got to pet it too, it found itself comfortable on Aomine's lap, where it fell asleep. Jealous, Aya moved to the seat next to Aomine and stared at the kitty accusingly.

"How come he's sleeping on you?" She asked with a slight pout.

Aomine raised an eyebrow at her. "Jealous, Sweetheart?" He teased her. "Y' know, I ain't the one who stuck him into that cell. Or maybe I'm just more comfortable than you."

She rolled her eyes and scratched the sleeping Dorian behind his ears. "Well it's not a dog. I had to transport him somehow. And if we want Suzume to take care of him from now on, we should provide those basic things she'll need."

"It must've been a struggle." He pointed at her scratched arms. "Getting him into that thing."

"You can't imagine. Hopefully, it should heal in a couple of days. But I wonder how Tatsuya will manage to get him to Akita…" She sighed. "Maybe I'll make a one-day detour after the Interhigh myself."

######

The bus stopped at a stadium where the Interhigh would take place. Dorian was still soundly sleeping on Aomine's lap, and sometime during the ride Aya fell asleep too.

"Hey." Aomine shook her shoulder to wake her up. "We need to go."

"Mhm." She mumbled and rubbed her sleepy eyes. "What?"

"Give me that crate." He said quietly. She blinked at him, not getting what he wanted to do with it. Her brain was still half-asleep. Noticing her confusion he rolled his eyes. "For the cat."

"Oh, right." She smoothly got up and leaned over the seats in front of them. "You sure he won't wake up?"

He grinned at her. "Let's hope not. I don't wish to meet with his claws."

"He won't like you after this." She noted.

Aomine just shrugged and carefully placed the kitty into the crate. He closed the door soundlessly and they put the crate back on Aya's seat.

"And that's how it's done, Sweetheart." He told her with a smug grin.

"Good job." She smirked and ruffled his hair as if he was a dog. And this time she really meant it like that.

Grumbling something about witches, he got up and followed after her to the exit.

They left everything in the bus and went for an opening ceremony into the huge stadium. Other teams from all over the country were slowly gathering there as well. Aya was keeping an eye on the passers-by to notice someone familiar; Kise or Atsushi or maybe Seijuurou, whom she hadn't seen for a couple of years. But so far there was no one familiar.

Satsuki and Imayoshi were giving them a quick description of how the ceremony would proceed and what was expected of them and so on. Aya and all those who hadn't been to the Interhigh (or any other tournament of this scale) before were listening carefully.

When suddenly…

"Booby-Aya-chaaan!"

Aya whipped around, recognizing that voice very well. All she could see was a smudge of something small leaping at her. She had barely enough time to brace herself for the impact as the tiny girl launched herself at her full weight, diving her face in between Aya's breasts. To keep them both from falling backwards, Aya had to spin around, lifting Hero and making a 360° turn before settling her back on her feet.

"Woah!" She glared down at the short girl in scolding. "What was that for, Hero? And the name is 'Aya'."

"I missed ya!" She said, still not willing to let go.

"It's been only a bit over two weeks." Aya gently hit her knuckles against Hero's head. "Now if you could let go."

With a dissatisfied grunt she took a step back. "It was comfortable there." She pouted and then a broad grin settled on her face. "I'm glad I found ya! Everyone is so fuckin' tall here, what are they fed?! I wanna try that too!"

Aya raised an eyebrow at Hero, who looked around; finally noticing Aya's team.

"Oh, hey there! I'm Hironaka Sumire, the manager of Yosen." She waved them, craning her neck to see their faces. Then she zoomed on Satsuki. "Melon-chan!" She said without thinking.

Satsuki blushed in embarrassment and crossed her arms over her chest, as if she could hide it. Aya had warned her, but this exceeded all expectations.

Aya groaned in exasperation and slapped the back of Hero's head. The girl was either in a particularly good mood, or being around so many boys every day was probably taking its toll on the already rude Hero.

"Hero!" She frowned at her. "That's just mean."

"What? It's true! And I mean it as a compliment! A compliment!" She nodded seriously.

Some of the boys blushed, while Aomine cackled at the little phenomenon in front of them. "The pipsqueak sure knows what's good."

"What did ya say?! Ya, ya…" She couldn't find a suitable insult or nickname for the tall tanned boy that quickly. But then… "… Ya spray-tan!"

"HAH?!" Aomine sure hadn't expected the pipsqueak to argue back.

Aya had to laugh at that. Satsuki was chuckling too, just like the majority of the team. Katsunori was staring at the tiny girl with perplexed and tired eyes. He was so glad his managers were relatively polite and normal girls.

"Hey, hey. That's enough." Aya said to stop the glaring going on between Hero and Aomine. She quickly introduced Satsuki, so the girls wouldn't be strangers anymore.

"How're you holding up?" Satsuki asked curiously. Yosen seemed to be a team which was hard to handle.

Hero sighed and looked at both girls. "What do I say? The cookie monster is constantly makin' fun of me, and I still can't read yer boy, Booby-chan, but other than that…" She shrugged. "I'm quite satisfied there. But the coach can be scary." She shuddered at a memory when she'd been introduced to the Araki-sensei's shinai.

"Tatsuya _ain't my boy_. _And_ I seriously hope you're not nicknaming him that or I'll be really annoyed." Aya corrected Hero with an eye-roll. "I've told you it'll take lots of time to learn that. And I can imagine Araki-sensei is scary, especially if you're running your mouth like that all the time."

"They don't take me seriously otherwise." She grumbled. Being that short pipsqueak among the titans… she needed to get their attention somehow. And this proved to be working quite well.

Satsuki chuckled. "I can imagine that. Be it not for Aya-chan, the boys wouldn't listen to me much either."

"That's not true!" Several guys protested at the same time.

Satsuki glanced at them over her shoulder. "Maybe, but you're certainly more tamed with the two of us there."

Her voice trailed off as a huge shadow loomed over them. "Hironaka-chan, so here you are." The entire Yosen team came to fetch their missing manager, with their captain in the lead. "You disappeared in the crowd."

"Because she is so small we couldn't see her." Atsushi added from behind the captain, munching on his Umaibo. "Oh, hello, Mine-chin, Sa-chin, Aya-chin." He stared at the three familiar faces with a slight interest.

They nodded to the giant and everyone stared at the huge boys in Yosen's team with a certain worry in their eyes. Everyone except Aomine; he'd gladly measure his skills against the height.

"What did ya say, ya purple cookie-monster?!"

"Ha?!" He glared at the girl. "You said something? I can't hear you up here."

"Then come down to my level! And I'll show ya!" She fumed.

"Eh? Why should I?"

"I'm gonna kill them one day." Masako growled and weighed her shinai against her shoulder.

"Like coach, like team. Long time no see, Masa-chan." Katsunori said with a half-smirk, knowing how much she hated the nickname. "How are you doing?"

She glared at him. "I see you haven't changed in the slightest. Stick the nickname up your arse, Katsunori."

He shrugged. "You've never won against me, have you?"

"My team will win."

"We'll see about that."

Aya nudged Hero and pointed at the coaches. "Nice vibe, don't you think?"

"Mhm. Masa-chan…" She chuckled quietly, her banter with Atsushi long forgotten – it was a norm after all.

"I'd say so too." Tatsuya joined the girls' conversation. So far he hadn't had his chance to say hi to Aya.

"Hm?" She turned her head to look at him over her shoulder. "Oh, hey! Couldn't see you through Liu-kun." She turned around and hugged him quickly in a greeting. "Thanks for the help with math."

"Anytime, Robin. I take you passed just fine?" He asked and scanned the boys from Touou. Part of them was preoccupied with meeting the Yosen's team and all the introductions, part of them was chatting amongst themselves… But he was looking for someone specific. And then he caught a really stormy glare from a tanned boy taller and better built than him. The guy was more Aya's type than him, he knew that much. The aura of self confidence and arrogance; it made him curious, although the glare was really hostile. And it made a chill ran down his spine. _Aomine Daiki, I take it… I wonder if they're dating or not… Hmm… Judging by his glare, probably not… Yet…_ He thought and smiled at the boy. Then he looked back at the redhead.

"'f course." She grinned smugly.

"See that?" Sumire nudged Satsuki and pointed at the two. "I'm tellin' ya! Her boy!"

"Would you stop it?!" They both snapped at Hero.

Aya looked up at Tatsuya. "Glad we agree on that." Then she noticed something partly hidden by Tatsuya's collar and she narrowed her eyes. Then she looked at Hero. "My boy, you say? Really?"

She reached up, hooked her finger under Tatsuya's collar and pulled it down, revealing a deep coloured hickie just under his collar bone.

"What a nice colour. Yesterday?" She asked with a smirk.

Tatsuya took a step back a bit startled and a bit embarrassed by Aya's cunning action. She'd never left a mark on him (at least not on such visible place); it'd been their deal to not leave marks.

"Eeeeh?!" Hero pointed a finger at him. "WHAT?! WHEN?! H-HOW?!" She squealed, getting everyone's attention and directing it at Tatsuya.

"Eeeeeh?!" Fukui pointed his finger at him too, copying Hero. "When the hell have you managed that?! Month! You've been at Yosen for just a month!"

He scratched the back of his neck, but he didn't blush. He managed to keep his unwavering poker face. "Heh, I guess I got lucky. Could we stop making a scene out of it?" He shrugged and shot a short annoyed glare at Aya. Why the hell could the girl see through him so much?

"Thou are embarrassing thyself." Liu said to Fukui and Hero in his dull, almost grave voice. He rarely spoke up, and Fukui had to suddenly fight the urge to laugh at Liu's old-fashioned ways, which were taught to him by none other than Fukui himself.

It quickly got the attention of the others and Fukui had to mime to the Touou's team to not ruin his prank. If it weren't for Imayoshi, who quickly caught up on what the boy was trying to gesture and convey, someone would've definitely told Liu his choice of words was rather pathetic and really outdated.

"H-h-how is that…?!" Hero was still staring at the bruise with wide eyes, a blush slowly creeping onto her cheeks. She understood that it couldn't have been Aya's job, but somehow… She believed those two were strangely close, maybe because Aya hadn't had enough time to really properly explain it to her. So… _Gods, I was really stupid…_ She thought. And then imagined what must've happened to Tatsuya to get that… She had no idea – she'd never had a boyfriend or any experience on that front.

Tatsuya smirked at that. Oh, he would so tease the girl for this. "You mean you don't know how those are made, _senpai_?" He asked smugly, leaning down to be on Hero's eye-level and looked at her.

She glowed deep red instantly and jumped away from him as if he burned her. "G-go to hell, Poker face!" She shouted at him and hid behind Aya. She hated to admit that this brat, younger than her, had much more experience than she could even imagine.

"Well," Aya laughed, "if you were watching his ' _poker face'_ carefully, you could see three to four stages: surprise turning into embarrassment turning into annoyance turning into mischief, or teasing."

"What?!" Hero stuck her head out to stare at Tatsuya. Her own embarrassment forgotten and her curiosity fuelled. "How the hell can ya decipher it, Booby-chan?! What were the signs? I swear he had that damn poker face the entire time!"

 _At least the nickname gets shorter…_ "Aya." She reminded her with slight irritation in her voice again.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, Booby-chan… So?" The little girl was getting rather impatient.

Aya glanced at Tatsuya, with a poker face of her own. She knew he couldn't read it and she wanted to tease him a bit. Leaning down to Hero's ear she kept staring at Tatsuya the entire time. _Yep, he's getting antsy…_ She thought. "It's in the eyes. Look him in the eyes if you wanna learn to read him." She whispered to Hero. Then she straightened up. "It took me years to learn the patterns, though…" She shook her head and smiled.

Atsushi was looking around him at all the different people flowing past him, talking, introducing, and sometimes staring at him in respect and even fear. Aya-chin, Hiro-chin (or Chibi-chin) and Muro-chin were chatting and Aya-chin didn't have anything for him or so he assumed. He munched on another bite of his third Umaibo. He didn't feel like doing the introductions or socialising. His snacks were better, and what was the point in getting to know his opponents personally? He'd crush them all anyways. By just standing below his hoop. It was more than enough. But he was still watching everyone rather lazily and right now, he didn't like the way Mine-chin stared at Muro-chin. There was something predatory and dangerous in that stare. And it actually made him a little bit curious. Maybe he could greet the former teammate at least. Not that they were close friends, but Mine-chin was one of the few who actually stirred some sort of respect in the giant; though they had never really played against each other.

He approached the tanned boy, who was too preoccupied with glaring to notice him. "Why are you staring at Muro-chin like that?" He asked.

Aomine blinked and averted his attention to Murasakibara. "Y' wouldn't get it."

"Hmmm… Maybe not." He shrugged. "But I'm curious."

"Tch. I don't like the guy."

Atsushi stared at him for a couple of seconds. No, he couldn't get Mine-chin's hostility towards his currently best friend, and he probably wouldn't get it even if properly explained. But he disliked people on first sight too, lots of times, so he couldn't really judge. Then he shrugged.

"Do you have something sweet?" He asked, just in case. Aomine had rarely given him a treat for free, ever. But… One could never know…

"Hah?!"

He sighed. Mine-chin was dumb. "Sweets. Do you have some?" He drawled again.

"Do I look like a walking patisserie?" Aomine's eyebrow shot up as to intensify his biting question.

The plea for them to fill the gym was announced. They needed to separate and go in as teams when being called out according to a certain schedule, no one really knew. So they needed to stay focused and wait for their turn. All 78 best high-school teams of the entire country gathered in the huge hallway and even though the space was big, it was crammed by all the teenagers.

"We'll be next." Satsuki announced and nudged everyone to move closer to the entrance.

"How do you know?" Aya asked; she was ready to leave them and head for the spectators' area. As the second manager, she wasn't supposed to line up with the boys.

"I got the schedule." She winked at the redhead conspiratorially.

Aya chuckled and shook her head. "All right. Let's move then."

"Tch. Satsuki and her sticky fingers…" Aomine grumbled quietly. He didn't want to move around much. Bumping into old acquaintances wasn't something he'd enjoy. He stared around just to avoid the exuberant blonde. In case he spotted him first. So far it was good. Yosen's team hid them well, and even though Murasakibara was hardly a person one could overlook in a crowd, the blonde didn't seem to be anywhere close enough.

"It's certainly good to know the schedule in advance, Honey-bun. It's to our advantage."

"I wonder about that…" He muttered and glanced around again.

She could always pick up those tiny nuances. And Daiki was certainly behaving strangely. "Who are you trying to avoid?" She asked and stared at him.

He sighed. "Someone unbearable."

"Model-kun, I assume."

As if she had just jinxed it. "Aominecchi! Ayacchi! Momocchi!" Kise's bright voice echoed through the hall.

"Ki-chan!" Satsuki called out and waved him back.

The blonde was enthusiastically waving them and trying to go over to them, but soon he got pacified by Kasamatsu.

"I don't know him." Aomine said and didn't even look at the blonde. The nicknames were ridiculous!

Aya laughed. "You know what? I need to go that way to the spectators' area anyways… I'll give him your greetings."

"Don't –" He reached out to stop her from going to Kise, but she was way too nimble. _Don't y' dare…_ He wanted to say, but she was already gone, skilfully mingling with the crowd and disappearing from his sight.

######

Of course Aomine couldn't avoid Kise in the end. They met again at the hotel check in. It seemed that Kaijo, Touou and Yosen shared the same hotel, which was in a walking distance from the stadium. Hero, Satsuki, the captains and all three coaches went to deal with the check in, leaving the boys to wait.

"Aominecchi! Murasakibaracchi!" He stormed to the two teams, already familiar with one another. "Long time no see! Why did you ignore me in the hall, Aominecchi!" He whined. "It was Ayacchi who popped up to say hello!"

Aomine rolled his eyes; at least Kise wasn't in the 'bear hug' mode. "Could you be even more annoying?"

"Kise-chin." Atsushi nodded and started to look for something in his bag. He was sure he had it somewhere there. "Ah… Here." He fished out a small package of chocolates. "Happy birthday, Kise-chin. They are handmade chocolates from a shop down the street from my school. The lady said it had less sugar and was apparently healthier, but…" He drawled and handed over the small gift he'd bought. He knew it was considerably late, but what of it. They lived in different parts of the country now.

"Eeeeeh?!" Kise stared at the gifted. "Thank youuuu, Murasakibaracchi! You're the best!" He quickly hugged the giant (who didn't really appreciate the affection) and almost started crying. Murasakibaracchi giving him a gift… He knew that the giant could be kind if he so wanted, but he'd never expected him to bring a gift – and chocolates to top it – when they'd become basically rivals. He was touched.

"Oh!" Aya blinked at the exchange. "Right! Wait!" She put down the cat, the desperately meowing cat in the crate, and started to rummage through her bag too.

"What?!" Kise's eyes widened in surprise even more. "Not you too, Ayacchi! That's too much…"

"Oh, stop with the theatrics." She rolled her eyes and fished out a small envelope. "I don't know you well enough to be overly creative but… Here you go."

He took it from her and very cautiously opened the gift. He truly didn't know what to expect from Ayacchi. When he finally saw it, he gasped. "Eeeeh?!" He blinked at her, at the gift, and then in a lightning fast movement he pulled her into a bear hug. "Thank you! It's awesome!"

She blinked, unable to react that quickly. She really hadn't expected Kise to be as impulsive as to hug her, but it so fitted the blonde at the same time. "Uhm… You're welcome." She half asked half said.

He let her go, but remained staring at her. "Really! 12 lessons worth dancing class whenever I choose to come?! That's… that's awesome!"

"I thought you did enjoy it that time… I just didn't know it was this much?" She raised an eyebrow at him and chuckled. "And there I thought it was a really lame gift."

"Lame?! Gosh no! I'll know something Aikocchi doesn't! And it's even plus one too!"

 _Nothing to beat the siblings' rivalry._ She mused and chuckled. "It's plus one in case you find a girlfriend till then. Or someone willing to learn with you."

"But I can practise with you too, if I want, right?"

She shrugged. "Well, yeah. If you want…"

"You don't know what you're getting yourself into, man." Tatsuya mingled into the conversation at the same time Aya answered Kise. The blonde was a model, he picked up that much, and he had the same unwavering confidence as Atsushi. As he stared at the group, he couldn't help but sigh inwardly. Aya had a skill to pick out and befriend all the amazing talents, but also amazing people in general, and he knew she wasn't doing it on purpose, but… _Birds of a feather…_

Kise turned to the boy interrupting Ayacchi and looked him up and down with an unreadable expression. The boy standing in front of him wearing the Yosen's sports' uniform definitely had an air of self-confidence and even slight arrogance around him. Half of his face was hidden behind his long fringe and he had a perfect poker face. Yet, there was something eerily similar to Kise in that boy.

"The ex-boyfriend, I guess." Kise nodded levelly, and when Tatsuya didn't flinch and merely smiled at the blonde, he was sure about his 'guess'. "Kise Ryouta." He introduced himself curtly and offered a handshake.

Tatsuya accepted the gesture. "Himuro Tatsuya. Nice to meet you." He said, noticing that Kise switched from friendly to very cautious. No, they couldn't possibly become friends. "I didn't think a model would play basketball."

"It's a passion of mine." The blonde shrugged. "And why shouldn't I want to learn from Ayacchi?"

"Ayacchi?" He blinked and glanced at Aya, but she was as unreadable as she could be. "Well… Have you ever seen her dance or practise? She's like a… uhm… she can be very demanding."

" _Like a monster_. You wanted to say?" She asked him with a raised eyebrow and amusement in her reddish eyes. She wasn't offended by it anymore; it just surprised her a bit. Tatsuya didn't usually falter like that.

All three of the generation of miracles were staring at the former couple. They could feel the rising tension between them as the topic of dancing came up. And they were really curious how Tatsuya would answer now.

"No, that's not... Actually… More like a demon from the depths of hell really." He scratched the back of his neck and averted his gaze. He couldn't withstand her stare.

To everyone's surprise she laughed. "That's personal experience talking. And I bet Ray and Tai would agree with you. But don't worry 'bout the Model-kun. I've already taught him something and he's a quick learner." She said with a bright grin. "And he already has a demonic older sister. I can't possibly be much worse."

Kise laughed at that. "Aikocchi would 100% agree right now; except the 'quick learner' praise." Then he turned to Aominecchi, who was surprisingly quiet. "And where is my gift?" He stretched an empty palm towards his, probably, best friend.

"Hah?" He frowned at the blonde. "You got your gift already. Stop nagging."

"Eh? Really?" Aya blinked at the bluenette. She hadn't known anything about that, and she wondered what the gift might've been.

"He gets really annoying if I forget, like a kid really." He grumbled.

"That's mean!" Kise whined.

"Hmmm… Will I get a birthday gift too then?" Aya asked jokingly.

"Tch." He scratched the back of his neck and fought a blush. "Maybe…" He had no idea what would Aya like to get as a gift… _God, what am I getting myself into?_

"Of course you will!" Kise jumped in enthusiastically. He loved gift shopping for anyone. As he moved he bumped into crouched Atsushi. "What are you doing down there, Murasakibaracchi?"

"The kitty is nice." He said and stared at the Dorian in the crate. "Though scared…"

"Well, sorry." Aya said apologetically. "I had to transport it somehow."

Tatsuya sighed. "The one we'll be transporting?"

"Eh? We will?" Atsushi blinked and looked up at the two.

"If it's okay, then yes. But maybe I'll go to Akita myself." She thought out loud. "I have a strange feeling, so… yeah… maybe I should go up there on my own."

"We don't mind her." Atsushi carefully stuck his finger into the crate, rubbing the tabby's fur carefully and barely managed to avoid the sharp claws.

"Him." Aya corrected him. "The name is Dorian."

"Do-chin." Atsushi nodded. The name was too complicated for him to pronounce so he didn't even bother.

The kitty was slowly trying to investigate the long finger that didn't seem that dangerous anymore. He kept meowing at it. And then he suddenly hissed and curled up in the very back of the crate. He quieted down, hiding in his corner.

A chill ran down Aya's spine and the pressure seemed to crackle in the air. Atsushi got up with his shoulders suddenly tense. He had an idea who could've had such an impact on the cat. Smile on Kise's face faded, his eyes widened and he wanted to take a step back, but forced himself to stay where he was. Even Aomine tensed. If he was relaxed before, now he was in his frowning, almost ready to fight mode. And Tatsuya actually did take two steps back.

She turned around curiously, wanting to see who caused such a reaction. And she found herself looking at the red eyes of none other than Akashi Seijuurou. Well, his left eye seemed to be more orange than red, but she couldn't remember if it'd always been like that or not. She had a feeling that no, the eyes had been the same colour in the past, but she wasn't sure about it.

"Daiki. Atsushi. Ryouta. What a coincidence. Good to see you here." Akashi greeted them in a very cold voice. Then he shifted his gaze to Aya. "Kagami Aya. It has been some time."

"Seijuurou." She answered in the same manner and smiled slightly. Her stomach was tight, but she wouldn't budge under his hostile stare. Something was definitely wrong with the boy. "Some years indeed."

"And your name is?" He looked at Tatsuya.

Tatsuya's throat dried and he didn't understand why a boy younger than him had such an intimidating aura surrounding him. He knew he couldn't take another step back or remain quiet. He wasn't that weak and he knew his poker face was without a single crack.

"Himuro Tatsuya. Not an active player at the moment." He answered with a tighter voice than usual.

"I asked your name only. You answer to the question. Anything else is forbidden."

"…" He remained quiet afterwards, but he had to fight the urge of his jaw to hit the ground. He didn't realise that the very fact that Akashi acknowledged his presence was a small success.

Aya blinked at him. "You've changed. What happened to you?" She asked calmly to divert Akashi's attention back to her. Aomine glanced at her in the smallest of warnings; she was walking on a very thin ice, but she ignored it.

The intensity of that intimidating stare was unbearable. It'd been some months since she last had to face something like that. _I'm softening up apparently…_ She thought.

"I have not changed, Aya. Winning is and always will be everything. Only winners are validated and losers are denied. I have never lost and hence I am and have always been right and true." He said, staring down at her. "It is you who have changed. You have become a loser by decision. You are nothing. Your own father cannot look at you. We do not stand on the same ground anymore and you have no right to look me in the eyes. Know your place, Kagami Aya, remember where it is."

"Oi!" Daiki glared at Akashi with renewed hostility. He respected the former captain for his skills, but this was over any line out there. Akashi's hard gaze turning on him wasn't pleasant, but he wouldn't budge, he believed he'd win if it was basketball. "Wh–"

Aya's strong grip on his wrist choked out the words he wanted to say. She didn't look at him.

Everyone in their vicinity went silent. Staring at the redhead. Her team knew that Yamaoka got punched quite well for a comment similar to that one.

The words Akashi had told her cut deep. He wasn't wrong but he wasn't right either. Bile was rising to her throat and she gulped it down. _Winning is everything? He has no idea what's important anymore…_ She decided to remain calm, because Akashi had a really worrisome and unstable look deep in his eyes. She couldn't predict him.

"I'm not going to _sit_ or _crawl_ at your feet, Seijuurou." It was unbelievable how a person could change in years. This was not the boy she remembered. This was not a friend anymore, this was an enemy now. "But you may be right... I'm nobody, and yet, here I am; standing on the very same tiles as you. I was never good at _knowing my place_. But didn't you know that already?" She stared back at him confidently; a clash of two unforgiving wildfires. In fact, they had never stood on the same ground, metaphorically speaking. But she wasn't the one to rub it into his face, though she so wanted to.

Her reddish eyes, similar to his own were glaring at him, daring him to look down on her more viciously. Kagami Aya wasn't one to give up easily, to be intimidated easily, he knew. But she quit, she was a loser. She didn't deserve the respect, and yet… He couldn't help it. Even if he suppressed lots of his childhood memories, some voice inside was whispering to him that this girl wasn't just a loser he believed her to be. And a jello landing on his father's suit flashed in his mind.

"You really don't have any self-preservation instinct." A distant ghost of a smile touched his lips. "I must say… that courage of yours, Aya, however stupid, is actually admirable."

She chuckled. "It saved me couple of times, I must agree." The tension between them eased up slightly.

His eyes narrowed at the Touou insignia on her t-shirt. "Touou I see." He muttered under his breath and looked at Daiki, scanning his expression, which had turned from the usual scowl into something protective, dangerous even; maybe anger that Aya had held him back. But Akashi couldn't be more grateful. An all our brawl with Aomine wouldn't have been safe for him in the slightest, no matter what respect the bluenette had towards him. Tamed dogs could bite too, after all.

Then he looked at the trio. "Only four of us made it here. What a shame. I thought Shintarou and Tetsuya were better than that." He sighed. "Maybe we should not play in the upcoming matches."

"Akashicchi!" Kise almost squealed. "Why?"

"It will be no fun. Or have you softened up, Ryouta?"

"Ah… No. I just want to play."

"You have softened up… Then play. But I am the absolute winner of this competition. Regardless of me participating in the matches or not."

Aomine cackled. It was a very rough laughter shaking his ribcage. "I wanna see that, Akashi."

Akashi opened his mouth to retort, but –

"Who are ya?" Hero bounced at their side, finally done with all the registration and getting the rooms' keys and all. She had no idea what was going on, or who was the newest arrival. She, however, heard the last part and she frowned at that. _Just who is this egomaniac?_

Akashi flinched slightly at the question. Something inside him budged and stirred violently. He had to suppress it before it could get out. He feared the weird presence, because it smelled of a 'loser', and he couldn't allow it to take over him. He bit the side of his tongue, drawing blood. It calmed down. It took only a split second but he noticed Aya's challenging stare turning into curiosity.

"Where did you come from? Children should not get separated from their parents." He glared at Sumire, she wasn't worth his answers. Not after the storm she had caused in his soul.

"Wh–" She wanted to get back at him, insult him. He had no right to act like that. But that cold, intimidating and scary glare knocked the air out of her lungs. She'd never faced anyone like that. The pressure of the boy's very presence made her knees give way.

"Woah." Aya's arms shot forward and grabbed Hero under her armpits, so she wouldn't sit on her butt in fear under Akashi's intense degrading stare. "You should go back to your team, Seijuurou." She said. "I don't need Hero to pass out because of the pressure."

"I am absolute. And all should bow in front of me. That is the reaction of a peasant. She is a natural loser I presume."

"Aka-chin." Atsushi drawled, speaking up for the first time; not sure why he was trying to oppose the former captain. It was stupid really. But seeing the yapping midget in that state… "They are waiting for you." He pointed his chin at the waiting Rakuzan team.

A dreadful smile graced Akashi's lips. "I will remember that, Atsushi." He said, piercing the giant with his glare. His control over his former team was slipping away from his grasp.

A chill ran down Atsushi's spine. _Go to hell Hiro-chin…_ He thought. _I'm not helping you again._

Rakuzan disappeared behind a corner and the pressure was lifted. The room buzzed with "What the hell was that?", and "Who the hell was it?" and "Does Aya know him?" and so many other comments. Dorian meowed again, but now he came to appreciate the crate a bit more. It had protected him from whatever predator that was out there.

"Can you stand?" Aya asked Hero with concern.

The shocked girl nodded and Aya released her grip. "What the fuck…?" Hero took a shaky breath. "I couldn't fuckin' breathe…"

Aya stared at the corner and shuddered like a dog; shaking off the bad feeling. "Who the hell was that? 'cause it's not the Seijuurou I remember…"

"You knew him before Ayacchi?" Kise asked, shaking off the sour feeling too. He wasn't scared of the former captain per se, but he felt really uncomfortable.

"Yeah. But the last time I saw him was three years ago. What the hell happened? He turned from a natural leader into a ruthless dictator. Urgh…" She shuddered again.

"You sure have guts facing him off like that, Robin." Tatsuya cleared his throat. He really didn't want to meet the guy ever again.

She rolled her eyes. "And you've met me just today, right?"

"Akashi-kun was here?" Satsuki popped up along the others.

"Yeah. You'll get to see him in the hotel eventually." Aomine rumbled and shook his head to quickly forget the much tensed meeting.

"Er, right." She swallowed nervously. Ever since Akashi had changed so much she feared him. "And you must be Himuro Tatsuya-kun, right?"

"That's right. Nice to meet you, uhm?"

"Oh, I haven't introduced myself earlier! Sorry, sorry." She laughed lightly. "I'm Momoi Satsuki. The first manager of Touou. And I bet this dork hasn't introduced properly either." She sighed and pointed at Aomine. "He's Aomine Daiki."

"I figured out that much." Tatsuya said with a nod. "Nice to meet you, Satsuki-chan."

"Tch. Go to hell, Satsuki." The tanned ace grumbled at his childhood friend.

"It's that attitude that means people don't like you! That rudeness!" And that's how Satsuki's lecture started.

"Why do ya scold him like that, Melon-chan?" Hero looked at her perplexed. "If the guy is an idiot he is an idiot. Lecturin' them is wastin' ya breath. I bet ya don't have yer boy, eh?"

"Wha', wha', wha', what?!" Satsuki stared at the little girl, blushing terribly. But then her magenta eyes narrowed. "You don't have one either, Hiro-chan! Judging by your previous reaction!" She accused her.

"I'm proportionally and verbally disadvantaged." She said smugly, instead of saying 'I'm a swearing midget', which she was, and which she wasn't willing to change in the slightest. She wasn't the one to pretend and act all cute and distinguished when she wasn't. So what that she was still boyfriend-less? It was better than a false pretense.

Aya burst out laughing after that. "How greatly you talk all of a sudden!"

"Oh, shut up! Don't make fun of me!"

"Yeah, yeah." Aya ruffled the girl's hair, still laughing.

"Okay!" Masako yelled out sharply and clapped. "You really need to have some order beaten into you!" She pointed the tip of her shinai at Kise, who took a step back from the possibly nasty weapon. "Genta! Put that blonde princey pants in line! He's aggravating my eyes!"

"Hey! My name is Kise Ryouta!" He protested and barely avoided a savage shinai swing aimed at his head.

"Oi, Kise!" Kasamatsu barged in, kicking Kise's butt, grabbing his collar and pulling him towards Kaijo. "Can you stay with us for one minute?! Or is it too difficult to get it through that thick skull of yours?!" He shouted at the blonde.

"But I got the gifts!" He whined, which only earned him another smack.

"That's a good captain!" Masako nodded to Kasamatsu's pacifying skills, ignoring his lobster-like blush caused by all the girls in the vicinity.

"Aren't you too harsh on the boy, Masa-chan?" Katsunori asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Shut the hell up, Katsunori. Lax approach never made champions! I want to see some order here." She frowned. "Yosen! Come take your keys and go to your rooms! I'm not tolerating any stupid behaviour here! Understood?! Especially you, Hironaka!"

"OSSU!" The huge boys rumbled like thunder.

"Yea!" Hero peeped up and got the keys ready for the boys, who lined up to take them. It was up to her to distribute it and inform everyone about their rooms and rules of the hotel.

Katsunori sighed and looked at Satsuki. "It's your job. You decided to do this by yourself."

"Haaai!" She smiled at the coach. "Everyone gather up! I'll give you the keys and further instructions."

Surprisingly, each girl had a room for herself. Satsuki wasn't fond of sharing a room with a cat, so she decided to be alone, and Aya didn't mind. Aomine ended up in one room with Sakurai, Kano, Ishii and Naito. Satsuki just hoped there wouldn't be any brawls among the boys.

"We'll discuss our first opponents over dinner, which will be at 7PM!" Satsuki announced when all the keys were handed to their temporary owners. "Other than that, behave!"

"Sure!" Aya laughed; the anticipation and excitement of the expected competition filling her veins. She loved this thrill. Even if she wasn't a competitor, she just couldn't help it. "Let the Interhigh begin then! Let's win this!" She cheered all the boys.

"Can I come and see the cat sometime?" Atsushi asked as he followed his team past the Touou's team.

She blinked at the giant and smiled encouragingly. "Sure. I'll get some snacks for you too."

"Eh? Good. Thank you Aya-chin." He actually managed to produce an honest smile. He really wanted to see the cat out of that cage.

"What cat?!" Hero almost jumped at Aya again, but Fukui just grabbed the midget's t-shirt and pulled her behind him. "Don't get separated again, Hiro-chan." He scolded her good heartily.

"Aya-chan really knows all the weird people." Imayoshi just shook his head at her antics. "And she is actually excited by this more than some of us."

"Be happy. That's the person who loves to compete and win! We couldn't have asked for better managers, captain!" Tada patted Imayoshi's shoulder and chuckled. "And people who are slightly crazy tend to be the ones with the biggest hearts."

"You included?" He raised an eyebrow and sighed. "Maybe you're right. You should've been the vice-captain, you know. You handle her better than Wakamatsu."

"We shared a few secrets as an incentive. Just in case." He shrugged, looking at the redhead.

"Oh?" Imayoshi raised an eyebrow curiously. _So he did ask her something when she figured him out…_ "I ought to know that, don't you think?"

"Definitely not. Maybe you've already figured it out on your own, but I'm not the one telling. … and neither is she."

"Tcs, tcs, tcs. I have a team full of self-confident secretive idiots." He mused, shaking his head. "It's not easy to be the captain."

"You're speaking like an old man. Be glad Hironaka-chan didn't pay much attention to you, or you'd have some really interesting nickname on your neck by now."

"Don't even remind me." He sighed and walked towards the hallways leading to the stairs and eventually to their rooms. "I'm actually glad to share a room with you and Susa, but really… do we have to be with Wakamatsu too?"

"Kousuke is my best friend, so careful there, captain."

"Yeah, yeah. Let the Interhigh begin." He repeated Aya's words with a chuckle.

* * *

 **A/N:** That's it for now, finally some Interhigh stuff, I hope it was good enough and that no one was too OOC. I admit I'm not sure how to write Akashi, or if it was okay, I hope so. They don't interact that much in that set up in manga or anime, so I tried. Well...

Let me know what you think and remember, review are appreciated, but never necessary.

S.


	36. Chapter 36: Chances

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone who followed, favourited and reviewed! It makes me very happy.

As it is Aomine's birthday (supposedly), I'm posting the 36th chapter today :) Happy birthday to our bluenette.

Enjoy!

* * *

 _Have a heart that never hardens, and a temper that never tires, and a touch that never hurts. –_ _ **Charles Dickens**_

 _It is a great boost for confidence in a squad when there is not just one or two players scoring goals, but the whole team is contributing._ – _**Harry Kane**_

 _The great fights with your strongest rivals are always the biggest motivation. When you win easily it's not the same taste._ – _**Valentino Rossi**_

 _She was not for everyone but she was for me._ ― _**Atticus Poetry, Love Her Wild**_

 _True love cannot be found where it does not exist, nor can it be denied where it does._ ― _**Torquato Tasso**_

 _The capacity for friendship is God's way of apologizing for our families._ – _**Jay McInerney, The Last of the Savages**_

* * *

Lindsay was staring at her boss's inbox. Like every Tuesday at 8AM, during the last year and a half, an e-mail from Kagami Aya was delivered. It wasn't work related, she knew that already. These mails had 'Hi there.' in the subject. She sighed and got up.

"Kagami-sama?" She rapped at her boss's door.

"Enter." His deep, rich voice invited her in.

She opened the door and entered. Just like usual, he was clean shaven, wearing one of his suits with a modern necktie. The huge man looked a bit tired, but his ruby eyes were wide awake and sharp as usual. And despite the first strands of greying red hair, his built was still impressive, almost intimidating; clearly presenting that he'd used to be a professional basketball player at one point of his life.

He looked up from his computer. His red eyes stared at the young assistant he'd hired three years ago. Her skills and background were good enough, she had a pleasant face and calm demeanour, and above it all she spoke Japanese. She dressed up according to her position and never complained. Overall he was satisfied with her work.

"What is it?" He asked her. There were no emotions in his voice and Lindsay never knew what he was thinking. She wasn't scared of him per se, but she always felt better when there was a door and wall between them.

"Ay–" She almost said 'Aya-chan', but she quickly corrected herself. "Your daughter sent you an e-mail." Angering the boss so early in the morning was never a good idea.

"What about?"

"It's not work related. It's one of the 'Tuesdays' mails'." She said, discreetly chewing on her lower lip. She hated these conversations, and yet, she felt obliged to inform him every single time a mail like that arrived.

"Then reply to her like usual." His eyes hardened even more than before. "I don't have time for nonsense like that."

The assistant frowned. This was the first time he called it 'nonsense'. She didn't like it. Maybe she didn't know Aya-chan much and maybe she'd never seen her in person – the girl had some magical way of avoiding her so far – but through the strings of emails and occasional phone-calls, she felt like she knew the girl. And she'd always thought that he'd at least read those emails later on… _Apparently I was wrong…_

"Kagami-sama," she started carefully, when he didn't stop her right away, she mustered up the courage to continue, "I don't think I'm in a position to answer to personal emails like those. Maybe you could look at it this time?"

He sighed heavily, as if she was just wasting his precious time. "Look, Lindsay. I appreciate your work, but I don't have time to deal with the girl's whims. You've been replying her for the past year and a half; I'm surprised you dare to bother me every time she sends something 'personal'."

She remembered her own father and a bile rose to her throat. "But–"

"Enough." He said sharply, cutting her off. "Go do your job, and don't bother me with this anymore."

"… As you wish." She lowered her head. _Sorry, Aya-chan_. She thought and exited the office.

She sat back on her chair, immediately moving the mail into a folder labelled 'Twins', she'd created after the first e-mail had been delivered. Then she opened it. It was breaking her heart every time she had to read it, but she did. If she couldn't get their father to reply, she would at least read it properly.

' _Hi father,_

 _I wonder if you're reading it. I guess not. And maybe I'm an idiot for writing this to you all the time…_

 _Sorry for wasting your time._

 _How did you get through mom's anniversary? Are you doing okay? Did you have any nightmares? Have you seen something interesting during the past week, or maybe read a good book?_

 _I know you won't answer to any of those. Sorry for everything… Really…_

 _We did fine. Just one or two nightmares, nothing too bad… We both passed our exams, and my history project – the one I mention in the last mail – was rewarded by 100. I guess it was thanks to Aomine's help, the person I work with on the school projects. And then we cleaned the grave and went to the ocean afterwards – people gave us really weird looks when we were going home totally soaked._

 _And you wouldn't believe it, but Taiga brought home a tabby! It was beaten up and bullied by older cats in some park. He allowed me to name it, so it's Dorian Grey. We can't keep it, of course, so I'm going to send Dorian to Akita. Suzume agreed to take care of him. He is still small, but very cute – look at the attached picture._

 _Taiga has a training camp with his club, and my club got to the Interhigh. The matches start tomorrow (or today – according to L.A.'s time). I really believe we can win. I'll write about how we ended up next week._

 _The mail got too long, sorry._

 _Take care, father._

 _Aya.'_

Lindsay blinked, the tears welling up. She couldn't ruin her make-up, but the mails had always been warm and cosy like that, no matter what was going on. Some longer, like this one, some shorter… There was no blaming, no regrets. The girl always apologised, and wrote about their week. She believed it wasn't everything and Aya never wrote in too many details. For example, she had no idea if the mentioned Aomine was a boy or a girl, or who Suzume was.

She also had no idea about what was the exact relationship between her boss and his children, but judging by this whole email thing, and everything she knew about them, she could imagine it was very complicated and strained. Yet, the girl kept trying and throwing in so many olive branches that he must've been a brick wall to ignore them all.

 _A year and half… every single week…_ Lindsay couldn't imagine what kind of an iron heart it took to keep doing it. And keep being ignored like this.

And like every time, she wouldn't reply. She had tried, the very first time, but Aya had seen through it and asked her not to do it ever again. And so she didn't.

She closed the e-mail. And it broke her heart again.

######

The Interhigh meant 6 matches for them all together. One match a day; considering they got to the final round. Aya was sure they would get into that final round, but she hoped there would be at least some interesting opponents.

After their first very boring and very one-sided match, Aya stared at the matchups and Satsuki's analyses in the evening. It was nice and warm outside, so she spread her papers on an outside table in the hotel's garden. She'd also brought out her laptop with some work to do, so a steaming coffee was a must. Though the matchups were much more interesting than work, she had to admit.

Yosen, Rakuzan and Touou were in different quarters and different halves. So probably the only possible semifinal match on the other half was Yosen vs. Rakuzan. In Touou's half though, she couldn't really guess. Kaijo was in the same quarter so that would be their quarterfinal opponent, but the fourth branch… There were several interesting schools, none of them had any spectacular players, but they were all relatively decent.

She sighed.

"What's up, Ayacchi?" Kise sat down opposite her and glanced at the matchups in front of her. Four schools were circled with a marker. He didn't need to read the names. He knew; Yosen, Rakuzan, Kaijo and Touou. Those were the real competitors.

"Nothing really. I kinda expected a bit more out of this competition, but the match today was…"

"Boring." Kise filled in. "Mine too. I only played for one quarter anyways." He sighed and rested his hand on top of his folded arms. "Aominecchi was probably disappointed."

"He didn't play at all. But he grumbled that 'they should hurry up and crawl out'." She tried to imitate the ace's voice – failing miserably again. "I guess he meant the three of you?"

Kise shrugged and grinned. "Let's face it. The real competition will start at the quarterfinals. Not sooner. Till then it's just a painfully prolonged warm-up. Nothing else."

"And you're getting impatient and frustrated." She was talking about all four of them, and Kise could somehow sense it.

"Murasakibaracchi is all happy he doesn't have to work much. And Akashicchi probably won't play anyways, just like he told us yesterday… Really… The only idiots are the two of us, probably."

"The best friends usually make the best rivals… Like siblings."

He sighed. "I shouldn't be talking with the manager of my nemesis."

"The nemesis needs challenge and stimulation. And I'm only the second manager anyways…" She smiled mischievously.

"Seriously…" He shook his head and chuckled. "No wonder you can get Aominecchi moving. But… That quarterfinals… I don't know. I've never once won against Aominecchi."

"And that worries you?" She frowned at the papers.

Kise needed to talk about this. His team just didn't get it. He enjoyed the newly established trust and bonds, but they believed in him way too much, without really facing the reality, without knowing Aominecchi and his style. Ayacchi was someone who had her feet on the ground, she wouldn't tell him anything special, she wouldn't help him with any strategy, but she wouldn't betray him either. She was a world champion. She understood. And now, he needed that more than his team or coach.

"Naturally."

"Do you think you could win?" She asked.

"One in a million chance. Maybe even less."

She stared at the blonde trying to truly understand what was going on. "Why did you start with basketball?"

"Eh?" He blinked at her in surprise. It was an unexpected question. But he was going to answer. "Because… because of Aominecchi. I couldn't copy him, and it was an amazing feeling. Trying to go there, to reach that ideal… The challenge and frustration when I couldn't win… And Kurokocchi was awesome too. I think it was him who had taught me what it meant to rely on a team, then I forgot it and then learned it again, because of him."

"Hmmm…"

He drove his fingers through his hair. "But I really just want to beat Aominecchi in one-on-one. Just once. That would be enough."

She bit her thumb nail in thought. She shouldn't be helping Kise, she wanted her team to win, but at the same time, Aomine needed some reality check she couldn't fully provide. "And _the only one who can beat him is him._ Apparently…"

"And I can't copy him. Honestly, I can't even imagine him losing."

Then she understood. "You admire him. You want to win, but you don't want him to lose…" _Of course you can't copy him, stupid. When it comes to talent or strength you're on the same level…_

He frowned and she could see the cogs in his head spinning, turning her comment round and round. Then his eyes widened and he blinked at her. "No way. You don't suggest…" _I_ _ **could**_ _copy Aominecchi?_

"I'm Touou's manager. I'm not suggesting anything. But are you _**sure**_ you know your limits?"

It was the second time she was asking him this question. His jaw dropped at the realisation. _I could become 'him'?_ But of course Ayacchi wouldn't say that out loud. She was just nudging him to come up with ideas on his own. _That's impossible. No, maybe…_ "Not really." He grinned at her. "I don't think it's gonna be easy."

She grinned and shrugged. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You're the best, Ayacchi!" He had an urge to jump over the table and hug her. Maybe he should try and lure some girl to become a manager at Kaijo, but the coach had forbidden it…

"Not really. I haven't helped at all. All I did was listen." Yet, she couldn't help the feeling that Aomine wouldn't lose anyways. _But I can so enjoy the shocked face if Model-kun pulls it off…_

He was shaking his head in disbelief and delight. He knew what he'd do in the evening. He needed to get his hands on all Touou's matches where Aominecchi had played. "Where is he anyway? I thought he'd definitely be with you."

"Exploring the neighbourhood; looking for some bigger convenience store in the vicinity." She said with a shrug. "He asked me to come with him, but I have some things to do."

"I should leave you to your work then?"

"That would be for the best."

######

After a dinner Aya finished the tasks she had to do and folded all the papers. "Haaah." She breathed out and spread over everything, burying her face in her folded arms and closing her eyes.

It was already dark out and the air cooled down ever so slightly. Cicadas buzzed and some moths circled around the dim lights. She enjoyed the buzzing. It meant it was summer, her favourite season. She could hear footsteps approaching her, but she felt too tired to open her eyes to look at the person.

There was a slight rustling sound. Then something cold touched her forearm and she flinched at the sensation.

She crack-opened one eye to see a can of mango juice standing on the table, she had an idea who might've brought it. But the person placing it there stood on the other side. She turned her head to look at him.

"Thanks Honey-bun." She smiled and Aomine slumped down to the bench next to her.

"Wasn't easy to find…" He mumbled and yawned.

"Well, you didn't have to." She chuckled and rose to open the much deserved juice.

He shrugged. He hadn't searched for that particular item; he needed the run he'd usually get with the dogs. But once he spotted it, he decided to buy it for her.

"What's that?" He took a paper to examine the list of five players. His name was on a side, circled, with a small note below saying 'backup'.

"I had some time so… it's an idea for tomorrow's match. I haven't discussed it with Satsuki and Katsunori yet."

"You wanna change the line up again?"

She shrugged. "Why not? Today it was 120 to 46. And you weren't even there. I really don't get it, because they weren't all that bad, just gave up half-way..."

"The tournament starts at quarterfinals…"

"Model-kun told me the same thing. While I don't want to underestimate anyone, I hoped it'd be better. I mean… All the schools here had to get through the preliminaries and all. They are the best of their prefectures. They should want to win, and not give up half-way. I mean, come on!" She groaned in exasperation.

"That's what I've been telling you since the beginning." He said with a smirk.

"Yeah, yeah. You might not play but you are here and they all turn into a bunch of terrified children… I really don't get it. Anyways, what do you think about it?" She pointed at the paper in his hands.

"You really can't get it, Sweetheart." He said and then zoomed on the paper. He shrugged. "Why not? Ishii, Kano and Naito make up a decent team. But I would rather put Tada there instead of Ryou; he might get overwhelmed by it."

"True… Hmm… I was thinking about putting Oyama-kun in too, but…"

"No." He said firmly. "He is not good enough to stand there."

"Yet…" She added, so his words wouldn't sound so harsh. "He needs some experience from matches too."

"Next year, maybe."

She stared at him curiously, while she sipped from her juice.

"What?"

"Since when are you willing to discuss about the team and the matches?"

He averted his eyes and frowned deeper than usual. He really didn't remember when he started to pay attention to those on his team. It was her fault for luring him into these kinds of conversations; slowly pulling at the passion for the sport he'd had tried to bury deep inside.

She chuckled at his reaction. "I bet you'll be the captain at some point." It was a mere teasing, but she wondered if it wasn't an actual possibility in the future.

He looked at her astounded and laughed roughly at the idea. "Very good joke, really." Then he placed his calloused palm on her forehead. "You sure you don't have a fever?"

"Probably not." She laughed. "We'll see though… Who knows? Miracles do happen sometimes."

His big palm slipped away and he shook his head. "Not here." He muttered, but it made him think about it for a second. And then he completely refused the idea. He wasn't the one for a responsibility like that.

"Hmmm… So, Tada instead of Sakurai and the three of them? Will you be on the bench?"

"Won't kill me."

"Booby-chan!" Hero appeared at the doors looking all around her. "Have you seen Poker face somewhere?"

She blinked at the tiny girl. "Uhm, no? Why?"

"Crap! I hoped ya knew! He keeps runnin' away from me since yesterday! He ain't in his room or with the cookie-monster or anywhere!" She complained and sat on the other side of Aya sighing desperately.

"What do you need him for?" She asked with a raised eyebrow. If Tatsuya was hiding from someone, he usually had a damn good reason.

"Observation! How else am I supposed to learn to read him…" Hero pouted.

Aya burst out laughing. "He isn't a guinea pig, you know. If you keep staring a hole in his head, of course he'll avoid you. You can slowly learn to read him without putting him under a microscope. But that's the better outcome, really."

Hero blinked at her. "… what's the worse one?"

"Either teasing you, like he'd done before," Hero blushed immediately and looked away – that would be worse. "or scaring you away." Aya mused.

"He can't be scary." She shook her head.

"Oh, he can. What do you think of him anyways?" She asked tilting her head in curiosity. Aomine beside her shifted a bit, yawned and laid on top of the table. He had nothing to contribute in the girls' conversation, but he didn't want to leave; it made Aya smile.

Sumire sighed deeply. "I don't really know. He is hardworkin' and serious. He practises a lot; he can handle the cookie monster easily. He is friendly and nice to everyone… But… I don't really know what to think of him. There's somethin'. I can't tell what he thinks. It's weird." At first she thought he'd be easy to be around, but… _He'd make a good serial killer._ The little girl thought with a shudder.

"Well… He's always been like that. There are reasons why he is the way he is. But he isn't a bad person. Give him space, let him breath, maybe he'll talk to you if he needs to." She shrugged. "If you pester him too much… Well, you wouldn't like it either if someone tried to observe you all the time, right? Plus the team will be antsy even offended if you pay attention only to Tatsuya. Mainly when you don't have a crush on him… Fukui-kun might get jealous…" She smirked as she mentioned Fukui, and watched Hero's face turn rosy pink.

"How d' ya…?! I'm not… When did ya?" She blabbered.

Aya was smirking smugly and then a happy grin broke through. "So I was right!" She clapped.

"What?! Mean! Ya'r mean!"

"I've had a hunch since I was at Yosen, but I wasn't sure."

Hero pouted. "Don't ya dare tellin' it!"

"My lips are sealed." She promised. Hero was an amazing person indeed.

"Good." The small girl nodded. Then she frowned. "It's unfair. Ya read people so well… Ya know Poker face so well! Unfair."

Aya laughed. "Years of experience and _**subtle**_ observation. And I've known _Poker face_ for seven years."

"Oh, that explains a lot..." She rubbed her chin in thought. "So let him be, ya say?"

"Yeah."

"Understood. Ne? What's the Spray-tan doin' here?" She pointed a finger at Aomine, noticing him for the first time.

"Oi!" He snapped at Hero with a stormy glare. "My name ain't ' _Spray-tan'_." He spit the nickname as if it burned his tongue.

"For me, it is." She stuck out her tongue at him. "And why are ya here? Spendin' yer evenin' with Booby-chan, eh?" She asked suggestively and her eyebrows wiggled.

"Tch. None of yer business, ya yappin' Chihuahua." He imitated her way of talking (successfully) and glared at her.

"WHAT?!" She glared at him, ready to fight.

Aya burst out laughing. "You're hilarious." Aomine imitated Hero perfectly. Then she patted both of their heads, using her position in the middle. "Don't argue, please. We were discussing tomorrow's line-up. I am their manager after all, Hero." They both shook off her hands like offended dogs.

"I ain't a yappin' Chihuahua!" She grumbled. That particular nickname was vicious, and she didn't like that. Or being imitated.

"And I'm not Spray-tan."

Hero puffed her cheeks. She glared at him for several moments, but he didn't budge. "Aomine it is then." She yielded with a sigh.

"Hironaka." He nodded in agreement, having a truce with the loudmouth would be better than being called 'Spray-tan', _Urgh… worse than Honey-bun, really_.

"Hey!" Aya looked from one to another. "And what about me? I don't want to be _Booby-chan_."

Aomine snickered. "That's a pretty fitting one, Sweetheart. Right?" He glanced at Hero.

"Yeah. I know!" She nodded smirking too. "But Sweetheart? There's no fantasy in that."

He frowned and then shrugged. "But I like it."

Sumire's eyes narrowed as she thought about it and then she shrugged too. "Fair enough. We can't call her the same."

"Hey! Don't gang up on me!" She protested, knowing it was pointless. "My name's Aya! It's not that difficult!"

* * *

"The food here is amazing!" Kano was blissfully praising the buffet-like breakfast in the hotel. "The omelettes are so fluffy and soft!"

The four teams ate at the same time, while trying to avoid the opponents and keeping to their teams. Kise tried to mingle with Touou or Yosen couple of times to either talk with Aominecchi, Ayacchi, Momocchi or Murasakibaracchi, but his captain always pacified him quickly, keeping the blonde close to his own team. The pacification was always accompanied by long whining of the model, he didn't like this heavy atmosphere of rivalry in the room. And Akashicchi's silent presence was making it 1 000 times worse.

Even if it was sometimes difficult to eat in the heavy atmosphere and anticipation of the matches, the food was indeed delicious. Buffet-like breakfasts were basically an all-you-can-eat event and the food must've been added several times as the hungry teenage boys gobbled almost everything very quickly.

"Yes, yes. Better than what I managed during the training camp, eh?" Aya chuckled, shaking her head. "Eat up to have enough energy during the match."

"Eeeh. Wait, wait, wait, Aya-chan! I haven't said that!" He protested; his green eyes wide and staring at Aya. "Your cooking is amazing!"

She just laughed it off.

"What was it about the energy during the match?" Naito was frowning at her. He didn't like the sound of that. "We aren't playing…"

"But you are! Today you are!" Satsuki exclaimed proudly. "We decided on that yesterday! You, Kano-kun and Ishii-kun will play in today's match!"

All the three snapped their heads at Satsuki. Their mouth hung open and they didn't quite understand what they were hearing. Naito then looked at Imayoshi, searching for denial of that statement.

Imayoshi smiled at the boys. "It's true. We decided it yesterday. The opponents are from Osaka, I know their point guard from elementary school. They are a good offensive team, but I think you can handle. Wakamatsu and Tada will be there to support you and Aomine will be ready to swap." He shrugged. "So why not? You have no reason to be worried about your mediocre abilities."

Naito frowned at the captain. "You really had to point out that we are 'mediocre', hm?"

He chuckled. " I didn't mean bad, Naito-kun."

"Yeah, right." Naito rolled his eyes. "Why not Sakurai? I thought he was the best shooting guard we have?"

Sakurai stared at his hands timidly. He probably wasn't deemed good enough to participate in this match. "I'm sorry?" He peeped, but was ignored.

"Tada has a height advantage here, and he mingles well with the three of you." He said simply. "What's needed is an efficient team, not a patched up team without a thought."

"So we do have a chance, right?" Ishii asked. The opponent's surely had a team of second and third years, boys with more experience and more training to back them up.

"Of course you have. I wouldn't suggest this otherwise." Aya said with a smile. "Believe in yourselves, 'kay?"

"Easier said than done…" Kano muttered. He was the one who had started with basketball just recently, the one with the least experience and all… His stomach was suddenly tight and heavy. He had played in the prelims, but…

"It's gonna be fine, Kano-kun!" Satsuki cheered him on. "Go over the research. You have three hours before the match, it's more than enough."

"As for the rest," Katsunori joined the conversation, "we have the gym booked in the afternoon for two-hour practise; plus there are some outside courts nearby you can use if you want. I don't care what you do, just don't cause trouble." He repeated, and he would repeat it every day, just in case.

"You said it yesterday. And the day before. Don't worry, Katsu." Aya told him with a smile.

"And I will say it tomorrow too. It's annoying, but necessary."

"Hai, hai."

######

"Sakurai-kun!" Aya barged into their room later in the morning.

The three were sitting above Satsuki's research, trying to figure out the best strategy. Aomine was laying on his bed, paging through some of his magazines. And Sakurai was absent-mindedly drawing something into his notebook, listening to some music. He had his back turned to the others and it was obvious he didn't want to be bothered.

"Aya-chan!" The boys startled at her sudden barge-in.

"He probably can't hear y', Sweetheart." Aomine rumbled, glancing at her over his newest magazine.

"Right…" She mumbled and approached Sakurai, gently patting his shoulder.

"Eeek!" The boy almost jumped out of his skin, dropping the notebook and jerking the headphones out of his ears.

That reaction caused Aya to jerk away from him too. "Sorry! I didn't want to startle you."

"You sounded like a girl, Ryou." Of course Aomine had to have a jab ready.

"Sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to…" Sakurai started apologising, blushing in shame. He really didn't want to scream in fright. _So embarrassing._

"All right, all right." Aya felt like throwing some pillow at Aomine at the moment. Didn't he realise that words could hurt much more than actions? "Sakurai-kun has nothing to apologise for. I'd have been startled too. I'm sorry for freaking you out."

"No, no, Aya-san, I'm sorry. Really."

She sighed and rolled her eyes. Then she blinked when she recognised the music coming out of Sakurai's headphones. "You're listening Vivaldi?"

"Eh? You know it?" He stared at Aya in surprise.

"Yeah. Four seasons, Winter. I might not look like it but I listen to classical music too sometimes." She smiled.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to offend, sorry." He blushed and looked away. Then he peeked at her again. She was patiently waiting for him to calm down a bit. "Uhm… Do you need something from me?" He asked finally.

"Well, I just wanted to be sure you're fine."

"Sure, sorry. Don't worry, about me, Aya-san."

"Can we stop with the apologies? Look," she sat on the edge of his bed, "Tada-senpai is playing because he practises with the three more than you. During the mini-maches and after practise, so he is more used to their dynamics. It doesn't mean that you are worse, or that you couldn't possibly handle. And he has a height advantage as the opposing shooting guard is rather tall too."

"I know…" He looked at his feet and pouted a bit. "But I'm better."

Aya blinked in surprise. _Oho?~_ "Well, you'll be sitting on the bench ready to swap in too."

He nodded and picked up his notebook. Suddenly, he seemed really okay and Aya was astounded by the sudden change in behaviour. It wasn't bad at all. _So he has bright moments like Kiku._ She thought and turned to the trio.

"That's all I wanted. Good luck then! I'll be watching from above."

######

"Is this some sort of a joke?" The opposing captain asked as he stared at the line-up. None of the guys in front of him were regulars, except Wakamatsu. "Do you really think so low of us?" He asked disgustedly. _Powerhouses…_

"Not at all." Tada smiled in a useless attempt to lift up the hostile attitude. "We simply want to give a chance to our first years. They need to gain some experience after all."

"They could get it another year." He rumbled. "I expected an equal treatment, but I guess we were greatly underestimated. Be ready to lose." He said firmly and shook hands with Tada.

"That's gonna be bad." Kano muttered to Ishii. "They seem ready to tear us to shreds."

Ishii shrugged. "Then let's win and prove to them they are the ones underestimating us."

"Exactly what I've been thinking." Naito nodded.

"Don't get too cocky, first year boy." The taller guy in point guard position said with a smirk.

No, Naito wasn't cocky. He knew he could rely on his two friends and Tada-senpai. The play of this line-up was different from the usual style Touou used and he knew it would serve to their advantage. And they didn't train their assess off for nothing.

Wakamatsu stole the tip off for Touou, sending it straight to Tada. He wasn't completely sure about the new line-up Satsuki-chan and Aya-chan put together, because he was used to a different style, but it wasn't bad to play with a real team once in a while. And he liked the idea of sharing the court and enemy with his best friend.

"Uff. Thanks!" Tada smiled and shoot before his opponent could react. It was a long range shot, but he'd trained those in the past few weeks over and over again. He didn't want to be left in the dust by the first-years. Because of that his accuracy and success rate increased a lot. But despite that, the ball hit the rim and bounced out of the hoop. "Tch!"

The first points were scored by the team from Osaka, but Touou soon got their engines started. And to everyone's surprise, they were doing very well. After one trip-fall due to stress and nerves, Kano shook off the fear and started really playing. He'd been practising with Aomine for god's sake; he couldn't be scared of some average opponent.

And indeed, the seemingly weak makeshift team of the first years stood true to their name of being one of the top eight teams of the country. They were a proud team with Aomine Daiki as their ace, and they wouldn't shame that reputation.

The first quarter ended with Touou in lead; 26 to 18.

The opponents were not bad either. They may not have been in the country's top 10, but they weren't bad. Yes, this line-up had surprised them as it had been something different than what they'd expected – thus their initial problems to cope. But they were quick and their center was a strong one too.

The match was well balanced and beautiful to watch. No fouls, no dirty plays and no one giving up half-way.

The second quarter ended up 52 to 48, still for Touou. It was close. But the boys believed they could win. Satsuki's research was only starting to show its effects; they'd stop even more attacks in the next half.

######

"You're doing great!" Aya praised them in the changing room during the half-match break.

"The score is too tight." Wakamatsu frowned. "That center is very skilled."

Aomine yawned. He probably wouldn't be needed at all.

"Yeah, he is." Satsuki nodded. "And they might sub their PG for Nara-kun. If that happens, their shooting power will go up. Nara-kun is a skilled shooting guard as well."

"So two shooting guards?" Tada asked and rubbed his chin. "That might be interesting."

######

"Aomine, get ready to swap with Kano." Katsunori said at the beginning of the fourth quarter. The opponents were now in 10 point lead (76-86); the two shooting guards were truly their trump card.

"Tch. Hai, hai." He nodded and took his jersey to change into. _Ishii and Wakamatsu on court… Awesome._ He rolled his eyes at the thought. He didn't mix that well with the two, or with anyone on the team, but whatever.

"I'd be enough." Yamaoka jumped in. The difference wasn't that huge.

"We should show them we aren't looking down on them, Yamaoka-kun." Imayoshi smiled at him. "By showing them our ace, don't you think?"

He grumbled something under his breath but shut up.

A whistle announced a change of Touou's player; Kano obediently jogged towards their bench and basically half-fived with Aomine as they changed positions.

"Good luck, Mr. Ace." He smiled at him.

"Tch. This is gonna be boring." He complained but a small lopsided smirk settled on his face. He'd get the score above 100 points in those 8 remaining minutes he got. The opponents should see that it was mercy they had played with 'the first-years'.

"Welcome." Tada smiled at him. "We are getting exhausted here."

"Then give them all to me." He said and his smirk widened, turning into something quite dangerous too. "I think I need a small two-minute warm up first."

"Don't miss the first shot!" Naito called out and passed to Aomine.

"What did y' say?!"

And that was when the game turned one sided. He didn't miss that first shot. Or any other. And even if the opponents tried double teaming Aomine, in those two minutes they figured out it was pointless. The prodigy just did what he wanted.

The match ended up with Touou winning; 116 to 92.

"We wooooon!" Kano jumped at the two his friends, almost toppling them over. He was excited. So what if Aomine had helped. The match was still mostly their hard work.

"Yeah!" Wakamatsu joined him.

"No." Tada stopped him. "No hugging or toppling me over, please."

Wakamatsu rolled his eyes. "You're no fun."

Tada raised an eyebrow at him then shook his head and turned to Aomine. "Thanks for saving us there."

"You didn't need it." The ace shrugged and walked away; unfazed by the victory.

Naito blinked at senpai. "Has he just praised us?"

"Uuuhm…" Tada stared at the ace's back. "I guess?"

######

After watching matches of some other teams, and their afternoon practise, Aya and Satsuki met in the hotel's cafeteria to compare their observations and notes. They were gathering data – just in case of future use. Both watched different teams and different matches and then compared the results.

When they were done, Satsuki sighed and leaned against a chair.

"Tired already?" Aya asked her with a smile.

"I really don't know where you get the energy, Aya-chan. But you've always been like that." She blabbered out without thinking.

That dumbfounded the redhead. She was good at reading between the lines. "…What do you mean by that?"

"Oh, uh…" She laughed nervously. "It's nothing. Really."

"Satsuki? What aren't you telling me?"

She was biting her lip and staring past Aya and out of the window. She had rehearsed this with Kise. But… Why was it so damn hard when facing Aya-chan herself? And it was such a petty thing. "That's…"

"We did know each other before, right? My instincts weren't wrong… You've figured it out…" She said slowly, as if realising something very important.

Aya was sharp and Satsuki nodded. "The ballet."

"At Shiranui's…" Aya breathed out, trying to make out the face of that little pink haired girl, or the name. It made her frown. She thought it wasn't possible. _The name…_ "Takano-chan, Pinky… It _**was**_ you… I thought… No way!"

"I'm Momoi now…" She mumbled. Aya-chan was putting the pieces together on her own. _I'm useless at this…_

"Your parents divorced?" She asked.

"Eh?" She blinked at the redhead, and saw a quiet understanding in those reddish orbs. It surprised her.

"It's not that uncommon. You thought I'd mind that?" Aya smiled. _Everyone has some secrets._

"It's weird… Feels like father gave up on me. Though we do meet often and all…" She admitted. Suddenly, it wasn't so difficult to talk about it. "But dad is awesome too. He really cares for me and he even signed me up for mini basketball where I met Aomine-kun. So it shouldn't bother me…"

"But it does anyways... Isn't it nice though? You have two caring fathers. When one angers you, you can run to another to complain." She chuckled. _While I have one who ignores me… probably hates me…_

"I guess." Satsuki chuckled too. It was exactly what she was doing sometimes. "I missed you then. When you left. I remembered just recently."

"Hmmm…" It was news to Aya, but she could dig out some vague and blurred memories now. "We missed you too. I think we asked mom if we couldn't take you with us."

"Really?" She laughed.

"Yeah." She nodded, remembering the dream from the anniversary. "I don't remember much. Only that we loved you." The feelings were something she could remember better than images. It'd been 10 years after all.

"And protected me from the other kids... Well, you protected me and Taiga-kun from the other kids when they were making fun of us. You were like some superhero then!" Satsuki had a kind, nostalgic expression on her face. She was glad she could now stand her own, but that time… Without the twins she'd been lost.

Aya laughed, her expression softening up too. A long lost friend, she never quite let go but could never quite reach either. The person was hidden right under her nose all along. And they had become friends without knowing it again… after all those years.

"How long have you known?"

Satsuki scratched her cheek. "Something over a week… After Imayoshi-taichou mentioned it, and your reaction… I asked mom."

"Why not telling me immediately?"

"I couldn't. I'm not usually talking about this and well… it was your mom's anniversary, I didn't want to add to it. It wasn't that important."

"Hell it was." Aya protested. "Taiga won't believe it. And wait… Have you told Aomine?"

"No. He didn't know about the ballet either. It's just… no one's business, I guess…"

"And yet, _you_ exchange messages with Michiko-san." She raised an eyebrow at that.

"I guess I should tell him?"

"It'd be only fair…"

"Uhm so… We are still friends, right?"

"Satsuki! Why wouldn't we? Tell me one reason why should I stop being friends with you, hah?!" Aya got a bit irritated, but it was coming from a good place. "I found a long lost friend, whom I befriended again without even realising it! We should get drunk or something… Not stop being friends! Gee'…"

Satsuki laughed, her bubbly laugher echoing in the near empty room. "We are underaged." She pointed out.

"True, but does it really matter?" Aya shrugged, with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. "But anyways. Nothing changes. Just a piece of the puzzle finally clicked into its rightful place. I'm glad the world is this small. It never ceases to amaze me."

"You've travelled quite some part of it, eh?"

"And I always find the right people everywhere."

######

Aya was laying on her bed in the evening, absentmindedly stroking Dorian's soft fur. She was thinking, trying to remember things from the time they had all lived in Tokyo. The four of them, like a family. It was nostalgic, and slightly sad.

Her phone buzzed.

Suzume.

"Hey, Suzu! What's up?" She greeted her friend with a wide smile, knowing it seeped into her voice too.

" _Hey! I needed to call you! I've just finished this awesome book!"_ She started cheerfully. " _You have to read it too. You'll love it."_

Aya sighed. "Another psychological thriller?"

" _No. A thriller! And an awesome detective story. It's called_ _The frozen dead_ _, it's originally French and it was just recently translated to English. You really don't know who the killer is until the very end. Aya, you have to read it."_ She said seriously at the end.

"Suzu, me and thrillers… I don't know. It's a good feeding ground for nightmares."

" _It is a bit disturbing, but it's great. Trust me!"_

She sighed again. "Okay then, I'll give it a try. But if I get one nightmare because of it…"

" _I'll work twice as hard during the camp. Don't worry. Oh, and it gets really good after the first 25-50 pages. You'll see; you won't put it down."_ It sounded that Suzu was floating in delight. " _Oh, how's the Interhigh going? And how's Dorian?"_

"We are winning so far. We have four more matches ahead of us, including finals. Aomine isn't playing much yet…" She quickly described the events since the beginning to Suzume.

" _Hmmm… Seems interesting. To meet in the hotel like that. So Tatsuya will bring me the cat? Gee'… Can't it be that swearing midget instead?"_

"Hero would kill you if she heard you." She laughed. "Why are you so against him? He isn't a bad person…"

" _Because! He hurt you! Even if you're trying to deny it! I don't like that… I wouldn't mind seeing you though…"_

The bad feeling she'd been feeling since Monday tingled at her back again. As if it wanted to remind her it was still there. An instinct, or intuition, or whatever it was, was quietly creeping in the back of her mind, where she tried to bury it as 'nonsensical'. There was nothing wrong going on. And yet, it was there whenever she thought of Akita or Suzume. Maybe she should listen to it?

"... Maybe I'll make a short trip and deliver Dorian myself." She said after a short pause.

"…" Suzume quieted too, as if she was trying to read Aya's mind based solely on her voice. She had known the redhead long enough. " _Something is bothering you, right?"_

"I don't know. It's stupid really. I just… It's a feeling I have to go up there and see you on Sunday."

" _I'm leaving to Sendai the day after that."_ She said seriously. " _With my parents…"_

"You don't want to…" She guessed and stopped stroking Dorian, which meowed and jumped to the ground.

" _I don't. I'm happier with grandparents. It's only for a week or so, but I'd rather stay here. Ne? You think something will happen?"_

"Suzu, it's just a stupid feeling. Really. Don't take it seriously. I want to see you for a bit too, and Dorian will probably behave better with me around. And Tatsuya doesn't like cats much. That's that. Nothing more."

" _Maybe, but Aya… Don't underestimate women's intuition and instincts. You have them pretty strong. Yomi was a bit strange yesterday too. I really can't explain the feeling. But… It's like… quiet before the storm, and I really don't know what to make out of it…"_

A chill ran down Aya's spine. The unpleasant tingling only intensified, and she needed to change the topic. "Maybe it's because of the book?"

" _That's actually possible. Yomi read it too, she finished today, so probably."_

"Urgh, and you want me to read it?" Someone rapped at her door. "Oh, I have a visitor."

" _Sure. I'll call you later. Bye, bye. See you Sunday then?"_

She got up and opened the door with the phone at her ear. Atsushi was standing there with his hands in the pockets. "Hi, Aya-chin. Can I see Do-chin?"

"Yeah, see you on Sunday evening. Bye." She ended the call and stepped back into the room. "Hi. Sure, come on in. I was wondering if you'd come or not."

He shrugged and ducked to enter the room. Everything was so small here. "I said I would." He drawled. "Do you have some sweets? Or snacks?"

"I promised, right?" She smiled and from a small cabinet she pulled out several differently flavoured potato chips, cookies, biscuits, candies and other sweets. "Do you want a juice?"

"Soda."

"Soda it is." She repeated and took it out from a small fridge in her room.

She observed Atsushi as he looked around and then sat on her bed. She liked the giant, but she couldn't quite make up her mind about what to think of him. He acted lumpish and disinterest, but she didn't think he was stupid. More like resigned. She'd already learned that talking about basketball wasn't a good topic, so she didn't try. If Atsushi wanted to talk, he would do so on his own.

Dorian was staring at the giant curiously. He jumped back on Aya's bed and walked around the newcomer. The bandages were down and the fur was slowly starting to grow back at the injured places.

She placed the can on a small conference table; she had in the room, next to her juice. She nestled on the ground and opened her laptop – there was no desk in the room, just one chair where her clothes were hanging. "You won't mind, right?"

He blinked at her, then at the laptop and shook his head. "Noo." He said and reached out towards the cat. Then he stopped himself, he was actually afraid of hurting such a small and cute thing, so he waited for the cat to come to him, to touch him first. And soon, it did.

Aya was searching for the book Suzume had recommended. If she didn't buy and start reading it right away, she'd forget. Thankfully, she brought her e-book reader with her. And she didn't have any urgent work anyways. She could spend some time reading. She downloaded it in French, the original language and also the English version, so she could compare some parts, if she wanted.

When she was done and had the book in her reader, she glanced up at Atsushi, who had found the makeshift toy she'd made before and was jerking it up and down in front of Dorian, who seemed to be enjoying the game and attention. It made her smile. But there was something…

"You like cats?"

"Mhm, I had one. They're fluffy and nice." Dorian's paw missed the toy and his claws dug through Atsushi's shorts into his thigh. "Ouch." He winced. "I don't like when they scratch."

"Kitties do that." She shrugged.

"So we're taking Do-chin back with us?" He asked as if to make sure, without lifting his eyes from the cat.

"Actually… I decided to go to Akita myself. Suzume, my friend, will take care of it and I want to see her."

He frowned. "Is she good?"

She raised an eyebrow at that. Was Atsushi worried for a stray cat he didn't really know and which had been picked up on the streets? If so, he was probably kinder than he looked.

"Yeah. One of the kindest people I know. Though she can be antisocial… and a very competitive pain in the ass too." She smiled when trying to describe Suzume. "She actually goes to Yosen, have you never met her?"

"Ah… How would I know? I don't pay attention to them. The girls… they are small and scared and fragile and they screech. And use aggressively sweet perfumes." His face twisted into a disgusted grimace when he talked about the girls from Yosen. That was his general idea he'd made up after seeing the girls in his class.

Aya laughed. "Yet you can handle Hero and Satsuki and me."

"You aren't scared, you don't screech and you don't use those perfumes." He summed up. "You're okay. And _you_ 're not as short."

"Suzu would be 'okay' too. She is 190 cm tall, you know."

That made him look at Aya-chin, to see if she was joking or not. But she wasn't making fun of him. "That is not possible." He drawled and pulled at the makeshift toy again. "There are no girls that tall in this country."

Aya shrugged. "Try to look at the people around you a bit. Maybe you'll get to spot her at school some day."

"Maybe…" He put away the toy and touched the kitty with his forefinger to rub its fur carefully. He liked fluffy things. "I want to play with Do-chin again."

Aya frowned at that and got up. "Are you scared of hurting him?" She asked straightforwardly, looking down on him When she was standing, she was slightly taller than Atsushi sitting on the edge of her bed.

"…" He gave a sideways glare to the ground. "Do-chin is fragile. I'm not good with fragile things. I tend to crush them." He said with a deep, almost hostile frown.

He wasn't happy that this girl saw through him. Sometimes he felt like an overgrown dog who had no idea how its body functioned because it got too big too quickly. While he could control his movements and had an exceptional eye-hand coordination, he couldn't fully control his strength yet and so he usually avoided handling animals or other small things; simply because he feared hurting or crushing them. Even in basketball, he was immensely talented and the best built for the sport, and yet he could never be too sure how much strength he could use. It was beyond frustrating; it was hellishly annoying. And it made him so angry that he'd always have to play against the small flies. That's why he'd started practising at Yosen again. There were boys around his size (and he hated coach's shinai), that way, he believed he could learn to control his power better.

She lifted the cat from the bed. "Can you sit on the ground?"

"?" He blinked at her, but obeyed. He sat near the conference table and leaned his back against the wooden frame of the bed, stretching his long legs in front of him. He could see some book on Aya-chin's screen but it was in a different language he didn't know. It surprised him a bit.

Aya took the makeshift toy and put it on the table too. She sat back to her previous spot with Dorian in her hands.

"Open up your palm."

He did, curious about what was going to happen next.

Aya gently placed the kitty into Atsushi's huge palm. It fitted there, but if Atsushi wanted, he could probably crush the kitty by squeezing it. And yet, he didn't want to hurt it. It was strangely cute. Then she took Atsushi's free hand and placed it on Dorian's back. She was using a pressure of her hands to show him, how much strength he could use.

"He isn't that fragile." She smiled. "If you use too much strength, he'll let you know by meowing, scratching or biting. Don't worry. Pay attention to him instead." She withdrew her hand and let Atsushi to stroke Dorian on his own.

Atsushi's smile was almost gentle. He really liked the soft fur of cats. It reminded him of childhood and the cat he'd had then.

"Yeah. Like that." She praised him. "I'll start reading a book. If you need something, let me know, okay?"

"Haaai, Aya-chin." He said happily. It was the first time someone had let him pet their cat and showed him how to do it without injuring it. Usually the people would tell him off like some huge creature who'd wanted to hurt everyone.

Dorian started purring.

######

"Hey, Aomine." Tatsuya called after the tall ace when he saw him entering his room on a hallway.

Aomine's hand stopped on the doorknob. "What?" He turned to face him.

"Have you seen Atsushi? If he isn't in the room till lights-out, Araki-sensei will kill him." He asked, looking at the clock. It was ten minutes to 10PM – ten minutes to lights-out. He was getting desperate.

"No. I don't know where he is." He shook his head. "Maybe he went to buy sweets and got lost?" He suggested, knowing how bad Atsushi's orientation skills were. _Why am I even helping them?_

"Damn! He has a huge pile of snacks in the room anyways… Which number is Aya's room? Maybe she'll know."

Aomine raised an eyebrow at that. "She didn't tell y'?" He couldn't read Tatsuya's poker face, but there was a hint of anger in his visible eye.

Tatsuya wanted to retort, when a door at the end of the hallway opened and Atsushi walked out.

"Thank you, Aya-chin." He said contently and looked down the hallway. "Ah, Muro-chin. I'm just getting back."

"Where the hell were you?! You made me worried."

"Aah, sorry, sorry. I wanted to play with Do-chin, and Hiro-chin told me which room was Aya-chin's."

"Playing with the cat?" Tatsuya asked in disbelief and looked at Aya, who peeked outside curiously, cradling the cat in her arms.

She shrugged and smirked. "Well, yeah. I'm actually glad. It means that Dorian will sleep during the night instead of climbing up the curtains like last night."

Aomine sighed, he didn't feel threatened by Murasakibara in any way, but if he knew the cat needed someone to play with it, he wouldn't mind sacrificing himself… "Should I come and tire him out tomorrow?" He teased her with a smirk.

Aya laughed. "That's not a definition of Katsunori's 'don't cause trouble', but if it means I'll have time to read the book… I don't mind you entertaining Dorian."

"Then I'll stop by, Sweetheart."

"Aya." She corrected him again. She caught Tatsuya's raised eyebrow and the slight flash of jealousy in his eyes, but it was necessary. He needed to realise he was only a friend now, maybe family, but nothing more. "Oh well, whatever. Good night boys." She waved them and disappeared into the room to continue her reading.

"Let's go, Muro-chin."

Tatsuya shifted his gaze on Aomine. "I hope you're not playing around and killing your boredom with her." He said quietly and venom was dripping off those words.

"Like you with that lover of yours?" He asked with a smirk, observing the fleeting emotions reflecting deep in that grey eye. Who would've thought that once he noticed what to look for, he could guess what Tatsuya was thinking. And that question would normally cause a very sour expression. "Don't worry. I ain't you, _Ex-san_." He said, and disappeared in his room.

######

"He isn't softening up, Imayoshi." Tada said as he sprawled on his bed, thinking back to the match they'd had in the morning. "He's just getting more tolerable."

"Glad to hear that. I can't wait for some proper match. It's boring so far. There were actually some better teams in the prelims."

"It's not about them being weak." Wakamatsu muttered. "But them giving up when the point gap gets wider than 15 points…"

"…and at the idea of Aomine showing up on court." Susa added. He enjoyed playing basketball against whomever, but opponents who gave up quickly were really discouraging.

Tada rolled onto his stomach to look at his teammates and friends. "If we are feeling this way… Can you imagine what Aomine must've felt that it'd turned him into that inflated idiot he'd been during the first few weeks?"

"The only thing I don't get… Is how come that Aya-chan can apparently understand him?" The captain mused. "I've been trying to act as if I knew, to push her into a corner but I can't. And it's damn frustrating. Do you know?" He admitted begrudgingly, looking at Tada questioningly.

The boy bit his lower lip in hesitation. These three were like graves when it came to keeping secrets. They'd known his. But… He'd promised Aya he wouldn't tell. "Yeah, more or less. But I won't tell."

"You're too loyal." Imayoshi shook his head. "Can you at least hint me in the right direction?"

That he could do… "Have you tried googling her up? In English of course…"

Imayoshi blinked at him in surprise. "Eh? Why would I google up another teenager?"

He shrugged. "Dunno… Because she is the _**Kagami**_?" Imayoshi and Kousuke still didn't get it. But Tada noticed that Susa opened his mouth and then pulled out his phone. "Well then try. But don't believe everything you might find." He added for the two.

* * *

Aya attended matches the next day. In their match, the first match of the day, Imayoshi let Naito play with the other regulars, to have some fun and to observe the first year point guard to struggle a bit in the team he wasn't used to. Then he swapped him out mid-game. Touou won 104 to 86 and earned a ticket to quarterfinals; without Aomine having to participate for more than ten minutes since the beginning of the tournament.

Kaijo won the next match 112 to 76. It'd been obvious from day one that this would be their quarterfinal opponent.

Aomine didn't show his face at the stadium at all and no one knew where the ace disappeared to. And no one cared. The ace wasn't needed.

She had used every free minute to read the book Suzume had recommended. It really piqued her interest and even if it was highly disturbing and a bit scary, she couldn't stop reading until she'd figure out who the killer was.

In the evening, Aomine truly did knock on her door. She opened it up, while rubbing her thick hair dry.

"Come on in."

He looked her up and down. She was wearing shorts and a baggy t-shirt with a cartoon hamster – the animal was strangely cute.

"Already in your PJs?" He asked with a smirk, raised an eyebrow and followed her inside – ducking his head to avoid the doorframe. The hotel wasn't designed for tall people, apparently.

He looked around the room. It was a strange feeling to be in Aya's room, even if was only a contemporary one. The room seemed bigger than his, but it was probably caused by the fact that there was only one bed. She had her clothes hung over the only chair and her laptop and papers were resting on a small conference table at the bottom of the bed. And there were glasses. He had no idea she wore glasses.

"Glasses?" It really surprised him.

"Only to block the blue light from the computer, otherwise I see as well as a hawk." She explained with a shrug. "So? I want to read and then sleep. I'm barely in the middle of the book." She headed towards her bed and hopped on it, picking up the reader. "You wanted to play with Dorian, not me, right?"

He laughed at her wording. "You do realise how that sounded?"

"Ah…" She blushed slightly and looked out of the window. It was getting dark already. "Either way! It's true." She retorted in a quiet grumble.

He shook his head, looking at her and sat on the edge of her bed. "Sure thing." He was still chuckling, and lured by the new, unknown sound Dorian came to investigate. He offered his palm to the cat and it started nibbling at it weakly. "What are you reading?"

She lifted her eyes from the reader. " _The frozen dead._ I'm not sure how to translate it. I'm reading it in French though, it's called _Glacé_. So maybe 'Frost', could be fitting too?"

"A horror?" He guessed by the title with a raised eyebrow. It was already pointless to act as if he didn't read.

"No, a thriller. It is not that _scary_ , but quite disturbing. I don't get how Suzume can _love_ books like these, but I must admit it's written well enough that it keeps _me_ reading. So far, there was a butchered horse arranged like a bird on a cableway, one hanged human corpse, one psychiatric institution with the criminals, who are mentally sick and partly medicine resistant, but who can't get out no matter what, and an utterly confused team of detectives, because the DNA of one of the worst and the most intelligent of those criminals was found on both bodies… Uhm well… and they are starting to ding in the past in belief it's all connected."

"And snow and silence everywhere, right?"

"Yeah. It gives me goosebumps sometimes. I hate the cold and winter."

"Good for nightmares. You sure it's worth it?" He gave her a meaningful look.

She frowned at him. "Shush. I won't be satisfied until I finish it."

He shook his head and sighed. "Stubborn mule."

"You're the one to talk." She muttered and started reading again.

He looked around, hoping to spot some cat toys. And then he found the makeshift one. He liked playing with animals and cats were funny while chasing things; different from dogs and very amusing. He could spend hours doing that and not get bored. Then he decided to use a red pointer light, to see what would happen, though he first had to download it into his phone as there was nothing of the sort in the room.

With Aya reading quietly, it was as if she wasn't even there; she was so immersed in her thriller that she tuned out everything around her. He smirked as an idea stroke him.

Dorian seemed to love chasing the red dot coming out of Aomine's smartphone. The cat was running on the ground and then he diverted the light back on the bed. And then at Aya's bent legs. Dorian gratefully jumped at her bare calves, but he bounced off.

She jolted in fright and swore. "Damn! What was that for?"

"You are ignoring us, Sweetheart."

"Oh, really~?" She asked and a dangerous light twinkled in her eyes as she put the reader on the night table. Then she grabbed a pillow, not quite sure what she wanted to do and definitely not thinking about it.

Daiki could sense an attack that would come; he just didn't expect her to plunge at him full weight. Poor Dorian jumped away to seek safety before he'd get squashed. They almost fell off the bed, but Daiki managed to counter her somehow. He got hit by the pillow couple of times – not that hard – before a vein popped on his forehead. He wouldn't have that. _Oh no you won't, Sweetheart._ He thought.

But pacifying the redhead once she got going was surprisingly difficult; as long as he didn't decide to get serious. They turned into a fighting ball of arms and legs, each trying to topple the other off the bed, while keeping their position on top of it. She was unbelievably nimble and skilled in wrestling-free from him. He'd need to ask her where she'd learned that. Soon they were like two kids fighting over a toy which was long lost and then continuing the fight just for the sake of it. He had to laugh at the situation, while hoping she wouldn't accidentally kick or hit his crotch, and trying not to hurt her; though he did accidentally pull her hair when it ended below his elbow or hand. It didn't seem to bother her that much though.

At least she didn't yelp and after a while she was laughing too.

And then he somehow spun them around, pinning her to the bed with his weight. She couldn't possibly counter that.

"You sure you wanted to fight with me?" He asked victoriously, almost with a childish glee, not quite realising the position.

It surprised her, because now, she could barely move and was basically rendered powerless. And that intimate proximity made her heart race uncontrollably. His warmth, his scent, his body pressed against hers, his deep voice vibrating so close she could physically feel it. And she didn't mind it in the slightest. On the contrary, she wanted him to erase those few centimetres of air separating some parts of their bodies. She blushed furiously.

Only when he looked at her blushing face, which was closer than ever, he realised. A victorious smirk faded and he blushed too, freezing on his spot. He had no idea what to do. Underneath him, she looked small and fragile. And suddenly he wasn't sure if he hadn't accidentally hurt her. The sweet, yet fresh scent of apricots that was all around him tickled his nose. He liked the dazzling scent typical for her. His brain didn't seem to be working right anymore and his heart was ready jump out of his chest. And those reddish eyes were looking right at him with something he couldn't understand, but it sure as hell wasn't rejection. He was both excited and totally freaked out.

She could see the confusion, shock and worry but also the excitement rolling in those stormy eyes. She really didn't want him to let her go. But some sane part of her brain was still working correctly and she reined in on her wild emotions and hormones.

"You're heavy, you know?" She countered, her blush slowly fading away. Her voice broke the atmosphere, but in fact, she didn't mind his weight at all.

"Ah… Sorry." He mumbled with a deepening blush and got up, letting her go and sitting next to her.

It took him a few seconds to calm down his heart rate a bit and peek at her, only to be caught up in the scorching fire burning in her eyes. Could it be labelled as desire? He wasn't really sure, but it didn't help to calm down his crazy heartbeat.

Then she forced the flames in her eyes to calm down and they turned into glowing embers. She grinned. "Well… Now we know that fighting on a bed can turn out to be pretty dangerous." She summed up their moment.

A strangled chuckle escaped him. "Yeah. Uhm… I didn't hurt you, right?" He asked hesitantly. The thought wouldn't leave his head and when he noticed a few strands of red hair tangled around his long fingers he had to be sure.

"Huh?" She blinked at him in surprise. "What are you talking about?"

He averted his eyes. "I am much stronger than you…"

The scene of Atsushi fearing to touch the cat popped up in her head again. "Don't worry, Honey-bun. You might be much stronger, but I'm not as fragile as you think. Don't forget that I grew up with a brother and cousins. If you'd hurt me, you would've known about it."

He nodded and frowned at the yanked long hair.

She zoomed at what he was staring at and she laughed. "I'm a dancer. My pain threshold is far above a few strands of yanked hair. Besides, Kise pulled out more than that during our fight at the photo shoot. No worries, 'kay?"

It took him a moment to nod and he felt relieved. The last thing he wanted was to hurt her.

She glanced at the time. "Ah… As much as I'd like you to stay," that fire flashed there again for a second, erasing his worry, "it's almost lights-out. And Katsu will check up on me."

The last sentence actually startled him. "What?"

She shrugged in resignation. "Those articles might've been a lie, but I have a certain reputation. And even though Katsunori doesn't want to hurt me and he doesn't mean bad, he checks up on me. And I promised Taiga I'd call him."

He exhaled loudly. "Then I'd better flee while I still have the chance."

"I completely agree."

######

"Where've you been?" Kano asked Aomine when he returned to the room a minute before 10PM, with an unexplainably excited glee in his stormy eyes.

"None of your business." He grumbled and sprawled on his bed. He probably wouldn't be able to sleep. _Tch… Tomorrow is the quarterfinals…_ He remembered, but thankfully the match was supposed to be just before the lunchtime, so he could sleep in.

"Playing with the cat." Naito hummed and lifted his gaze from a book he was reading. "But maybe he didn't play _just_ with the cat." He jabbed dryly after assessing Aomine's expression.

"What?!" Kano almost shouted and glared at Naito. "Aya-chan wouldn't…"

"Wouldn't what?" His intelligent eyes stared at his friend over the edge of the book.

"Just stop it." He shut his eyes tight.

"Stop what?" He provoked.

Kano blushed. And Aomine was starting to get annoyed by the conversation.

"Sexualising Aya-chan." Ishii said it in Kano's stead. "Really. She's our friend, Shouhei. Hideki and I don't need to have any weird ideas… definitely not with Aomine involved." His face twisted into a disgusted grimace.

"It's you who's done it though." Naito shrugged and returned to his book, while Ishii took in Kano's and even Sakurai's deep red blushes.

"I hate you." He growled at Naito.

"I know, until you need my help with biology."

"Go die."

"If Aya-chan could hear you… tcs, tcs, tcs…" Naito shook his head in pretended displease.

"One more word about Aya, and I will kill you all." Aomine growled from his bed, with an expression that could rival any serial killer out there.

Both blushing boys paled immediately – that was a scary face they'd remember till the world's end. Even Ishii averted his gaze and stared at the ceiling instead. Suddenly, he didn't think that sharing a room with Aomine _and_ Naito was a good idea. Mainly because he could guess what would follow.

"See? The first name basis. Finally." Naito commented, not quite realising the danger levels in the room.

Then Aomine's slipper found its place in the middle of Naito's face. And his nose started bleeding.

* * *

Aya's eyes opened widely. She didn't know what exactly had woken her, but she felt cold. She turned to look at her phone. It was 2AM. Then she was slowly remembering the dream. It consisted mostly of weird patched up images, scenes from the book she'd been reading. The images then turned into a certain disturbing story.

The whole dream, she'd been watched, hunted. She'd been running around within the pure white psychiatric institution, while the freezing winds blew through gaps and seams in the old building creating a dreadful symphony. And someone had been preying on her. She'd had no idea who, as she hadn't seen the predator, but she'd known he'd been there somewhere.

That's what had woken her. The helpless fear of prey knowing it's hunted. The feeling was still quite strong and she shivered despite the warm night and blankets.

 _Damn you, Suzume._ She thought.

She rolled on her other side and saw two glowing eyes staring down at her from not more than 30 centimetres.

"Kyah!" She screamed and fell off the bed with a loud thud.

Dorian let out a startled meow and jumped down of the bed as well, equally freaked out.

"So much for my imagination." She growled. "I should've finished the book before going to sleep." It was certainly the fault of an unfinished story that had triggered the nightmare.

No, she couldn't stay inside that room without going mad. This dream scared her on a whole different level than the usual nightmares involving her mother. The only feeling remaining in her now was a dull, nonsensical primal fear, nothing else.

She changed from pyjamas, hopped into her basketball shoes and took a ball. There was only one person she could possibly wake up at 2AM.

######

"Ayacchi!" Kise's voice echoed through the hallway like a gunshot.

She jumped away from the door, she was right about to knock at like a startled cat. "Shush!" She hissed at the blonde immediately. "Do you want to wake up the whole hotel?"

"Ah…" He lowered the volume as he approached her. "Sorry, sorry." He looked her up and down, there was something off about the girl and it wasn't just the dishevelled hair she'd messily tied up.

"What are you even doing here at this hour?"

"And you?" He glanced at the door number. "A date with Aominecchi? Or…" He asked teasingly.

"…" She looked at him accusingly and threw a ball at his chest. He caught it. "None of your business."

"Wanna play basket?"

"Not with you." She sighed, not in the mood for courtesies.

"Eh? That's mean!" He whined.

"Shush." She hissed again. "I'm gonna get a coffee." _What was I even thinking going to Aomine in the middle of the night?_ She thought, but Daiki was the person she felt safe with. So when scared and distressed, running to him was her first choice. She really hadn't expected to run into someone else at 2:10 AM.

"Can I join?" He asked with a puppy expression. With the upcoming match against Aominecchi, he couldn't sleep.

"Do what you want." She mumbled and headed for the stairs.

######

"You sure, you're not going after them?" Naito's voice mumbled from the darkness in a slight provocation. He hadn't forgotten the slipper.

"Why should I?" Aomine grumbled quietly. He didn't want to wake up the others too. Kise was goddamn loud for such a late hour, well; the blonde had nothing to hide apparently.

" _You_ are into her, not me." The shrug was almost hearable. "But if I were you, I'd want to know what she'd wanted from me at 2AM. And I wouldn't trust the model, though I don't know him."

"Tch." He clicked his tongue and crawled out of the bed. He couldn't sleep anyways. It wasn't that he didn't trust Kise, more like… He wanted to know what had happened to Aya; because if he knew her enough, she'd had a nightmare. "Tch."

Naito chuckled quietly when the door shut close behind the ace.

"You're terrible, Shouhei." Ishii murmured.

"Oh, shut up. Isn't it fun?"

"No wonder Imayoshi likes you."

######

It took Daiki a while to find the two. The hotel's lights were out and the hallways were illuminated only by some low emergency lights. Dark and with no people running around, the hotel was almost eerie. He turned left to run down the staircase, praying there were no motion-sensors to switch on some lights. He headed for the cafeteria, no one would be there at this hour, but the vending machines were 24/7. He turned around the last corner and he almost ran into them.

They were sitting in the cafeteria's comfortable big leather armchairs in silence. Aya was sipping from her coffee and Kise had a cocoa, like usual when he couldn't sleep.

She had her back to him, but he caught Kise's eyes for a second and the blonde smirked at him. For that smirk, he'd strangle him, but he knew Kise wouldn't rat him out. So he quickly disappeared behind a corner and crouched down leaning against the wall. _Damn it._ He swore inwardly. _So much for being stealthy._

"Couldn't sleep?" Kise broke the silence first. He didn't like the silence.

"And you, Model-kun?" She answered the question with another question. She wasn't sure she wanted to talk with the blonde. But it was a deep night, a time when it was easier to talk and everyone showed their vulnerabilities, and the blonde wasn't all that bad.

"I'm excited and terrified." He spun the ball on his forefinger. "I can't wait for tomorrow's match."

"Today's." She corrected him.

"Ah well… True." He chuckled. "You won't answer my question?"

"Why should I?"

He sighed. "I thought you trusted me a bit, Ayacchi. I keep secrets well."

"Haaa… I know. It's not that I don't trust you, Model-kun. I simply don't like showing off the vulnerable spots."

"Apparently you don't mind showing them to Aominecchi."

A soft smile played on her lips. "Because... He's special. He's straightforward, oddly kind, and safe, like a protective wing without any ulterior motives. I trust him, I feel safe with him. I know he would never _use_ it against me. He's not capable of doing that to anyone, really."

"And I am?"

"I think you are. You just haven't had a reason for it. Yet…" Her narrowed eyes told him loud and clear, she knew he knew about the articles somehow.

Kise let out a chuckle. Normally he would whine and accuse her of being mean, but she wasn't that far from truth. He'd never use the vulnerabilities against his friends. That was the one rule he'd never ever break. "And I won't do it even if I do have a reason, Ayacchi. When you're sly, you need some rules after all."

"That's yours?"

"That's mine. And what's yours?" He stared at her. There was something special about the night talks. Everyone was strangely vulnerable at 2AM. Him included.

"Never lie to those who really care." She said and stared back confidently.

"Half-truths allowed." He nodded. "I thought so." Then he remembered Aominecchi at the corner. He was wondering what his friend thought about all this. "You had a nightmare?" He guessed.

Her eyes widened in surprise. "What gave me out?"

"The way you jumped in fright when I called out to you? I'm not blind. Or stupid…"

"Yeah… A nightmare. Because of a damn book."

He raised an eyebrow and chuckled. He could as well help Aominecchi with some answers, no? And Ayacchi seemed willing to talk. "Why didn't you go to Ex-kun then? He probably knows you better than Aominecchi?"

"Eh? I didn't even think about Tatsuya. He's never handled me with nightmares. Only once… When we were kids and friends only… It freaked him out and ever since he always avoided me during the times I could have had a nightmare." She blinked at the blonde in realisation. "I think I avoided him during that time too."

Of course she hadn't even thought about Tatsuya, she couldn't associate him as someone who would want to protect her. Maybe she was being unfair towards him now and that hadn't been his intention as the boyfriend, but that was what she'd learned over the years of friendship and dating and dealing with Tatsuya's broken family. It had been simple, really; be with him when everything's fine, go to Taiga or Seth when you're hurt or scared. _Why haven't I realised it sooner?_

The lost look that flashed in her eyes actually shocked Kise. "Don't tell me you haven't realised it until now?" _And Aominecchi has handled you with nightmares?_

"I guess not. I didn't have time to dig in it then and I probably choose to overlook it." She snorted. _No wonders Suzume is so hostile whenever she hears about Tatsuya. But it's not only his fault…_ "And I mean… You get used to so many things in seven years that they don't seem weird at all."

"Wow… Seven years… How long did you date anyways?" He asked curiously.

She had to think about it. "I'm not really sure… Two years? One year and something?"

"Have you ever talked about Ex-kun with Aominecchi?"

"Is this an interrogation?"

"A mere curiosity of a friend." His smile turned apologetic, but there was no malevolence behind it.

She shook her head and chuckled. "A bit… It's not really a topic I'd like to discuss with Daiki."

"You don't mind discussing it with me, then?"

"You should be a detective one day, really." She laughed and shrugged. "You know it, don't you? A situation when you tell your entire life story to a complete stranger? Because it's easier? It's something like that. You're unrelated, I don't see your face every day and I'm not into you, so yeah, it's somehow easier to talk about this with you."

 _You'd be a good detective too._ He laughed at that, she was really good with words. "Oh, how good that sounds! A girly friend who won't get the wrong ideas… Does it mean you're into Aominecchi?"

"Don't you already know that? I guess it's kinda obvious."

 _No clear answer… Again._ "Hmm… Not really. Your self-control is unbelievable and you're holding back..."

"Father." She said ominously as if the shadow was looming over her.

"You need an approval?"

She laughed again, but it was a dry, humourless laugh. "No. I'm not looking for approval or blessing or understanding. I want to inform him in person, and give out a small warning. It's better if I tell him myself than if he learns it from someone else."

"Warning to your father?" His eyebrows shot up in disbelief.

"Yes. You don't know him at all. But I don't want to see Daiki being used against me, or his possible future destroyed, because I wasn't thinking." She said seriously. "After I'm sure he won't harm Daiki… I think there won't be a force able to keep me away from him. Well… except Daiki himself. He might not want of me in the end."

Kise had to force himself to not look in the direction of where Aomine was crouching behind the corner. He really hadn't expected this kind of a conversation; first Momocchi and now, completely by chance, Ayacchi, who confided in him, because both girls valued him as a good listener and a good friend and a perfect secret keeper.

"I don't think so…"

"We'll see then." A genuine smile appeared on her face. "The irony of life is cruel sometimes." She concluded. "So are you ready for the match?"

The conversation turned against him now. "The best I can be. I think I'll take my chances with what we talked about."

"I don't remember talking about anything of the sort with you."

He laughed. "Well… Then you know what I'm talking about."

"That I might. Is your team okay with it?" She asked seriously.

"I'm the spoiled ace of theirs." He shrugged. "And I'm the only one who can actually face Aominecchi head on. You can't even comprehend how excited I am."

"Oh, trust me, Model-kun. I can."

"Ah, right. You are the world champion."

"Was," she rolled her eyes. "Is your girlfriend coming to support you?" She asked with a sly smile.

"Hahaha… You know I don't have a girlfriend." He laughed it off, but there was a certain person appearing in his mind, which made his laughter falter slightly.

"But there is someone who interests you…" It wasn't a question.

"Shiracchi?"

"Does it matter?"

He sighed. "There is, but… It's not that simple." He admitted truthfully. He hadn't really talked about the girl with anyone yet. Perhaps it was time to do so because for the first time, he felt lost and clueless.

She smiled at him encouragingly. "I'm all ears."

"Some other time, maybe? I can't open that up now… I need to focus on the upcoming match."

"As you wish, Model-kun."

Aomine had heard enough. _Who listens behind a door, usually hears things about themselves…_ Michiko's words rang in his mind. But wasn't he there exactly because of that? And Kise having a genuine interest in someone? _Mind blowing…_

He got up and dragged himself back to the room. So she did like him, but she was scared of her father's possible backlash. He didn't know the man, and Aya had never talked with him about her father, though he knew the relationship was strained and tattered. The idea of Aya trying to protect him, however… He didn't like it, it was supposed to be his role, then again, he had no idea what the CEO could possibly threaten him with. But if Aya was wary, it was probably for the best if he remained patient. It wasn't like they didn't interact or didn't have their moments... They just weren't officially dating, that was all.

Heck she wanted to go to him when scared. If that was not a proof of him being special, then he had no idea what it could be.

Still… He hated the fact that she had to walk on thin ice and strategize around her father, or that the ex never truly supported her when he should've had. Now he understood her a bit better once again; her reluctance, self-control and caution.

She didn't deserve that.

She deserved much better.

* * *

 **A/N:** That's it for now. The first days of the Interhigh and the first matches - I didn't write the matches in detail, as I thought it wasn't necessary. I already have a bunch of OCs and I thought that creating another full teams of players just for these few games would be contra-productive.

Yes, the book 'The frozen dead' exists, it's real, and it belongs to its rightful author Bernard Minier. I read the book around the time I wrote the chapter and I loved it, so I took a bit of an inspiration. It really is a chilling thriller and it gave me a nightmare or two as well.

Oh, and maybe a KisexOC story in the far future? Who knows...

Well, anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and that no one was too OOC, (especially Atsushi).

Let me know what you think and remember, reviews are appreciated but never necessary.

S.


	37. Chapter 37: Quarterfinals part I

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone who followed, favourited and reviewed! It makes me very happy.

At first I wanted to post chapters 37 and 38 together, but I don't have my usual "buffer" of pre-written chapters, so you'll have to wait the usual two weeks for the chapter 38. I'm trying to catch up with my schedule and write whenever I can, but I have a lot going on with my new job, and my friend's wedding (which is today) so... :)

Enough of rambling. Enjoy!

* * *

 **Quarterfinals part I. - Perfect copy**

* * *

 _It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting. ―_ _ **Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist**_

 _I can't even explain how blessed I am and how fortunate that I have such a great team that believes in me._ – _**Holly Holm**_

 _Team spirit spurs me on. I've always found it easier to be strong for other people than for myself._ – _**Cheryl Cole**_

 _You will find joy, frustration and sorrow in your quest. Never forget that friendship and loyalty are more precious than riches..._ ― _**Brian Jacques, Pearls of Lutra**_

 _If you can make a woman laugh, you can make her do anything._ ― _**Marilyn Monroe**_

* * *

 _She was staring into Daiki's stormy eyes. His body was pressed against hers on her bed. He rested his forehead against hers, as if asking her for permission. Instead, she pulled him down for a kiss. She craved this, her entire being craved to have him that close. A bit rough, a bit inexperienced, but so very gentle; that's what his lips felt like. Maybe he wasn't sure what exactly he was doing, but he was picking it up very quickly. Naturally._

 _He pulled away, breathing heavily and stared at her with an intensity which made her insides quiver. She felt like she'd turn into a jelly. And then he kissed her again._

 _His calloused palm travelled up the outer side of her thigh, and under her t-shirt. The rough skin of his hand aroused her even more. His lips trailed her jaw and neck. She leaned her head back to give him better access and let out a soft moan._

Her eyes snapped open.

 _Oh god…_ Aya thought desperately. "As if that nightmare wasn't enough…" She groaned in annoyance and embarrassment. It wasn't the first time she'd dreamt about something like this, but the timing was terrible. "… to get wet from a dream… urgh…"

"Meow."

"Mornin', Dorian. You scared the crap out of me before, you know?" She glared at the cat accusingly, as if it had caused her dreams.

"Meow." Dorian replied and licked his paw.

"Let's feed you." She sighed and chuckled at her talking to the cat.

She wasn't sure how to face Aomine in 20 minutes, but she had to go to breakfast. _Tough and uninterested…_ She thought back to Kiku's words and shook her head. _Impossible._ And when she thought back to her night talk with Kise, she felt like banging her head against the wall. _I'm an idiot…_

######

Aya took her time that morning. She wasn't late, but she wasn't in the dining hall first either. She sighed in relief when Aomine wasn't there yet.

"Mornin', Ayacchi!" Kise greeted her from behind, startling her. "Looking for Aominecchi?" He asked with a suggestive smile, after all, he knew Daiki had eavesdropped.

"Mornin', Model-kun. Sneaking up on me?" She asked with a smirk.

"No. And you haven't answered my question. Again."

"Do I have to?"

"It would be nice."

"I've answered more than enough." She said with a wink, filled her bowl with fruits and walked away with her head held high. She wasn't hungry at all.

Kasamatsu, who followed after Kise, was glancing between the two. He didn't understand one bit what they had just discussed. But because he already knew the blonde, he could tell that in those few sentences there was something unspoken exchanged.

"What was that about?" He asked the model.

"Hm? I just greeted her." Kise shrugged and walked towards their table. "I am allowed to that, right?" His tone was chilly, almost scolding. This 'don't talk to an opposing team' atmosphere was ridiculous; and keeping to his image as the spoiled Kaijo's ace was starting to get rather difficult.

Kasamatsu blinked at the sudden harshness he wasn't used to receive from the blonde. "Y-yeah." He stammered and shook his head. This was not the Kise he believed to know. Or maybe he was imagining things and his nerves were making him crazy. The pressure of facing Touou was weighing him more than anyone else. He was the captain after all and even if Kise was the one truly facing Aomine, it was him, who lead the team.

"You talked with Ki-chan?" Satsuki asked the moment Aya sat down.

She shrugged reading the real question hidden in Satsuki's eyes. "Yeah. I couldn't sleep yesterday and we ran into each other in the cafeteria. It's easy to talk with him."

"That, I agree with." She laughed. "Have you seen Aomine-kun today?"

"Uhm…" The dream resurfaced and she bit her lip to fight off a blush. "No? Not yet."

"He's sleeping in." Ishii said as he sat next to Aya. "Maybe he'll come in a few minutes. I don't think he'll sleep much today."

"True." As unusual as it was, Aya didn't know where to look. She felt out of it; excited and anxious at the same time. And that hot dream from her morning… she wanted it to be a reality. Then she noticed Imayoshi's pointed stare and she averted her eyes. _Get it together._ She thought and focused on eating her breakfast.

"Ya think Booby-chan's okay?" Hero whispered to Tatsuya, glancing at the redhead. Once she wasn't trying to drill a hole into Tatsuya's head, he wasn't trying to avoid her. And with Tatsuya around, it was easier to handle the cookie-monster.

"…" He stared at Aya for a moment, but he couldn't say for sure. She looked slightly jumpy, maybe a bit embarrassed about something, but that could've been caused by a nightmare – she wouldn't tell him anyways. Still, he had a feeling it was somehow Aomine's fault. _Something happened…_ "If not, she will be soon enough."

Hero narrowed her eyes at him. "Didn't ya date, Poker-face? _**I**_ can tell that somethin's off, ya should be able to tell _**what**_ it is!"

He chuckled dryly. No, he wouldn't discuss this with their manager. "Then I s'pose I don't know her as well as I'd like to believe."

"Now y're lyin'." She said, somehow, she managed to pick up a slight annoyance flashing on Tatsuya's face.

"Maybe." He said with his typical smile. "But you can't be sure, can you?"

"Fuck off." She grumbled and focused on furiously stuffing her cheeks with food.

######

Daiki closed his eyes and tried to get a bit more sleep, but thoughts were buzzing in his head like a swarm of flies. He wasn't sure how to face Aya, without giving away that he'd overheard her conversation with Kise. Kise… He had to focus on the match. It was one of those matches he couldn't miss no matter what. But… Trying to avoid Aya just because he'd overheard something… It was stupid. He could've guessed she liked him; there was no reason for him to avoid her. Or Kise. Still… He didn't feel like meeting the blonde before the match, because he knew he'd win.

With a groan he sat up. _This is pointless._ He thought and his stomach rumbled in response. He got up, washed himself quickly and changed from his sleeping clothes. Then he strolled to the dining hall.

"Aominecchi! Mornin'!" Kise waved him with a bright smile in an overexcited gesture. His team was done eating and on their leave.

He rolled his eyes. "Yo." He nodded to the blonde.

"Don't be late for the match." The bright smile turned into a dangerous smirk as he passed by his friend. "I don't think you can afford it today."

The blonde's excitement was contagious. A challenging and not less dangerous grin settled on Aomine's face too. Everything other than the match weighing on his mind was suddenly pushed aside. "I hope you can entertain me, Kise."

"I'm not planning to lose." He patted Aomine's shoulder and disappeared around the corner.

"So we're facing them today, huh?" Imayoshi mused as he stared at their opponents leaving the dining hall. Kaijo was always to leave first.

"Yeah." Aya said, observing the exchange between the two aces. It made her impatient; she wanted the match to start already. "I can't wait to see it."

The room was filled with anticipation and competitiveness; everyone watched the exchange between the two aces, because it was supposed to be the very first match between members of the generation of miracles what so ever; everyone wanted to see it.

Aomine slumped on a chair at the end of the table. He didn't want to talk to anyone. He planned to eat, rest, and then go warm up on his own. The redhead had been right all along; he was thrilled. Even though he was 100% sure he'd win, he wanted to play in that match; he wanted to see how much the blonde had improved.

"That's gonna be exciting~"

"Booby-chan!" Hero rested her elbows on Aya's shoulders as she leaned over her. "Can I join ya? I wanna watch yer match today."

Aya didn't mind the proximity, but the request surprised her. "Is your team not watching it?"

"Yeah. But I wanna be with ya, not with the Poker face. Ya can tell me more about them all."

She smirked. _Little spy,_ _I taught her well…_ "Okay. But you sure you don't want to watch with Fukui-senpai?"

Hero blushed and hid her face in Aya's shoulder. "Yer evil, Booby-chan, evil."

She shrugged. "Just asking."

She took a deep breath, thinking about Aya's suggestion. And indeed, it was a chance to be with Fukui-senpai more, because Touou vs. Kaijo was a match everyone wanted to see. "I'll find ya if things get interestin'."

"All right. But I guess it's not happening."

"Evil." She mumbled again.

"Hironaka!" Masako shouted at the girl from the door. "Get moving! You're the last again!"

"Hai, hai!" She mumbled and ran to catch up with her team before the coach would lose her nerve.

Aya watched the little girl leaving. Something in the back of her mind resurfaced. It made her get abruptly up, her chair screeched against the floor. "Hero, wait!" She called out and ran after the girl. Half annoyed that she'd forgotten, half happy she wouldn't have to talk about it in front of everyone.

The coach and the manager stopped at the almost pleading voice and turned to face the redhead.

"What is it that it can't wait?" Masako asked levelly. "We have a practise in half an hour."

"I'm sorry. I need to talk to Hero. It won't hold her back for long, promise."

Masako sighed, rolled her eyes and turned to leave. "I hate my job…" She muttered to herself and left. She wouldn't be the one to forbidding the friendship or anything.

Hero blinked at Aya in surprise. "What?"

"How much is Tatsuya practising?" She asked seriously.

The question came out of nowhere. And that confused the hell out of Sumire. "Huh? Why? Is there somethin' wron'?"

"Answer me." The reddish eyes pierced Hero intensely and she grabbed her elbow.

"Like everyone else? … I think…" She bit her lip thinking about Poker face and his training habits. If she was assuming correctly, he shouldn't have been practising during the Interhigh; he wasn't an active player yet. "But… I ain't keepin' tracks on him… He shouldn't be practisin' at all now."

"But you're not sure." Aya concluded. Hero was stammering, which meant she truly wasn't sure. And she had seen Tatsuya sneaking out in late evenings and nights. _Shouldn't be practising my ass…_ She thought bitterly. At first it was only a gut feeling she couldn't prove, but she wasn't blind; she'd noticed that Tatsuya was stretching his shoulder way too much. Subtly, so no one would really notice. She already knew that pattern. _Damn it!_

The small girl avoided the scrutinizing gaze of the redhead. "Well… No… Why? Should I've noticed somethin'?"

Aya sighed. "No. You couldn't have. It's nothing." She let go of Hero elbow, she didn't want to worry the new manager. Maybe Tatsuya wouldn't be so stupid to practise with the sore shoulder. _Who are you lying to? You know he would…_

"It's not nothin'. Spill it." Hero demanded.

Aya just raised her eyebrow at Hero. The little girl was supposed to know on her own.

A light bulb seemed to appear above Sumire's head. _Overtraining… Overstraining his shoulder… Injuries…_ She blinked in realisation. Back at Yosen he had been staying over practise. Always. And she'd watched, always forcing him to leave before it got too much. She really had no idea when he could've managed to make it bad. "Yeah, but… What the fuck am I s'posed to do? We have a practise now! Literally. Do I tell Araki-sensei?"

"No. Try talking to him first. Ask him if his shoulder hurts when he stretches it too often or something… Maybe he'll talk to you. He is a dumb idiot when he wants to. But well… If it goes to hell, he'll come to me." She sighed deeply. "Let's hope it won't happen."

"You'll tell me if it does, right?"

"Yeah. _You_ are their manager. Not me. So I don't want to get into your team's business too much…" She smiled at Hero, who seemed profoundly worried about the idiot now. "Don't worry, it'll be fine. Now go, or Masako-san will hit you with that shinai of hers."

Her eyes widened in fear. "Oh, fuck! Runnin'!" She saluted to Aya, turned on her heel and sprinted down the hallway.

Aya returned back to the dining hall to finish her bowl of fruits. Everyone was staring at her, because she interrupted the calm (unbelievably pressured atmosphere) with her sudden action.

"What was that about?" Naito asked curiously, staring at Aya.

She sat down and shrugged. "Nothing, I just had a question. They have their quarterfinals too, after all."

He raised an eyebrow at that. "If you say so…"

The guys didn't question it further. The upcoming match was weighting on their minds more than a question she might've asked the midget.

However, Tada-senpai was watching the redhead curiously. He had a vague idea about what the reason to chase Hironaka-chan might've been Himuro, the ex. There were things he knew, things he found out on his own after Aya had hinted him in the right direction, but he couldn't be sure. Yet, he'd noticed the boy sneaking out of the hotel, followed him couple of times too; Tatsuya was kind of his type. He liked what he saw, and during the warm evenings Tatsuya practised shirtless but he also frowned a lot and swore on his shoulder couple of times too. It might've not been displayed on his poker face, but Tatsuya was probably in pain.

She didn't notice the senpai's questioning stare.

 _Let's hope there won't be any injuries…_ She thought. It wasn't only Tatsuya she'd been worried about. The upcoming match was exciting, but straining too. Her eyes trailed to Aomine, and she caught his gaze for a second. Right now, she had no idea what was going on in the ace's head and she'd give anything to figure it out.

At some point, Katsunori shook his head and sighed. "This crew is a tremendous irony of life, really."

Aya laughed. "All that's missing is Seirin, Shiranuis and Shuutoku."

"And maybe Ray." He added gravely.

She frowned at the older man. "Not funny."

Katsunori shrugged and pulled at his fringe, but Aya would swear, he was smiling under his nose. "All right, be ready at 11:30. I don't really care what you do till then." He got up and left. There was a movie he wanted to watch anyways.

"That was nice." Tada chuckled. "I thought we'd get some speech."

"Katsunori isn't the one to give speeches." Aya smiled, threw the last piece of her breakfast into her mouth. She'd taken more time than ever, and she'd swear that half the time, she'd only played with the food instead of eating it.

Her phone chimed, announcing a message. She pulled it out of her pocket to see what it was about and her smiled turned into a guilty one.

"What's up?" Satsuki asked curiously.

"I haven't called Taiga ever since he left for his training camp… I got a scolding. And they'll be here to watch the match." She summed up.

"You said you'd call him yesterday."

"Erm… Yeeeah, I said that… but I had another thing occupying me and when I remembered it was past 11PM and I didn't want to wake him up."

"Really?" The pinkette asked foxily. She wanted to know what had happened with Dai-chan, or if there had been something of the sort. But she knew she'd have to wait for that till they were alone. Or maybe she could interrogate Dai-chan, he'd give way sooner than Aya-chan.

Imayoshi sighed. As much as he wanted to pry and question Aya, he was feeling the burden of the upcoming match more than the others. "We should go." He said, pushing everything besides the match to the back of his mind. "I want to concentrate on the match."

"Want to play some go or shogi?" Susa proposed, knowing it was one of the ways for Imayoshi to compartmentalise and focus better; especially if it was something important coming up.

The captain nodded. "We have enough time for that."

"Good. Let's go then."

Touou's team departed the dining hall slowly. One by one. Aomine left as soon as he was finished with breakfast. He needed some alone time now. When Aya was leaving she glanced at Seijuurou, slowly finishing his share of omelette. As if feeling her stare, he raised his head and stared back.

His eyes as cold and supercilious as ever seemed to be radiating: 'I'm the absolute winner' and it made a chill ran down her spine. But she didn't let the discomfort to be reflected back to him. Letting him win a staring contest wasn't a victory she would grant him. And so she smirked at him sending a message of her own: 'Let's see about that.'

######

Aomine headed towards the outside courts to warm up on his own. He hadn't really played since facing Kirisaki Daiichi and he needed to get into it. His opponent now was Kise and he was aware of the improvement rate of the blonde. Even though, he never doubted his victory. Not for a second. He wouldn't go easy on Kise. He couldn't afford it, not in the past and definitely not now.

"Aomine." The redhead interrupted him before he could even start.

"I won't be late." He retorted. "Just leave me alone now."

She nodded in understanding. "I'm not here because of that. But all right." She raised her hands and took a few steps back.

He sighed. "What is it?"

A smile graced her lips. "Good luck. Win without any injuries. Understood?"

"Don't worry, Sweetheart, I ain't a loser." He smirked and threw a ball into the hoop without even looking at it.

Oh, that kind and beautiful smile he loved so much…

"I know. I just wanted to say it."

######

Aya could find her brother anywhere. A crowd of people filling the gym 30 minutes before the match didn't confuse her in the slightest. She knew she probably should've been in a changing room with her team, but she'd made an agreement with the boys that she would join them during the mid-game break.

"Taigaaa!" She called out to him when he was close enough to hear her.

He turned her way immediately. He knew where the voice came from. But before he could brace himself she leapt at him full weight, hugging him around the neck.

"Urgh." He grunted and his arms instinctively circled around her waist to steady them both. "Do you have to do this?" He grumbled feeling embarrassed by her behaviour.

"I've missed you!" She hugged him tighter. "So… Yes! I have to." She chuckled softly and released him.

Then she looked at the smiling faces of the Seirin's team and she waved them happily in greeting. "Hi everyone! I'm happy to see you after so long. Thanks for taking care of him."

They greeted her back almost in unison.

"He totally flooded my room, you know…" Riko complained, remembering the study session at her place.

Aya chuckled sheepishly; she could very well imagine the scene. "Sorry for that. Next time, you can come over to our place, 'kay? And return the favour, if you want."

"Sounds fun." Riko shrugged and let the redhead hug her quickly. It wasn't common, but it somehow fitted the girl and her outgoing personality.

"Long time no see, Aya-san." Kuroko peeped next to her.

She smiled at the ghostly boy; at least he didn't startle her this time. "Indeed. I believe we can catch up during the match."

Then she picked up a new face among them. "Pleasure to finally meet you, Kiyoshi Teppei-senpai. I've heard a lot about you already." She said and offered him a handshake. Kiyoshi, the center was measuring her up and down with curiosity and slight caution. She stared back at him, doing exactly the same. The brown eyes of the boy in front of her belonged to a much tougher person than Taiga made her believe. And then there was Satsuki's past research she got to read… _Iron heart… The nickname he acquired suits him well…_

He accepted the firm handshake and smiled at the redhead. His expectation wasn't disappointed. "Same here, Kagami Aya-chan. Though I can't say I've heard a lot about you." Her steady gaze made the hair on the back of his neck prickle in… He couldn't describe the feeling; it wasn't fear, more like reverence, not many people could draw it out of him. Yet, she did, despite the air of cheerfulness surrounding her.

It almost seemed like the electricity crackled in the air as the two were assessing each other. And suddenly, Taiga wasn't so sure that Kiyoshi was a goofy ball of joyfulness and encouragement he appeared to be. Judging by Aya's reaction, the senpai wasn't a bad person, but he was certainly resourceful and maybe a bit sly and calculative. After all, he could never tell what the center was thinking and it made him wary of the boy from the day one. Aya only confirmed his original assumption.

"You should've called…" Taiga mumbled, to break off the staring contest, before it'd get too obvious.

It worked and Aya turned her attention back to him. "I forgot. Sorry 'bout that. I was dealing with other… things…"

"Like Aomine?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"We are in the same hotel with Tatsuya's, Kise's _and_ Akashi's team. I hope I don't need to explain the pressure levels in that place to _you_. I'm taking care of _your_ cat, watching almost all the matches and Suzume talked me into reading yet another nightmarish thriller…" She rolled her eyes. "But yeah, sure… Daiki is certainly the only reason why I didn't call you." She said sarcastically.

"First name basis already?" He asked with a smirk to provoke his sister, ignoring everything else. By all means, he wanted to avoid a possible 'Tatsuya talk' again. The name Akashi, however, stirred an interest in him. He'd ask her later, when they'd be alone.

Her eyes narrowed. "Just like you and Kouta, _Lil' Tiger._ " She teased him.

"What did you just say?!" His eyes widened in disbelief. "Take it back! Immediately! I ain't…"

She laughed, covering his mouth before he'd say something really stupid. "Chill, I'm teasing you, stupid."

"Who's Kouta, again?" Riko asked curiously, because the name kept popping up repeatedly.

"Ah… Taiga hasn't explained… Well, Shiranui Kouta is the youngest of three brothers, we grew up with them until we left for America and even then we kept in contact though it wasn't so often. They are like older brothers to us, childhood friends. Though Kouta is… quite unique, difficult to handle. Recently he showed up again." She shrugged.

"I guess we won't meet him here, by chance?" Riko asked curiously, staring at the twins.

"He is studying in America, so no… He popped up for three days, and I have no info about him coming here…" Aya said with slight suspicion lacing her voice.

It was Taiga's turn to laugh. "He wouldn't tell you in advance, _Lil' Monkey_. So you couldn't mentally prepare yourself."

She rolled her eyes and took a breath to retort, when her phone rang. "What?" She asked Satsuki immediately.

" _Aomine-kun isn't here yet. Do you know where he is? I'm seriously killing him…"_ Satsuki fumed. " _He isn't picking up again."_

"He'll be there on time. All warmed up."

" _How do you know?"_

"Just trust him. _And_ I've seen him on the outside courts warming up. He wouldn't miss this match."

The pinkette took a deep breath. " _Okay… I give him five more minutes and then I'll bite his head off."_ She hung up.

"Ahomine is late?" Taiga asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No. You heard, right? He'll be on time, it's Kise after all. And we should go and find good seats. Come on! Follow me!" Aya ordered and pushed her way through the Seirin players. "I already know where the best seats are, and they're usually vacant."

The boys pushed their ways through the crowd. There were more people than they'd expected. It was only quarterfinals, but apparently, everyone wanted to see the first show-off between the two of the generation of miracles. Aya was leading them through the huge building with already learnt ease. She knew exactly where she wanted to go. Some of them were too excited as they were taking in the atmosphere of the competition and Hyuuga had to drag them, so they wouldn't get lost. There were vending machines almost on every hallway and signs were pointing towards all the areas visitors could enter.

"So this is the place where the nationals are always held, right?" Taiga asked curiously and glanced at Riko.

"Yeah, the Interhigh rotates around the country, the Nationals are always here and the Winter cup is always in Tokyo. I guess they wanted some fairness?" She shrugged; it wasn't her business why it was like this.

"It's huge…" He mused.

"There are two halls, each having two courts and hundreds of spectators' seats. Four matches can go on simultaneously. And it's not only basketball that's played here; it's also volleyball, handball, floorball and others." Kuroko explained. He'd been there a couple of times already, he knew his way around the building too.

"You sure know a lot." He grumbled quietly as they reached the seats Aya had in mind.

"I've been here already."

He stared at the courts, which were being swept by staff. The place was indeed huge and the seats gave them a full view on everything that was going on below them. "So? Who do you think will win today?" Taiga rather asked Kuroko than Aya, because he expected her to be biased. And he didn't want any bets.

"Honestly," the ghostly boy stopped and turned his head to stare at the court, "I don't know. It's the first time that the generation of miracles play against each other in an official match. It's just that… Kise-kun started basketball because he admired Aomine-kun. They often played against one another but… Kise-kun never won against Aomine-kun. Not once."

"?!" Taiga couldn't believe his ears. Kise wasn't weak, he'd barely managed to win against him, and be it not for the team he wouldn't have won back then. Not in one-on-one. Was Aomine really _that_ great?

Aya placed her hand on their shoulders and forced them to sit in front of her. "I've heard that much too… But I wouldn't underestimate Model-kun so much. He has a solid chance."

"Huh? You think he'll win?" Taiga snapped his head around to look at his sister in disbelief.

Kiyoshi-senpai decided to sit next to her and she wasn't sure if it was a good thing. Something about the boy made her wary, just like Tada-senpai and tiny bit Imayoshi-senpai. She needed to shake it off.

"I haven't said that, Tai."

"What did you do?" He asked suspiciously, knowing his sister all too well. Even Kuroko turned to her with a question in his eyes.

"Why do you make it sound like I'm the bad guy?!"

He shrugged. "Because you usually are?"

"I didn't do anything. I just… talked with Kise about all this… well, I listened more talked really. And I think he'll surprise everyone today. Mainly if Daiki underestimates him…"

######

Kise took a deep breath. Everyone in the changing room was tensed and nervous. Moriyama-senpai tried to lighten up the atmosphere, but it only riled up Kasamatsu a little. Kise didn't like when Kasamatsu took too much burden, even though he was the captain. The burned should've been shared. They all agreed on that behind his back, so…

"Senpai!" He called out to the captain in childish voice.

Kasamatsu turned around carefully, expecting something strange. "Huh?"

"I got some snacks from a fan girl! You think I could eat some now?! Or could they be poisoned?" He asked, showing a paper bag he'd really gotten by the entrance.

"Eat them and die!" Kasamatsu shouted and threw a ball at Kise's face (the model didn't dodge, purposefully). Now he was furious. "Every single one of you… can't you concentrate on the match?!"

"Hey, you guys ready?" Takeuchi walked into the changing room, all dressed up and clean shaven. "It's time soon. Get into the spirit."

 _Why are you trying to compete with the handsome coach of Touou, dude?!_ They all thought and had to muffle their outbursts of laughter.

Kasamatsu slumped onto a bench and observed his teammates – shaking in silent laughter like a bunch of electrified seals – in despair. _I'll kill them one day._ He thought.

The coach didn't really notice and he continued his speech. "We're going with the plan we discussed in the meeting yesterday. Stay focused. You can win." He encouraged them. "And play like a team." He added; he never should've forgotten that.

######

"He still isn't here?!" Wakamatsu yelled angrily. "I swear to god I'll kill him for this! He didn't have to play till now, and once we need him…! Bastard!" He fumed.

"Kousuke," Tada patted his shoulder in try to calm the center. "Aya-chan said he'll be here. So at least trust her."

"She is biased!"

"I can't agree more." Yamaoka muttered in agreement, which only earned him a glare from Tada. The boy wasn't liked very much, but it was his own fault, he just didn't want to admit it.

Katsunori sighed and pulled at his fringe. "It's still troubling. We can't afford to start this match without him…"

The door opened and Aomine strolled in. "Yo." He greeted them nonchalantly and all eyes turned to him. Sweat was dripping from his face and he had one of the most dangerous smirks he possibly could. This wasn't the tolerable Aomine they had gotten used to when Aya-chan was around, this was a predator. "You called?" He asked cockily and walked in to change into his jersey.

"Huh, looks like you're all warmed up already." Katsunori hummed, this could be considered a small victory already. Aomine was actually focused; it wasn't something he saw often.

The ace shrugged. "Yeah. If I missed today, it would be bad."

"Geez, making us worry every single time!" Satsuki scolded him. "If it weren't for Aya-chan I'd smack you right about now!"

Aomine rolled his eyes. "It's Kise, Satsuki. There's no way I'd be late today." Intimidation was spreading from him like a plague flooding the room. The match was the only thing on his mind right now. "I've been looking forward to this the whole time. He's one of the very few players I can go all out against."

######

After a talk with Kasamatsu, Kise stepped onto the court with an iron resolve. And even if he talked with Aominecchi in the morning, he couldn't help but approach his nemesis and friend.

"I won't lose, Aominecchi." He said again, with his decision burning in his yellow eyes.

"Huh, you sound confident." Aomine stared at him for a moment, and it wasn't just the sound of Kise's voice. It was the whole intensity of a predator; it hadn't been this strong in the past. But it only made Aomine grin wider. "Sorry to disappoint you, but you will. Besides, have you ever won against me?"

He chuckled, he was 100% sure Aominecchi would use this against him. "Today I will. Somehow, my desire to win couldn't be any stronger."

The captains of the teams shook their hands and wished the other a good game. Both teams measured their opponents. Their styles were similar: offensive, aggressive basketball focused on attacks, rather than defence. Though Imayoshi had to admit that Kaijo's defence might've been slightly better than theirs.

A referee whistled. "Let's start the game!"

Kise took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a second, when the referee threw the ball up. _Someday… I wanted to beat him. It's not someday. It's right now. It's time._

Kaijo got the ball first; Kobori-senpai was more experienced, after all. Kasamatsu caught it and despite everyone's expectations he passed it right to Kise.

"Whatever, he's our ace!"

The blonde caught it. This was like opening a demon gate right in the beginning of the game. Even Aya was surprised by this direct approach. With all the determination Kise managed to slip past Aomine. The latter hadn't expected this either. But he quickly caught up and knocked the ball away.

"Naïve as always. You really thought you could get past me with that?"

"Geh." Kise frowned. It would've been too easy if he could get past Aominecchi just like that.

Imayoshi caught it and Touou switched to offense and the first points were scored by Sakurai and accompanied by one of his apologies.

The ball immediately found its way back to Kise. He had to equal the score. And after seeing Sakurai's technique, he wanted to try it by himself. He managed, but Aomine was just as quick. Even though he jumped late, he still tipped off Kise's perfectly copied shot.

 _Fuck!_ Kise swore inwardly. When the ball bounced out of the hoop.

Kasamatsu, using the situation when Touou started to feel even more confident, stole the ball – surprising Imayoshi – and scored right away. He knew why they needed Kise to play against Aomine as much as possible, but he wouldn't let Touou to have the lead easily.

Katsunori was staring at the opposing team with curiosity. It was Genta's team; he expected something much worse, much hastier. But Kasamatsu wasn't hasty. He'd taken the risk and made the shot. _Still… as long as he doesn't stop Aomine, they won't control the game._

"Haaah," Aomine was smirking at Kise. "I see. Reliable senpais. ' _I can't do it alone, but together we can make it',_ huh? You're talking about defeat? Did losing make you have a change of heart? Or was it Aya?" He asked, provoking the blonde. He knew that he and Aya had a strange, but close friendship. This wasn't about her, and yet… She was already so involved; he couldn't erase her from his mind. "This? Really? You'll make me bored."

Kise blinked at his friend. "Huh? I've never said such things, have I?" He took a flawless defensive stance, which made even Aomine wary. "I admit… I've come to appreciate Kurokocchi's and Ayacchi's way of thinking; I want Kaijo to win, but now… I don't give a damn what's right or wrong _ **. I just want to defeat you.**_ I'm not mature enough to play logically, or by suppressing my instincts."

There was nothing more pleasing for Aomine to hear. The old spark was ignited deep inside of him. "Well, go ahead and try."

######

Taiga was watching the match with curiosity. It also offered him a better knowledge of Aomine's and Kise's plays. Those two wouldn't hold back in this match, no matter what. There was a lot he could learn.

 _Physical strength-wise, Kise isn't losing out to Aomine, but… with Aomine's speed and way of using it, can he stop him? One-on-one?_ He thought, concentrating on what was going on below him, trying to read the player's minds.

For a split second it looked like Aomine passed, but he spun on his feet, turning around, catching the ball he'd just fired away. The speed and accuracy were incredible. The battle went on for a couple more seconds and Aomine let it look that Kise stopped him. Then he jumped backwards and made a formless shot. An average player could never have made it, yet, Aomine did…

Kise saw it coming, however. In the last millisecond he jumped up, using his entire strength. He fully blocked the shot.

"Holy shit!" Taiga muttered.

Aya was smirking. "I told you. They have a real chance."

"Whose side are you on?" He glared at her momentarily.

"I'm 99% positive that Aomine won't lose…" She said seriously. "But this… Watch closely, dear brother."

######

Touou was shocked accordingly. It was the first time they'd seen someone stop Aomine in one-on-one.

"Heh, not bad." He nodded to Kise, wiping off his sweat. "Never thought you could pull it off."

The blonde pointed a finger at him instead. "Who do you think played one-on-one with you every day, and lost every day, huh? I know you the best."

"…I see." He chuckled. This game was indeed a thrilling one.

Satsuki watched the exchanged, remembering the past days, when Aomine had told her he couldn't have gone easy on Kise. The memory overwhelmed her. It was a day when Dai-chan acknowledged Kise's talents. She couldn't forget that.

"Momoi-san." The coach called out to her for the third time.

"Eh? Uhm… Sorry… What is it?" She blinked at the man apologetically.

"Did you give Aomine the data about Kise?" He asked seriously.

She bit her lip guiltily. "I'm sorry… He refused. He wouldn't accept it."

Katsunori frowned in displease, though he hadn't expect anything else from the ace. "I guess our normal defence is useless as well…"

"No." She retorted immediately. "That'll be fine. I gave the data to the other four. Both… Past and future." Satsuki was certain about her data. Even Aya-chan was highly appreciating Satsuki's work with that.

She watched Imayoshi vs. Kasamatsu show-off, sure that Imayoshi would win. But… Imayoshi could read it, true, but Kasamatsu was just too fast for the sly captain. He made the shot anyways. Maybe Imayoshi had tipped it, but Kaijo got the rebound. And managed a shot afterwards.

The first quarter ended.

Kaijo was in the lead. 18 to 13 points.

Everyone was praising Kise for stopping the opposing ace.

"You beat Aomine. With this we can…" Moriyama senpai was praising the blonde.

But Kise didn't let him get too far. "Mhm… But I wonder about that…" He glanced at the smirking Aominecchi on the other bench. "If it were that easy, I would play a lottery."

######

"Kaijo's leading… To be honest, I'm surprised." Hyuuga commented on the state of the game.

"Yeah." Izuki nodded in agreement.

 _Kise definitely got stronger…_ Taiga thought.

"I have one question…" Kiyoshi spoke up, for the first time since his introductions with Aya. "How in the world did you beat that?!"

Everyone in Seirin went suspiciously quiet and dumbfounded. "Uhm… Errr…" They stammered. "Fighting spirit… Perhaps?" They answered, almost ashamed. They had no clue either.

"You know…" Kuroko spoke up quietly, but seriously. "Although Aomine-kun is serious, he's the type who has to run warm. And looking at him, I would say it's about time."

"Agreed." Aya chuckled. "It's about time…"

Imayoshi was determined to make the first shot of the second quarter. But he knew he'd be blocked, so instead of the shot, he passed to Wakamatsu, who was right under the net. That way, Touou took the first points of the second quarter, making quite an impact too.

"Don't worry!" Kasamatsu encouraged his team. "We'll return one shot for sure!" He glared at Imayoshi. _This guy…_

Imayoshi chuckled. "I already know you're fast, that's why I won't let you go." He was grinning widely. "A little warning, captain. No matter who's the opponent, Aomine won't lose. He's the strongest."

The ball found its way to Kise again. The pressure and focus of the two aces was flooding the entire stadium. Even Aya and Taiga could feel the overwhelming pressure all the way up to the spectators' area.

"I don't know what you're plotting, but our Kise too –" Kasamatsu started, just to be interrupted by Imayoshi.

"Hahah, plotting? He does no such thing. Plotting is something small fries like us do. When it comes to them… It's difference in skill. Quite simple." He glanced at the two aces.

The moment Kise tried to raise the ball, Aomine knocked it away. He could read Kise just as much as Kise could read him.

"You might know me the best, Kise, but… Have you ever thought it works the other way too?" Aomine snorted.

He knew how to confuse the blonde and even if the latter could read his crossovers, he could always force another change. Making decision instinctively, based on Kise's changes of his centre of gravity. For a split second it made him wonder if Aya could see movements and balance of the other people as well as him.

He got past Kise, and a senpai came to block him… He made the shot despite being fouled earning a free throw for the team. Not that he cared about that. It just showed how desperate Kaijo was to stop him. Of course, he made a free throw, equalling the score in only half a minute.

But Kaijo knew what they were doing. The ball got to Kise again.

Imayoshi glanced at Kasamatsu in surprise. "Your Kise might be good at mimicking… but that's all. The biggest reason why he can't win is… He doesn't have his own weapon." He snorted. "It's impossible to beat Aomine with plain old basketball."

Kasamatsu sighed and shook his head. "Hey, aren't you often told you have a bad personality?"

"Ouch, so harsh all of a sudden!"

"You're the one who's ignorant, Imayoshi. Acquiring techniques by mimicking means he's learning. In other words, he's growing. And just so you know… He has his weapon." He said observing the two aces, all the while maintaining his position. This time, Kise copied him, and his famous turnover, but Kasamatsu didn't care. Truthfully, he was surprised that Kise learned it that quickly.

"A-ah…" Aomine hummed and jumped to stop Kise's shot. "Don't forget that I'm the one marking you. Don't lump me together with that twisted four-eyes over there." He smirked at Kise blocking the shot again.

Kaijo took a time-out.

Kise was sweating like crazing. The game was way too taxing. Despite Aominecchi's practise and game avoidance, the bluenette was way too strong. Not that Kise hoped for the opposite. His team was watching him, but… He wanted to do this… He knew he could.

"Coach…" He said after drinking half of his sports drink. "The thing we talked about… I wanna do it. I need to do it."

"All right." The coach nodded. It'd been agreed on after all.

The score was tied so far. No one was capable of making a shot. The teams were too similar and the game would be decided by the difference between the aces. Everyone could feel that.

The first ball… Kise passed; avoiding a direct fight against Aominecchi. The ball was passed to Aomine next.

Aomine observed his friend. _He seemed like he didn't have any will to fight me… And now look here, he doesn't have any will to lose either. Whatever, it doesn't matter._ "Whichever you decide, it won't change anything!" Aomine uttered and dashed past Kise, catching the blonde off guard.

However… Kasamatsu jumped right into his path, colliding with Aomine, making him miss all the while forcing a charging foul on him. Despite all, Aomine smirked at the shorter guy, offering him a helping hand. "Way to go, senpai." He smirked, not fazed by the falter.

Afterwards, he didn't let Kise get the ball.

 _Huh…_ Kise stared at his friend. _He's friggin' cool… the absolute unique style no one could copy… I started basketball because I admired him. Although I can do others' plays as soon as I see them, I could never do his, no matter how much I tried. But I knew why I couldn't…_ He thought, feeling a void opening. _If I'm admiring, I can't surpass._ "I'll quit admiring you, Aominecchi." He said out loud with a rather strained and sad expression. He needed to do this to free himself.

######

"I think Kise-kun is trying to copy Aomine-kun's style." Kuroko said gravely, after observing the two for a while.

"Copy Aomine?!" Taiga glanced at his shadow. "Can he do that?"

"Well… Kise-kun can only copy what he's capable of. He can't do the impossible."

"Huh?!" Koganei shook his head, not understanding Kuroko's explanation in the slightest.

Riko rolled her eyes. "Basically, Kise has an extraordinary understanding of things. He's a quick learner. But he can't do the impossible or anything that surpasses his physical ability."

"However…" Kiyoshi joined in. "If he's still trying to pull it off, it means he believes he can do it."

"And I would gladly bet he will~" Aya hummed with a childish glee.

"You got involved…" Taiga shook his head. "Have you helped Kaijo with the strategy too?"

"Of course not. I just nudged Kise a bit… Showing a door to him, perhaps, but it's up to him to open it… He might not win this game, but if he succeeds in copying Aomine, don't you think the Winter cup will be more funny? Do you realise what that would mean?"

Kuroko gulped. "He'd be able to copy all of them…"

Aya just smirked. "Exactly." Then she shrugged. "But he'll need more time. Maybe the whole third quarter of close observation…"

The second quarter ended with Imayoshi scoring a buzzer beater. The score was 34 to 43 with Touou in lead.

"I'm going to Touou's changing room, 'kay?" Aya asked already forcing her way towards the exit.

"Sure." Riko nodded. "Someone go get us drinks! First years!"

######

"What?!" Wakamatsu asked loudly. "He's trying what?!"

"Copy Aomine?" Tada filled in.

"Yes." Satsuki nodded. "It's not just copying one technique but the entire style. He's updating the past image with the current one." She said seriously. She didn't want to believe that Ki-chan could actually do it. "Even if he can manage, it should still take him a bit more time."

Katsunori frowned and glanced at Aya. But the redhead shrugged, obviously content with the situation.

"Coach!" Wakamatsu protested. "If we know that, then there's no reason to put him out! Let's withdraw him–"

"Hey, hey!" Aomine interrupted the loudmouth. "Don't be stupid, Bakamatsu. What do you want to achieve by intentionally lowering your strength? Of course we're gonna continue like this."

A vein popped on Wakamatsu's forehead. _Tolerable my ass, Shun!_ "What the hell, bastard?! Ahomine?!"

Aomine rolled his eyes. "Copying me? As if that's possible." He snorted. "Even if take a million steps back and say it's possible, it wouldn't change anything. The only one, who can beat me, is me alone."

Satsuki's face twisted in to a disappointed grimace.

"We'll see about that, Honey-bun." Aya smirked at the bluenette. "But I hope you won't lose your nerve."

He raised an eyebrow at the redhead. "Really?" _Whose side are you on?_

She shrugged again and decided to leave the changing room. "I'll go. Good luck guys." She wanted to talk with Taiga. Alone.

It didn't take her long to find him at one of the numerous vending machines. "Taiga!" She called out to him before he could join his teammates and go back to his seat. "A minute, please."

He had an idea it would come to this. He waved the others to leave and turned to his sister. "I'm all ears. What happened?"

She sighed and led him outside, where they leaned against a wall, enjoying the summer's breeze and Taiga's drink - he was forced to share. "It's about Akashi Seijuurou, the captain of Rakuzan. I mentioned we are in the same hotel, right?"

He nodded and then his eyes widened as he stared at her. "Wait… Akashi Seijuurou…? You don't actually mean that…" He stammered in confusion. "No way…"

Aya nodded. "Mhm. _That_ Seijuurou is the former captain of Teiko. I kinda hoped Kuroko-kun enlightened you about them all." By Taiga's clueless expression she knew it wasn't the case. At least she had Satsuki, who talked. "But whatever. Seijuurou is here. And no, you don't want to have a reunion with him."

He stared at his sister, understanding that something unpleasant had happened. "Tell me." There was no need for questions.

"I don't really know. Something's wrong with him, Taiga. Very wrong. He was like a different person." She sighed heavily. "Apparently I'm _nothing_. Not _nobody_ or _no one,_ but _no_ _ **thing**_. And honestly, he intimidated Tatsuya, which is not that weird, but he managed to put Daiki, Atsushi _and_ Kise on alert. The way he was... Honestly, _**I**_ had a lot to do to keep my calm. And he called me by my name… That was the first time I heard him use the name instead of the nickname. Ever."

Taiga was frowning deeply, chewing on his lip. "That's a problem…" He muttered. It worried him. Seijuurou was their childhood friend after all. Well… A friend because of their father's business, but a friend nonetheless. And they had been to Akashi's mother's funeral; their backgrounds were not that different. So if Akashi had turned into…

"Taiga." She broke his train of thoughts with a sharp tone. "I get what you're thinking, I'm on the same page, but there isn't much we can do. We haven't seen him in what… three years. He lives in Kyoto. And we have no idea what's going on. Only our assumptions."

"So we don't get involved?" He asked.

"Until you get a chance to beat him, _you_ don't get involved." She said seriously. "I don't think he trust anyone right now."

"That's not fair! Why me only?" He protested.

"Have you talked with Tatsuya yet?"

He looked away, his face twisting into a grimace of displease. "There's nothing to talk about."

"Taiga?" She raised an eyebrow at him.

He sighed and gave up. "Fine. I'll listen, for now. But we won't be able to avoid Sei and his father this summer. And you know that."

 _Don't remind me…_ "We'll figure something out. I'm good at being a ghost myself." Then she looked Taiga straight in the eyes. "Try asking Kuroko-kun what he knows. Maybe it could help."

Taiga nodded. He wasn't the one willing to give up on his friends. "And Tatsuya?"

"Except my suspicion his shoulder hurts again… It's quite fine. He has a girl or two… I saw the hickies…"

"What?!"

She just laughed. "It's fine, really. I wish him well. Oh… I want to stop by Suzume's on Sunday, think you can make a detour too? To hand her Dorian personally?"

"That means detouring the entire road we have planned…"

"What do I say… What wouldn't we do to meet a friend?"

"Fine. I'll call you in the evening… past 11 PM rather… and we'll deal with it."

"Yes!" She hugged him again and pulled him down to kiss his cheek. "Love you Taiga!"

"I know." He rolled his eyes. "Let's get back."

######

At the very beginning of the third quarter the ball was stolen from Sakurai almost immediately. Kise ran away from Aomine and chose his opponent to be Imayoshi, the sly captain; he needed to try this out.

The blonde made it look as if he abandoned the ball, looking in the other direction with an empty expression. But his arm suddenly shot back to catch it, just as Imayoshi tried to catch the seemingly free ball. It was Aomine's move, a move taken out from Aomine's tricky streetball style. And it worked, confusing the hell out of Imayoshi.

"What?!" Imayoshi shouted in need to let out his frustration. In the sudden surprise he tried to hold back the blonde.

The referee's whistle announced a foul. "Foul: Holding! Black 4!"

Imayoshi glared at the model. _I couldn't stop him without a foul… what's more it's still incomplete and quite behind the real thing, but…._

"Nice foul, captain…" Wakamatsu praised him.

"Wakamatsu," his voice sounded gravely, "do you remember the day Aomine came in? I thought him to be reliable, but at the same time I got chills imagining him as an opponent." He frowned. "Just now, I got the chills…"

"Huh?!" Wakamatsu blinked at the captain in disbelief. This was trouble.

Aomine stared at his friend in shock, which turned into a frown, which turned into a challenging smirk. _Kise, you bastard!_

But the blonde was ignoring the surprise surrounding him. "It's still off from the image… faster… much, much faster…" He kept muttering under his breath.

######

"Sister… I'm officially scared of you." Taiga muttered as he observed Kise copying Aomine's techniques again and again. "You knew he'd manage…"

The blonde still didn't face the real monster, only the other Touou players and he got fouled several times. Touou seemed to lose their nerve. They were in lead, but desperate, cornered, by Kise's skills.

Aya chuckled at that. "Just like I know you'll manage to beat Aomine eventually. No reason to be scared, Tai. Besides… It's not perfect yet."

"Huh? What do you mean?" He asked.

Riko glanced at Aya with a smile and decided to explain it. She was the coach after all. "He is only doing it during fast breaks when he is marked by someone other than Aomine-kun. I'm sure he feels that something is still missing."

"So you mean…" Kiyoshi joined the conversation, "the moment he challenges Aomine in 1-on-1 is when the copying is complete?"

"Hahah… Don't think for a second that Daiki will give him enough time." Aya observed Kise scoring, and she could see Aomine's posture – hands on hips, impatient shaking of his head. All he was waiting for was the ball to pass through the net so he could get to it.

Before anyone could get ready for Touou's counterattack Aomine threw the ball in the Kaijo's hoop. It was a sloppy shot, not even a shot. Aomine decided to throw it in, without jumping and with his hand still on his hip. And he did it. With one fast and arrogant motion of his arm.

The whole stadium went quiet. No one really knew what exactly had happened in those few seconds. Three points were added to Touou's score. Then the crowd cheered.

"That was a shot?!" Taiga shouted in disbelief.

Aya shrugged. "He does that when he's had enough. Kano could tell you."

"The 14 point difference in Touou's favour." Hyuuga muttered. There was a limit to how big the gap could get for Kaijo to be still able to catch up in those 15 remaining minutes of the match they had.

"15 points is their limit…" Kiyoshi nodded in thought.

######

The match was getting too heated. One of the quickest matches they'd played. Kaijo shrunk the gap to 12, and managed to keep it at that despite a ferocious attack.

Kise glanced at Seirin's team and smiled. His teammates were saving his ass again. _I feel like I understand what Kurokocchi told me a bit. The 'team' he spoke off. And what I should do for that… and what should I do right now._ He took a deep breath.

The ball found its way to him. His mark now was Aominecchi. With an exhale, he lowered his center of gravity. "Then… If that you is your opponent, what's gonna happen?"

Aomine's eyes widened. He couldn't believe it. But that posture… That was like his reflection in a mirror. He cackled shortly, remembering a conversation he'd had with Aya weeks ago. ' _He can't copy neither of us.' 'You sure 'bout that? It would be funny if Kise pulled it off.' Well… I underestimated him._

He needed to focus. The perfect copy of his style was going offensive.

Satsuki stared at Ki-chan in disbelief. According to her data he was capable of this, Aya-chan had pointed it out too and not once during their research. The redhead had warned Dai-chan too, but… but Ki-chan's during the game improvement exceeded Satuski's expectations. As a manager she underestimated the blonde, because she didn't want to believe it was possible. She was staring at fouls... and Dai-chan already had three. Two more and they'll force him off the court.

Kise got through Aomine for the first time ever.

Aomine was shocked. No one was better than him. He sprinted after the blonde immediately, using his full force to jump and stop the shot. He vaguely heard Satsuki screaming 'No!' and then he rammed into Kise's side mid-air.

The referee announced his fourth foul.

Kise's arm went behind his back and he made the shot anyways. And he earned a free throw too.

 _Shoot… they got us. He can't play freely now. This was their plan all along._ Imayoshi stared at Kasamatsu and then he smirked. "And you said I was wicked? You guys are pulling off much more dirty stuff."

Kasamatsu smirked back at him. "And who said we are nice?"

 _Heh…_ Imayoshi wasn't happy about this at all. _Basically… We've not only been copied, our ace will suffer a drastic decline in his fire power._

Kise went to make that free throw. He glanced at Aomine with a mixture of disappointment and pity. This was not what he wanted. It was the plan to win, he agreed with the team's strategy, but this wasn't what he wanted. But Aominecchi got into the foul trouble himself… mostly… with a little help of Kise's teammates…

The score was only 8 points apart and there was more than entire quarter left.

Aomine was staring at the blonde with a blank expression.

"Aomine!" Someone yelled at him.

"Huh?" He turned his head in the direction. Too late. The ball bounced off of his forearm. He hadn't seen it coming.

Kise stole it. He got past Sakurai and went for a shot.

"Damn." Aomine cursed, annoyed by his fumble. Then he took a deep breath to calm down and focus. _Honestly… four fouls were my own stupidity. But is this what he wanted? I doubt it. Even if he accepted this strategy for the sake of the team, deep within his heart, he didn't want this to happen._ He knew he'd catch up. _Still, to receive such a face. And what's with that concerned face, Satsuki? What's with those panicking faces? Every single one of them… don't misjudge me!_

He leaped up, knocking the ball somewhere into the spectators' area. He didn't care the canon ball could injure someone.

"You thought I'd chicken out because of 4 lousy fouls? Don't make me laugh. I can't stand that face." He frowned and glared at his friend furiously. "How dare you worry about me?! If you've got that much time, come at me as if you wanna kill me!"

"What a speech." Kise chuckled; all the goofiness he liked to pretend was gone. "I'd be disappointed if it ended like this."

The third quarter ended… Only 8 point difference.

Imayoshi whistled quietly, when Kasamatsu passed by him. "Well, captain, looks like we both underestimated Aomine. (I hafta apologise later~) With this, any strategy goes down the drain." _You'll see the monster in true colours…_

During the last break, both teams were discussing their next steps. Katsunori was talking to his squad, but Aomine was barely listening to that gibberish.

"Drop the details, coach." He grumbled. "This last quarter, just pass me the ball! I'll make him pay."

"You and your inflated ego!" Wakamatsu almost jumped at the ace, be it not for Tada and Imayoshi stopping him.

"Do as he says." Imayoshi said levelly.

"What?!"

The captain shrugged. "We can get by without him elsewhere, but no one can match this Kise-kun except Aomine. Whether he gets the fifth foul or we make him sit out doesn't matter. It's a game over if he doesn't stay on the court!" It was a long time since Imayoshi felt this kind of helplessness and the need to rely on someone. "We can't bow to pressure. The only way to go is confronting them. And winning. Success justifies all, and the winner calls the truth." He sounded almost like that red haired demon of Rakuzan. But it was essentially right.

######

"No member change from Touou?" Hyuuga was honestly surprised when both teams returned to the court.

"No matter how resilient a player is, he'll get distracted by 4 fouls. Is he okay?" Izuki wondered too.

Aya laughed at their consideration. "Just watch. I think he'll show you something amazing. And he definitely wouldn't get thrown off court for something as stupid as 5 fouls."

She could feel the demon gate opening again. It probably wouldn't be the zone, but she could feel Aomine's focus all the way up there. It excited her, filled her veins with pleasant electricity. The last quarter would be the most interesting part of the entire game. _Finally someone who managed to pull that out, wouldn't you agree, Honey-bun?_ She thought with a content smile as Aomine scored the first points of the quarter.

"What?!" Several Seirin members stared at the ace of the generation of miracles in awe and fear. He was a monster indeed.

Taiga in front of her shuddered but he didn't turn around to look at her. "Stop it, Aya. I can feel their murderous focus and thrill; I don't need to feel your exhilaration too."

She blinked at him in surprise. "What?" _Exhilaration, huh…_ "Learnt a new word?" She teased.

He chuckled almost madly. "Go to hell... But… you're the same as them. You still believe you won't destroy Kouta?"

A frown settled on her face. _Damn you, Taiga…_ His team was listening, Kiyoshi-senpai the most. But there was nothing significant said. She snorted. "So can be you. Kouta will survive, because I haven't destroyed _you_ , so don't worry, dear brother. Besides, it's not the same."

He wanted to retort, but the game bellow was way too interesting. A see-saw battle started. Aomine vs. his perfect copy. Everything Aomine did was copied and used against him right away. The aces were sprinting back and forth, followed by the others, but never giving up the ball.

The score was steadily rising on both sides. The gap remained steady too: 8 points. It was keeping everyone on the edge of their seats.

"They are insane…" Riko muttered in disbelief, as if the previous game wasn't thrilling enough. "…they shouldn't be able to keep that up for this long." As a daughter of a sports trainer and physiotherapist she was worried as much as she was amazed.

Aya frowned at that. It was almost 9 minutes of insane back and forth game, taxing moves and enormous mental and physical pressure. She knew that. Sooner or later one of them would inevitably falter.

Another shot Kise made was strained, forced. He stepped wrongly on his foot and almost lost balance. The ball circled the rim and with all the help from gods above it fell in.

"Phew!" Koganei let out a strangled breath. "I'm getting tired!"

Hyuuga glanced at the boy with a frown. "You're getting tired from watching?!"

"It must be mentally taxing." Kiyoshi pointed out. "It's the first time I've seen such an unchanging flow for such a long time."

"Mhm… Especially for Kaijo. They've been chasing after the 8 point difference the whole quarter. Unsuccessfully, while the time is running out."

"Aomine isn't giving them any slack." Taiga hummed too.

"They're not giving up." Aya shrugged. "He can't afford to give them a slack. The chance of Kaijo winning is still there. And sooner or later, someone will make a mistake." _And I fear it will be Sakurai-kun. The first year, with less experience than the other players._

The moment the thought crossed her mind Sakurai didn't notice a pass from Susa-senpai and it bounced off, right to Kise, who grabbed it.

"Stop him!" Katsunori yelled the order. "You can't let him score!" His voice boomed all the way to the spectators.

"This will decide the game." Kiyoshi's voice was tight as he leaned forward on his seat. "One minute left. If Kise makes it, they can still win. If not the time limit will get them…"

"It's the last chance…"

The aces' foci only strengthened. The weight of the last chance was obviously burdening them both. Aomine had to stop it and Kise had to make it. They knew each other way too much, and they were inevitably overthinking.

Aya groaned and got up to her feet. "Come on! GO FOR IT!" She cheered, not quite sure which one she wanted to encourage. Both, perhaps.

Kise jumped upwards, going straight for the shot. But then he changed it to a pass.

It was the only thing Aomine would never do; hence it should've been the most unpredictable thing Kise could do. At the same time it was also something Aomine foresaw.

The pass was the thing that made Kaijo lose.

"That was not a human move…" Taiga muttered. "No one should be able to stop that."

"Oh, please. Physically-wise I could probably pull off a move like that, though stopping a guy of Kise's size is another matter; but you should be able to do that too. Your problem, Tai, however is that you compartmentalise things you shouldn't."

######

 _Why?!_ Kise thought overwhelmed, by his mistake. The question was probably displayed on his face written with huge red letters.

"You did go all the way… until your last pass." Aomine decided to answer. The ball was out, he had the little time he needed. "You know, you had the chance of winning against me 1-on-1 there. You faked with your eyes, while checking the #4 at the right inside area. Perfect. But, if I were you, I wouldn't have feinted there." Kise blinked at him, and he continued. "In other words, you seemed to have exposed the intention to pass, but that was s'posed to be the least likely thing to do… The way I play, I never have to rely on anything but myself!" He turned his back to Kise. He didn't want to see the devastated expression on the blonde's face.

 _I missed my last chance… Oh no, at this rate… we're going to lose…_ Kise felt close to tears. His mistake…

"Snap out of it!" Kasamatsu smacked the back of his head, forcing him to bow and turned his head towards the score board. "Look. The match isn't over yet!"

He took a deep breath. Kasamacchi was right. He had no right to give up after all his team had done for him.

The last ten seconds.

"I win." Aomine looked down on him. "You did something out of character and the reason you lost is because you relied on your team." He ran off to make the last shot – to prove his point.

"Really, perhaps so…" Kise muttered, chasing after Aominecchi. _If I hadn't passed we may have had a chance, but I alone would've never made it this far. I would've given up long ago…_ He wouldn't give him this satisfaction. He needed to stop Aomine from scoring. "Don't impose your values on me, just because I happen to lose this match." He jumped to block the shot. "If a reason for losing exists, that's because I'm not strong enough!"

"Don't talk like you can win!" Aomine grumbled and with the last spurt of energy he forced the shot. A final buzzer beater.

Kise fell on his butt at the force of the last shot he'd tried to block.

Touou won by 12 points: 110 to 98.

The crowd cheered.

Touou's team sighed in relief, while Kaijo's team gritted their teeth at the bitter loss.

The referee whistled. "Players of both team, please gather!"

Kise tried to get up from the ground. But his legs give way. "Eh?!" He fell back on his butt again. _What the…?_ His legs were shaking uncontrollably, he'd never felt such a fatigue in his life. He was like a little newborn fawn trying to stand for the first time…

"Kise!" His teammates turned to him with worry. _He clearly overexerted himself… just as we worried._

 _Well, shit! What a disgrace!_ He thought with a wicked smile spreading on his face. Then he clenched his fist and punched the floor. _Dammit!_ He could feel the skin on his knuckles breaking and warm blood seeping out; it didn't hurt.

Aomine observed his friend almost feeling the bitterness himself. But he didn't help him. There was nothing he could say, nothing he could do. He was the enemy who won. He turned around and walked away, leaving Kasamatsu to help Kise. Usually, he felt nothing after a victory. With Kirisaki Daichi it had been a worry he might've hurt someone… This… This victory was far from enjoyable. This was a pure bitterness tasting like bile which rose to his throat. He couldn't have gone easy on Kise, yet seeing the blonde so lost, so broken… He felt like punching himself – mainly for the words he had told him. As much as he believed those words, there'd been a worm of doubt in his mind ever since fighting against Tetsu and Kagami.

"You sure it's okay to go away like this? He's your friend after all~" Imayoshi hummed as Aomine joined them at the line up.

"Huh?" Aomine blinked at him and shook his head. "Even you'd fly into rage if I tried to console you after I win against you, right? To someone who has lost after trying his best, no words from the winner can console him."

######

"What are you all doing?! Sitting and brooding like idiots! If you want to improve, go back and practise!" Riko yelled at her team after assessing their collective gloominess they felt after the match.

"Huh?" Taiga blinked. "We're going back just like this? Why don't we stay and watch the others from the generation of miracles until the end of the Interhigh? It's only two more days…"

"Yeah, if we could, we would've stayed." Hyuuga muttered.

"Well then, let's look for a hotel!" He exclaimed, happy about the agreement, but there was something chilly about it… And when the captain laughed, he rather took a step back.

"Hotel?! Listen, Kagami…" He started in low voice and then he boomed right into Taiga's ear. "WE DON'T HAVE MONEY IN OUR CLUB! We used it all in the camp. You rich brat back from America – I know you two live alone!" He pulled at Taiga's cheeks, which made the redhead cry in pain. "Besides, coach's dad will kill us if his daughter doesn't return!"

"Hyuuga-senpai," Aya put her hand on his forearm with a chilly smile and a hidden threat.

He released Taiga immediately. Dealing with the boy was one thing, but the girl was legibly scary. "Uhm… Ahaha… I didn't mean to… offend…" His voice trailed off as he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Honestly, I wouldn't mind Taiga staying. I bet I could arrange some exception in our full hotel, but… I don't want to tear your team here."

"What?! Aya please!" Taiga looked at her, searching for support. "I wanna stay!"

"Look… Seijuurou said he doesn't need to play to be the winner. He asked the others not to play." She sighed, not getting Seijuurou's thinking. "I believe that Atsushi won't play against him. Maybe today, but you won't quite enjoy Yosen's match unless Tatsuya plays and he won't. And besides… Do you wanna be in one place with Kise, Daiki, Seijuurou _and_ Tatsuya?"

"Urgh… not really." He admitted. "But wait… He asked them not to play? Why?"

She made an _I-don't-know_ face. "Because it ' _wouldn't be fun'_ , he said."

"Nonsense…" He grumbled.

"I agree." She glanced at the players leaving the court and her brows furrowed. Kise was dragged and supported by two of his teammates, barely lifting his feet, but even Aomine's gait was slightly off. _Maybe I'm just imagining it…_ She thought, but deep down she knew she was extra sensitive to ways people moved, she could always remember it and recognise people according to it.

"Will Kise get over it?" He asked a bit worriedly, following her line of sight.

"Are you worried?!"

"No!" He denied abruptly.

Aya chuckled. "They're friends after all. I don't know what Daiki said to him, but Kise isn't someone to keep grudges for too long. They're quite similar to the two of you, actually…" she meant Taiga and Tatsuya, and she knew Taiga understood. "I'll let you know how the things are going if you want."

Taiga nodded and followed after his team. He could see Aya was itchy to go to hers too. "So see you on Sunday then?"

"See you on Sunday in Akita." She confirmed with a smile.

"Huh?" Riko glanced at the twins. "You won't be here in the summer?"

"Taiga?" Aya raised an eyebrow at her brother.

"Uuuuhm…"

She sighed. "No, Riko. We're leaving Japan on Sunday night, preferably. The travelling will steal couple of days too… I need to stop by France, UK and then we're going home for a week or less and then we're going back to UK because of a dancing camp I organise yearly. Taiga helps out. But he'll be back in time for your second training camp."

"WHAT?!" The girl snapped at Taiga. "WHEN THE HELL WERE YOU GOING TO ANNOUNCE THAT, BAKAGAMI?!"

He shrunk back guiltily; there simply hadn't been the right moment…

Aya ruffled his hair good-heartily. "You should talk with your team a bit more… I guess."

 _I'm not good with half truths…_ "I'm not you…"

She understood what he truly meant. And she capitulated. "I leave that up to you, Taiga. I don't want to be the one standing in between you and your friends. You shield me enough as it is, lil' brother." _I'd never ask you to lie to your friends…_

He nodded and smiled at her. "Go." He motioned towards the direction of changing rooms.

"Yeah." She nodded and quickly kissed him on a cheek. "Love ya!"

"Same here!" He waved her goodbye and chuckled. Then he noticed all the stares on him. Suddenly he felt embarrassed. "What?! Let's go."

######

Daiki wanted to leave as soon as possible. His long legs left his team behind. He grabbed his stuff from the changing room ignoring all the pain in his body and walked away. Cheers and congratulations weren't something he enjoyed after matches and after this particular match he wanted to be alone.

He was about to turn right when he crossed someone's path and they rammed into him. The scent of apricots gave the person away before he even looked down at her. He blinked at Aya in surprise. _Why is she here so soon?_

"Woah." She instinctively grabbed onto his arms to stabilise herself. "Leaving already?" She blurted out.

Instead of answering, he grabbed her elbow and pulled her into a narrow dark corridor to their left where a storage room was hidden.

"What are you doing?" She asked with wide eyes, utterly confused by his behaviour…

So was he.

"Shut up." He muttered as he leaned against the wall, pulling her into a strong embrace in a smooth motion.

He could hear her short hushed squeak of surprise but then she relaxed against him and remained quiet. So hugs were completely okay… He rested his head against the wall and sighed staring at the ceiling. This was what he needed, though he didn't understand it himself. He'd never felt so bitter after a victory. It was a new sensation, difficult to process. Seeing his best friend trying that hard and still losing at the end… Yes, he'd been looking forward to the match; it had excited him, but… _Dammit! What the hell is wrong with me?_

She rested her arm against his chest as she couldn't really reciprocate the hug because of the wall behind his back. His heartbeat was steady, he smelled like sweat and him; it wasn't all that bad. And she had no idea what was going on inside his head, but it worried her.

"Ne?" She peeped carefully, but she wasn't trying to push away from him.

"I told you I'd win…" His voice rumbled in his chest quietly. "There goes the challenge…" He tightened the hug.

"…he'll come back stronger than that."

"Tch. You're stubbornly optimistic." He chuckled weakly. At least she wasn't trying to congratulate him or anything.

She shrugged. "I don't like giving up."

"You knew… eh?" He sighed. "Right from the start, you understood…"

"Wha –? Oh…" She played with the fabric of his jersey. "I guess… I've been there too, Daiki. I had my share of losses, but… I also know what it means to be the ' _never losing'_ monster…"

His name sounded so good when she said it. _Huh? When did that start?_ He wondered.

She smiled against his chest. "Too bad I can't equal you in strength and height."

"Oh, you would never win, Sweetheart." He could feel that smile.

"Oh, trust me I would've found a way."

It lured a chuckle. She definitely would. He believed that in the back of her mind she actually wanted to equal him in basketball, but it was impossible. Simply because he'd fear hurting her if he didn't pay enough attention and went all out. It was always somewhere in the back of his mind, preventing him from pushing her too much.

"…and you could really use a shower." She grimaced.

"That bad?" He finally looked at her a smirk forming on his face. Then he caught the top of her head and rubbed her nose against his sweat drenched jersey.

"Oi!" She protested, pushing herself away from him, but she was laughing. "Stop it! You're mean!"

He laughed too. "Oh, really?!" She could always brighten his foul mood.

"Damn you, Ahomine Daiki!"

* * *

 **A/N:** I admit that everyone knows this match, but I wanted to write it anyways. I hope it was enjoyable and I kept Aomine IC.

Let me know what you think and remember, reviews are appreciated but never necessary. :)

S.


	38. Chapter 38: Quarterfinals part II

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone who followed, favourited and reviewed! It makes me really happy.

Here's the next chapter. Enjoy!

* * *

Quarterfinals part II. - Hotel room meetings

* * *

 _Playing with fire doesn't necessarily get you burned._ ― _**Simone Elkeles, Perfect Chemistry**_

 _I realise it's going to happen. This girl of my dreams, this girl who is more like me than anyone I've ever met, wants to kiss me._ ― _**Simone Elkeles, Perfect Chemistry**_

 _Life would be tragic if it weren't funny._ – _**Stephen Hawking**_

 _We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the game._ – _**Randy Pausch**_

 _Two things you will never have to chase: True friends & true love. _― _**Mandy Hale**_

* * *

"And where have you been kidnapped to for this long?" Katsunori asked his god daughter when she finally graced them with her presence; with a slight blush on her cheeks, sparkling eyes and dishevelled hair but no swollen lips – that was a good thing, right? "You know what… I don't want to know."

"Hey!" She defended herself immediately. "Taiga held me up! Am I not allowed to have a good fight with my brother once in a while?!"

"And what was the hot topic this time?" He raised an eyebrow, not really believing this excuse, though it was highly possible too.

"Kouta, what else?" She shrugged. "We'll live with him for three weeks you know."

He turned his eyes towards the heavens. "I'll pray for you."

Aya laughed at that. "Well anyways! Congratulations to you all! It was an unbelievable match!"

"Yeah!" Kano joined her immediately. "I was on the edge of my seat the entire time! You were awesome!"

"Urgh, not you too…" Imayoshi grunted, glancing at the huge loud vice-captain. The exasperation on Imayoshi's face was priceless.

"I bet you panicked there, eh?" She teased him.

"I'd like to apologise to Aomine for that, but… He vanished. Haven't you seen him?~" He asked slyly, not believing her excuse either.

"Might have." She shrugged. "Somewhere in the leaving mass… too many people to chase after him."

Tada chuckled quietly. "She's good at this, captain." He whispered to Imayoshi.

"I hope he won't be scarce till tomorrow… We should discuss the semi final strategy in the evening." The captain frowned.

Her eyebrow shot up. "Discussing a strategy with him? Does he ever listen?"

Tada coughed and laughed at her comment. "Good point."

"Well, we already know that our opponent will be Onita high. I suggest we have a lunch, rest and we can discuss it before dinner. Or, you rest… Satsuki and I will go and watch Yosen's and Rakuzan's quarterfinals."

"Honestly," Satsuki patted her pen against her clipboard, "I don't think we have to… We've seen all the matches till now. We know that Rakuzan and Yosen will win and proceed into semi-finals. The match we need to see will be the semi-final one… Didn't you want to finish the book anyways?" She glanced at Aya with a smile.

"Are you tempting me to ditch my responsibilities?"

"No, but you could rest one afternoon too. And I'll go find Aomine-kun." She'd been postponing this talk long enough.

"All right." She nodded in agreement.

The lunch was very tense. Kise and Aomine skipped it and the room was filled with heavy silence. Kaijo was gloomy, processing their loss, all the while knowing they had to play another two matches to determine their actual rank among the other schools participating in the quarterfinals. Kise was probably not going to play in any of them; he was way too drained and overworked, barely able to stand and Kasamatsu didn't want to risk a serious injury.

And while Touou wanted to discuss the match minute by minute, they respected their opponents and decided to do so after lunch invading the captain's room. The match was something they'd remember for quite some time as the spectacular performance.

The free afternoon was a well earned rest for Aya. She took her reader and headed outside, where the hotel had a big swing where she could relax and finish the book. Once she was done with that, she remained at her well hidden spot she could see quite a lot from and she enjoyed doing nothing.

Aomine walked out and headed in the direction of a convenience store, probably to buy some lunch. Instead of calling out to him, she observed him. The slight worry she'd had before only intensified as she saw him stretching his back and arms, it obviously hurt as he'd let his muscles to stiffen without doing the proper stretches he should've done. His gait was truly off, she hadn't imagined it before, but she couldn't surely say whether it was only a muscle pain or overstrained joints. She hoped for the first option.

 _I'll have to see him in the evening…_ She decided. Before she could leave to join Satsuki, Hero discovered her and the two spent some time going over Yosen's match.

Satsuki dragged Aomine to their evening meeting after dinner, this time it took place in Katsunori's room. The teenagers flooded it taking all the free space the room offered. She tried to convey to Aya that she had talked with him about her parents and their past friendship by couple of meaningful glances; it was useless as the two didn't have such a strong bond yet and Aomine didn't let any of that show. Dai-chan was more than okay with the divorce and all, but the only thing he minded was that Satsuki kept it to herself for so long as if he wasn't trusted enough and he didn't like the idea. He had told her so and it made Satsuki feel guilty: she had a file on him and his behavioural patterns as well as all his data, she talked with his mother often (all the which he knew about) and it took her _years_ to tell him about her parents. _What an idiot I am…_ she thought with a sigh and distributed data about their next opponent to everyone. Except Dai-chan, who refused it as per usual.

"Aya-chan." She caught the redhead's elbow when she was about to leave. They were the only ones left in Katsunori's room.

She blinked at the pinkette in surprise. "Yes?" There was a lot on her mind and the entire meeting went above her head. She didn't want to admit it.

"Uhm…" Satsuki fidgeted. "I talked with Aomine-kun…"

Katsunori rolled his eyes. "Should I leave _my_ room?" He asked.

"How mean you can be… We're leaving, don't worry, Katsu." Aya shook her head and pulled Satsuki out and down the hallway to her room. They sat on the bed and Dorian jumped into Aya's lap demanding cuddles and affection. "So? What happened?"

And Satsuki told her.

"I think I disappointed him… I'm such an idiot, I should've told him sooner. Much sooner…" She was playing with the ends of her pink hair. "He isn't exactly angry, but I'm worried. And I can't really go and pester him about his condition now. He'd send me to hell…"

That she could understand but… "What do you mean by ' _his condition'_?"

She sighed. "I bet you've noticed he's walking rhythm is slightly off, you can see that like I can if not better. He didn't do his stretches I'm certain of it, and well… I don't think he should play any other matches. Just like Ki-chan… They both overdid it today. But he won't listen if I talk to him."

"Can you tell if it's serious?"

"Not really. I didn't ask. If it's only a muscle pain, then it's not so bad, but if it's knees… maybe left elbow… He really shouldn't test his luck further in the competition."

"Well, he isn't needed for the full match tomorrow. But Rakuzan… You can't just tell him ' _sit out'_. He won't take it."

"I know. Could you uhm… speak to him? He might listen to you…"

Aya sighed. This was peculiar situation. "I guess, but Satsuki, I'll tell him where he stands, I won't tell him to sit out and if he asks me, I'll do what I can to let him play. From a sportsman's point of view, I understand the desire to play more than anything." _Especially if it's Aomine who wants to play…_

Satsuki frowned. "You've competed with injuries too?"

Aya shrugged. "Sometimes we do stupid things in order to win."

"Please don't let him do anything too stupid, Aya-chan. He's my dear friend, I don't want to see him hurt." She said with a timid smile. There was still a back door, she could always go to the coach and persuade him to force Aomine to sit out. She knew the risks involved in doing that – if discovered – she'd probably cause a huge dispute, but… If it meant she'd keep him safe, she'd do it, even if she had to go behind Aya-chan's back.

"I'll do what I can." The redhead reassured her with a smile.

"Thank you." Satsuki smiled and got up to leave. "Oh, I've seen Mukkun playing with Himuro-kun on the courts. They sure practise vigorously."

 _Damn it!_ She swore inwardly. "Yeah, I know."

######

"Melon-chan!" Hero's voice reached her the moment she stepped out of Aya's room. "I was lookin' for ya!"

"Hironaka-chan." She turned around with a forced smile. The small girl wasn't exactly to her liking, especially because of the nickname.

"Oh, drop the fake courtesy. I know ya don't like me. Yet."

"Yet?"

"Well, yeah. Ya don't like what ya don't know. So… Let's chat. I wanna know ya." Hero said with eyes sparkling in curiosity and excitement; there was no mal intention. "And how'd ya grew those." She stared at Satsuki's boobs with deep appreciation, almost worshipping.

The pinkette eek-ed, knowing she wouldn't escape this little girl. She couldn't outrun the girl, she knew that much, injury or not, Hero used to run miles and race like hell itself was at her heels. Yeah, Satsuki had done her research regarding the new and only manager of Yosen.

"I guess I have no choice." She gave in under the unwavering stare of Hero.

"No, ya don't." Hero giggled. "And about Booby-chan and Aomine… I wanna know what's goin' on. Booby-chan didn't tell me a thin', but ya might…" Seeing the distrust and unwillingness in those pink eyes, she added, "if ya wanna hear some Yosen's internal stuff 'bout the Poker face."

 _Bribery!_ Satsuki thought and a slightly vile smile settled on her pretty face. _Aya-chan taught her well, very well indeed… But I'll have to filter a lot, or I'm really dead._

Hero saw the spark of interest and determination in Satsuki's eyes and she smiled daringly. "Up to ya, Pinky-pie." She decided to drop the previous nickname, as it might've been (like Booby-chan pointed out) a bit rude and offensive despite her good intentions and changed it for something less… wonderful.

Hearing that and sensing the olive branch, Satsuki waved her hand and turned to leave. "Follow me." She said and headed towards her room. She could also go over today's match to see and test just how much had Hero learned in the short time period she'd had and whether she was a possible future threat or not. She wouldn't let this opportunity pass her by.

######

Aya remained laying on the bed and staring into the ceiling for a couple of minutes after Satsuki had left. She sorted out her thoughts. Lots of things had happened since the morning, and she wasn't sure how Aomine would react to another deep talk they needed to have. Then she sighed, there was no way she could plan it out beforehand. She got up and walked down the hallway to Aomine's room. She knocked and walked in.

"Hey, guys." She greeted them, taking in the mess in the room. "Do you know where Daiki is?"

They stared at her in panic for a moment, realising the mess. The redhead surprised them and they weren't used to seeing her with loose hair cascading to her waist. She looked stunning and it was hard not to appreciate the sight.

"Ah… uhm…" Kano broke the silent surprise first. "In the shower…"

She sighed and sat on the edge of the only vacant bed – Aomine's of course. "Then I guess I'll wait."

"Is something wrong?" Naito asked with his brows furrowed.

"Nah, nothing to worry about, I just need to talk with him."

"Uhm… so that we know… Are you two dating or not?" Ishii asked straightforwardly.

"Unfortunately, no." She answered truthfully. "I need to sort out some things first, and then… It'll be up to him to decide, more or less..."

Naito's dark grey eyes stared right at her. "There's a lot of things you aren't telling us, isn't there?" He asked seriously and the atmosphere got heavier.

She appreciated the boy for who he was; quiet but funny, slightly lazy but unbelievably observant and intelligent. She didn't want to lie to them. A half smile formed on her lips and she nodded. "There is."

"We will figure it out eventually." It was a promise.

"Oi, Shouhei…" Kano warned him quietly, he didn't like this atmosphere. It was like two swordsmen evaluating each other before striking.

"Without a doubt you will… and I hope you won't hate me then. For not trusting you enough… and everything else."

"There's no way we'd hate you!" Kano protested loudly.

"You can never know." She shrugged when the bathroom door opened and Aomine walked into the room with a cloud of steam. Half-naked.

He blinked at Aya in surprise; he sure hadn't expected her to be idly sitting on his bed. "Long time no see, Sweetheart." The words rolled off his tongue slowly and he smirked when he noticed how she stared at his bare tanned torso. "Do you need something?"

She noted the hidden innuendo in those words. _For dear lords, why is he doing this to me?_ She thought desperately, unable to take her eyes off of his perfect abs for a moment. Then she remembered how worried Satsuki was and she locked the surge of desire away.

Her eyes travelled up his torso until she met his eyes. "To talk with you."

A sight escaped him, he had an idea what this was about. "Satsuki?" He grabbed his t-shirt and pulled it over his head, wincing slightly as his muscles protested.

"Partly. But I'm not blind either and you out of all people should know it already." She looked at him meaningfully. 'I know you're hurting.'

"Tch… how inconvenient." He muttered. "Come on, I want banana milk." He pointed towards the door and snatched his wallet from his night table.

She followed after him, half believing it was just an excuse to get out of the room, but he truly headed towards the staircase and down to the cafeteria's vending machine. "Banana milk. Really?"

"What?!" He grumbled over his shoulder slightly embarrassed. "I like it."

Aya chuckled and before he could open his wallet to fish out the necessary change, she dug in her back pocket and threw the coins in. "For the mango juice from the other day." She said with a smile and pushed the button for banana milk.

"Heh, I keep forgetting that you're the rich princess." He teased and leaned forward to take out his drink.

She rolled her eyes with a groan. "Shut up." She threw in more coins to get a coffee.

"Why? It's not a bad thing."

"Well… it has its perks, I admit. But it usually creates a barrier between me and the others. And I hate that. I'm not a unicorn."

"No barrier here." With a motion of his hand he pointed at the space between them.

"I'm glad for that." She shrugged and they both opened their beverages.

"So? What kind of speech are you supposed to give me?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"That's –"

"Good job, Daiki." Akashi's voice was carried towards them through the hallway and the boy emerged from behind a corner. "You stood your ground well. Ryouta exceeded even my expectations in this match." He approached them, glaring down at Aya. "…though it was not without a price."

Daiki's posture tensed a bit and he instinctively took a step forward to half shield Aya. "Yeah." He nodded curtly.

A cold smile settled on Akashi's lips. "But you should be careful too. Overstretched strings tend to snap. Would you not agree, Aya?" The warning sounded ominous.

"I don't see what your point is, Seijuurou." She answered levelly.

"I see everything. I can predict your movement. Why are you so tense, Daiki? And did you hurt your feet again, Aya? Is that why are you not dancing these days?" He chuckled. "I am always right, after all."

"That's none of your business." Aomine growled at the captain.

The mismatched eyes snapped at him like a whiplash. "Watch your tone when speaking to me, Daiki. If you decide to play in the finals, I will have to make you kneel in front of me."

The tanned ace sneered. "Let's see you try."

"Just like Atsushi." He laughed. "Oh, I like that determination and how it changes into fear."

"What?" Aya asked in surprise. "What did you do to Atsushi?" Hot white anger bubbled in her veins. She felt a strange need to protect the giant like a little brother.

"Nothing, I simply showed a misbehaving dog its place." The tone which he used made a chill ran down their spines. "And I recommend you to watch your actions too, Aya. You would not scrape up for the second time. I am not the friend you used to have." He shifted his weight in sign he was about to leave.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Don't underestimate me. But I'm taking the warning into consideration. One thing though, Seijuurou."

"Yes?" He raised an eyebrow curiously.

"If you hurt my brother, I'll destroy you." She said icily, and honestly, she meant the threat seriously. It surprised her too, she had no idea she'd threaten Seijuurou, ever.

"…keep the dog on the leash then and do not allow him to stick his nose into my business."

Her lips curled upwards and a low growl rumbled in her chest. "You're not worth his compassion. Don't worry. I'll _keep him on the leash_ in the summer, but the Winter cup…"

"He will never be strong enough."

"He will. I promise you that, Akashi." She said dead serious and this time, it was Akashi who felt the chills. She didn't use his name. "Let's go." She pulled Aomine's elbow to leave first, she wouldn't give Akashi the satisfaction.

######

"I'm starting to hate him." She groaned when she slammed the door of her room behind her.

"What the hell was the meaning of that?! Why is he threatening you?"

"I don't know!" She threw her arms in a desperate gesture. "I really don't. Whether he means it, or whether it's just big talk... But I sure as hell won't let him have his way."

"How did you even become friends?"

She shrugged. "Dancing camp, Akashi's father has always been savage, what do I tell you… And then… similar backgrounds. You know, dead mothers, demanding fathers, money and power… The world is a small place. But that… That is not the boy who was forced to learn to dance with me and who stepped on my feet so much. I don't know _what_ he's become but it creeps me out. Dammit!" She swore and had to fight the urge to smoke.

He made a grimace. "Tch. Suddenly, I'm glad I don't know him all that well…"

"But you do respect him, don't you?"

"He is an awesome player. A perfect point guard, I give him that much. Was a good leader too… It's the first time I've heard him actually threaten someone like that." There was a question she wanted to ask, so he took the initiative. "And no, I have no idea what happened between him and Murasakibara."

Aya pinched the bridge of her nose, took a deep breath and then exhaled sharply. "Whatever. I didn't want to talk about Akashi but you."

He grunted and slumped onto her bed, some part of him hoped she'd forget and it wouldn't come to this. _Whatever…_ He rudely sprawled on his back annexing the entire bed and observed the ceiling. "I'm listening."

"You're hurt, right?"

"Because Akashi said it?"

"No, because your walking rhythm is off and I bet your didn't do your stretches–"

"I don't need that." He retorted.

She sighed; he could be annoying. "Look, if you tell me what's wrong I might help. I'm not your enemy, I _want_ you to play against Akashi and make him eat his words, but I don't want to see you injured. Don't you get it?" She said and rather sat on the chair. "The last thing anyone wants is you ending up with a serious injury; especially if it's knees."

"This is Satsuki's doing, isn't it?" He pried in suspicion. Was he so bad at hiding that his entire body was hurting?

"No, I would've gone to fetch you myself. Even without her knowing, so… It has nothing to do with Satsuki. And if Kise's hurt… All the more reasons to check up on you too, you did the same crazy things he did."

"Kise's hurt, huh?" He ran his fingers through his short hair, thinking when the blonde might've injured himself and then he blinked. "Oh… When the ball circled and almost bounced out of the hoop in the fourth quarter?"

She raised an eyebrow at that. "You even remember the exact moment?"

He shrugged. He remembered the whole match, second by second… "He stepped weirdly and barely managed to throw it. I was surprised he didn't miss completely."

 _Is he trying to distract me?_ "Okay, so… Is it only a muscle pain, or do your knees hurt?" She asked.

He turned his head to a side to look at her and sighed. "I don't really know. I guess a muscle pain only, but it's a funny feeling… Like… Uhm… you want to stretch your knees but you can't stretch them enough? And stairs are hell…" Explanations weren't his forte.

She stared at him for a moment, she could relate to what he described. "It's not that bad then. You just overexerted yourself." _Thank god._ "But you should really reconsider if you play tomorrow."

"Onita might cause problems if I don't." He muttered. He had seen one of their matches; Touou would probably manage without him too, but not without some struggle. And he truly wanted to play against Akashi; he needed to make sure they passed the semi-finals.

"Try not to play for more than ten minutes then. You need to rest as much as you can now."

He nodded thoughtfully. "That should work."

"And the elbow?" She glanced at his left arm.

"Huh?" He raised it and flexed his forearm. "Seems fine to me." He said, though it felt just as weird as his knees. "So? What can you actually do with it?" He asked half-mockingly.

"I'm actually quite good at sport's massages." She shrugged nonchalantly. "You are in need of one, since you're too good to do your stretches apparently. It eases the pain and strain."

"Huh?" He was dumbfounded.

"A massage." She rolled her eyes. "Do I need to spell it?"

"Uhm… no… but…"

Her eyebrow shot up and she smirked. "You mind me touching you?"

"No!" He exclaimed way too quickly. When he realised it he blushed furiously, hiding his face with his palm. "Er… Well…"

Aya chuckled. "You've never had a massage, is that it?"

"…that too…" He mumbled, but he wasn't sure his heart would survive her hands all over him. And even if it did, this would be super awkward for him as he wasn't sure he wouldn't get a hard on at some point. Not that he would tell her _that_.

"It's not as pleasant as you might think and it might actually hurt a bit too. But I guarantee it will help. And I'll try not to torture you as you have a match to play tomorrow, just enough to relieve the stress."

He was considering his options and he definitely didn't want the coach to notice anything. If Aya and Satsuki had noticed, it was only a matter of time until Harasawa would too. And then again… Aya touching him… How often was there an offer like this?

"Have you done it before?" He asked suspiciously.

"Doubting me? Don't worry, I actually have credentials for it – I don't know why I decided to take those courses, but I thought it might come in handy at some point. Taiga and Ray were my guinea pigs back then. And if they aren't crippled and my brother doesn't complain anymore… It's safe to trust me with this."

"A witch of many spells?" He teased her.

She chuckled at his choice of words. "Oh, you don't wanna know, Honey-bun. Come on, off the bed."

He crawled into a sitting position and frowned in thought. "What am I supposed to do exactly?"

"You? Nothing much. But… I'd need you to undress into your underwear." It was actually harder to demand than she had thought and she bit her lower lip. _Dammit! Don't you get all excited, stupid! You see them in the changing room all the time…_ But she quickly continued with the further explanation of what exactly was she about to do to him, hiding her own embarrassment. Clearing that no, he wouldn't be idly sprawled on the soft bed, where she could barely reach the spots she needed to and which didn't provide enough support. And since they had no proper table, they'd have to use the floor. She also offered him to choose if he wanted to use one of the essential oils she brought with her – and which served as pain and strain relievers, or not.

When he knew what was going to happen to him, it was much easier to agree. He wasn't sure about the oil stuff, as it would totally dirty the t-shirt and shorts he had, but oh whatever… His roommates could go and envy him, or wonder what had happened to him. He wasn't sure he'd tell them anyways, but Naito seemed to notice about everything. There was a simple problem however…

"One catch though…" He noted, and the more he thought about it, the more his cheeks heated up. The hell, he could tell her that…

"What is it?" She asked, looking up at him from a blanket she just spread on the ground.

"…Weeelll… A-about… the underwear part…" He thought he'd die of mortification and he bet the problem was written all over his face.

"Oh…" She blushed too, mirroring his expression. "…You…" She took a breath to calm down and cleared her throat. "You going commando?" She blurted out to confirm her suspicion.

No way could he look her in the eye after that direct question. "Mhm…" He hummed, staring anywhere but her, trying to calm down his stupid heart. "But to my defence!" He blurted out quickly, glancing at her carefully. "I had no idea you'd pull me out of the room!"

She raised her hands in 'I-don't-care' gesture. "Whatever. Roll up the shorts then…" She said still blushing.

"Right..." He could go back to his room to take it, but she wasn't thinking about that and he didn't want the boys to know what was going on or there'd be a line in front of Aya's room and he hated the idea.

She got up to find a hair tie, turning her back to him. She had to hide the giddy smile, which settled on her face. It was his fault for being so damn cute. But she had to compartmentalise if she was supposed to do a proper work with this. That meant trying not to think it was Daiki under her hands. She whipped around tying her hair into a loose braid. He was already shirtless once again.

"Oh well then… Let's get started…" She nodded, ignoring his initial discomfort. If she wanted him to be okay and relaxed, she shouldn't give out uneasy or restless and definitely not desirous waves either.

She started with his legs, as those were the main problem. After a few tight knots in his calves she worked through, he figured it wasn't as pleasant as he'd originally imagined. But she definitely knew what she was doing. And she had more strength in her arms then he'd expected.

She worked her way to his back, where she appreciated the musculature and the smooth, darker skin. The purpose she had prevented her from enjoying this, but in the back of her mind she was storing the feeling of his skin under her fingers into her memory. There was a spot, which made him groan in pain as she pressed it, but she knew how to get rid of it properly. Then, for a better distribution of her strength, she straddled him.

"What are you doing?" He turned his head, trying to look at her over his shoulder.

"I don't want to slip and accidentally hurt you so bear with it for a moment, please."

He gritted his teeth at the matter-of-factly response. The calm silence settled over them again. The fact that she slipped into her 'working' mode, he didn't really mind. He knew he shouldn't be enjoying it, but that was not possible, when Kagami Aya, the girl he loved and so wanted was straddling him. He was facing the floor, but whatever… Her hands running up and down his back were pleasant, even though they caused him pain whenever they discovered some knot – or whatever, she had explained but he was only half listening to the physiological crap. As long as it worked, he didn't care what she did to him. _Her hands are getting calloused…_ He thought with a frown; the side effect of playing basketball with them. Still, the situation was getting dangerous for him, even if she wasn't taking it in hot and steamy way; he couldn't help himself, not really. Aya touching him was all he could think about.

"Talk to me." He said with a slightly deeper voice.

"Huh?" She blinked at the back of his head. "What about?"

"Anything. Distract me…"

"Why do I– Oh." She was inwardly cursing herself; she was the one who had had a boyfriend, she should've known better. "Any preference for the topic?"

"Uuuh… the book you read? Tell me about it."

And so she did, though the book did have a sexual underplay, it definitely wasn't a pleasant and enjoyable one. It actually killed the mood pretty efficiently. And he was glad to have chosen the topic as it saved him from an utmost mortification of his life.

When she allowed him to sit up and worked on his arms, and elbows some more, it was much better. He could observe her focused expression and the small crease forming on her forehead as she was immersed in her activity.

He glanced at her taped feet and remembered what Akashi had said before. The taping itself was not unusual for her, but there was something underneath, a bandage or a cloth, he wasn't sure. And she truly didn't dance these days. He frowned at that, not that he fully knew her schedules.

"So…" He started to break off the silence once again. "Are your feet really hurt?"

"Huh?" She blinked at the taping and chuckled. "Not _really_ , just a couple of torn bloody blisters. I assumed I wouldn't have time to practise here, so I spent the weekend practising nonstop in a pair of new shoes. It doesn't hurt per se, I'm used to it."

"Can I see?" He asked curiously.

"No. It'd creep you out." She said curtly, not meeting his eyes.

Taking care of her feet was a daily routine of hers. There were no deformations and she took proper care of the skin too, but blisters and calloused skin were unavoidable, broken nails too sometimes. A bloodied area beneath the peeled-off skin was plainly disgusting and she definitely wouldn't show that to Daiki. Not in a million years.

They went silent again. It was a cosy silence, pleasant. They both simply enjoyed the presence of the other.

It lured a small smile on her lips and she thought back to what she'd discussed with Kise the other day. But was Daiki really that into her? It would be funny if she was imagining it all. But was she? He was the one who hugged her first, who managed her nightmares, who was there... Love, or friendship? There wasn't a clear line, not really.

"Ne?" She asked and let go of his arm.

The massage was done, he realised. She wiped her oily hands into her t-shirt and folded them over her laps. She didn't look at him. There was something she probably wanted to ask but for some reason she was hesitating.

"Hm?" He prompted her, and his heart almost skipped a beat. Kagami Aya was hesitating… Unreal. And then he remembered the talk she'd had with Kise.

"Um… Why…" She fiddled her fingers. "Why did you … hug me today?" It was on her mind the entire afternoon.

He was taken aback by the question. Why did he do it indeed? He wasn't sure. After that match he was… feeling vulnerable, incomplete in a way and dead exhausted. But… None of that explained his actions. He simply… needed to feel her close.

"I guess… I…" He chewed on his lip, not daring to look at her and not sure what to say. _Fuck this…_ "I needed it." Honesty was probably the best choice; he was a bad liar after all.

She blinked at him, meeting his stormy eyes. His skin tone couldn't really hide his blush. She didn't have Daiki as someone who was… cuddly… It surprised her.

Judging by her expression he wasn't sure if she was annoyed or not. Back then she'd laughed and it looked like she didn't mind but… "I wasn't thinking clearly… I just… you said hugs were okay, but… errr…"

"Don't." She covered his lips with her fingers, shutting him up. "Don't you dare apologise."

His eyes widened at the intimacy of that soft butterfly touch. He didn't dare to move a muscle, let alone speak.

"If…" She continued, keeping her hand steadily at place. She could feel his breath tickling against the tips of her fingers. "… If it was Satsuki there and not me… would you…" _Would you hug her like that too?_ She didn't have the guts to finish the question, yet she wanted to know the answer.

He blinked at the redhead. Was she jealous? So she had insecurities like anyone else. He could almost read the question in those reddish orbs. Under the artificial lights of the room, her eyes looked more brown than the usual fiery red/reddish colour he knew. The colour shift was interesting in its own way.

A barely audible chuckle rumbled in his chest. "…no…" His lips moved against her fingers. "If it had been Satsuki… or anyone else… I would've run in the opposite direction…" He said truthfully. A gentle smile graced his lips even though he felt embarrassed by saying that out loud. It was basically a confession, as if he said: 'I don't want to hug anyone else but you.'

For a moment she kept staring at him and a relieved sigh escaped her as a smile tilted the corners of her lips upwards. Without thinking she rested her forehead against his and closed her eyes. Deep down, she didn't want to wait the entire summer holiday till she'd finally be able to be that close for real. Without the need to hide it.

 _I'm an idiot! Jealous of Satsuki? What a terrible friend I am…_ She thought.

She was damn close. Daiki's heart jumped into his throat. Because it was the first, or maybe the second time, _she_ had approached him. So far it was usually him pushing his luck and acting on an impulse. Now it seemed, the tables turned.

He encircled her fingers with his, pulling her hand away from his lips. Her eyes opened and she pulled away a bit, just enough for her eyes to actually see him. There was not a hinge of refusal or control. All he could see was desire and something so very gentle and soft.

Suddenly, he felt lost, like a child that wandered too far from his parents. The only thing he could do was follow his gut feeling. No one had ever prepared him for this situation. He hadn't expected it any time soon after all. And it was _**real**_ _._

He glanced at her lips and a breath caught in his throat. How could people survive through their first kiss? The anticipation was killing him.

The air seemed to crackle around them. _Oh, fuck this._ She thought as she leaned closer to erase the space separating their lips.

Their noses brushed –

 **KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK**

"Ayacchi!"

They both startled, bumping their heads and then quickly jumping away from one another. This was awkward. They were blushing terribly, fully aware of the situation and those few millimetres, milliseconds which had prevented them from kissing.

And then, there was the interruption. Still knocking on the door demanding attention.

Aya rubbed her hit forehead and when their wide, freaked out eyes of roe deer met she started laughing. "Well, that went smoothly." She commented, licking her lips in disappointment. But it lightened the atmosphere.

Daiki rubbed his hit eyebrow too, hiding his face in his palm. "I'm killing him." He growled dangerously, knowing there probably wouldn't be another chance like this to finally settle things with Aya: a.k.a., kissing her and finally getting her to date him, anytime soon.

"Not here, please. Getting rid of blood is no fun." She shook her head, biting back her laughter. "Let's see what he wants."

"Tch. Ignore him." At least he could recover quickly.

"Yes, yes! I hear you!" She pulled the door open almost violently. "No need to tear down the door, Model-kun."

His golden orbs blinked at her, taking in her appearance: simple t-shirt, short shorts, hasty braid, slightly flushed cheeks and burning eyes. Oh, how those eyes burned with love, desire and annoyance. He was speechless.

"What's up? Who's dying?" She asked him, raising an eyebrow and crossing her arms when the model didn't seem willing to talk.

"Ah… um… Did I interrupt something?"

She gave him a frustrated look and moved aside, letting him into the room. "Better get in before Katsunori comes to see what's up. And you'd better keep your voice _at least a bit_ down." _Who knows, maybe you did a good thing…_

"Oh, right, sorry." He muttered and slipped around her into the room, where he was greeted with a very hostile glare of two stormy eyes of his best friend: currently half naked with his tanned skin glistering from oil and apparently very angry. "Aominecchi…" He breathed out. "I guess I'll go." He blurted out and turned around. Aomine was literally the last person on the planet he wanted to see or interrupt. However, in his abrupt turn his foot protested. He hissed in pain and bumped into Aya full weight.

Unable to balance out Kise's 189 centimetres and full 77 kilograms, she fell backwards, basically cushioning the blonde's landing. His knee pinched a skin at the inner side of her thigh against the floor making her yelp sharply. He hit his forehead against her shoulder and they became a tangled mess.

After a few seconds of shocked silence…

"You're fucking kidding me." She groaned underneath the blonde. The vocabulary was the last thing she cared about.

The blonde gasped, crawling off of her. "I'm so, so, so sorry, Ayacchi! I didn't mean to...!" He held his hands in defensive gesture in front of him. "You too, Aominecchi. I didn't mean to interrupt. Oh god! I'm so sorry! I should go."

"Okay, okay, okay." Aya hushed him. "Shut it. I get it. Give me a minute to collect myself, okay? You were like a battering ram." She clicked her tongue staring at the deep purple bruise quickly forming on the spot Kise unintentionally abused with his knee.

"Oh my god! Did I do that?!" He exclaimed in panicky voice, staring at the big bruise with wide eyes.

"Congratulations, genius." Aomine bit sharply, staring at the bruise with worry in his eyes.

Kise snapped his eyes at the bluenette angrily. He'd just lost to him. "Go to hell. I wasn't talking to you."

Aya rolled her eyes glaring at both of them. "Stop it. Both of you. If you wanna argue do it elsewhere."

"Yes…" They muttered in unison.

"Is that gonna be okay, Ayacchi?"

"Eventually. Some minor blood vessel must've been broken." She observed the slightly swelling bruise with a frown for a moment. It hurt like a bitch. Then she shrugged and looked at Kise who was close to hyperventilating. "Guess I've had worse."

"I'm really, really sorry. I just…" He looked into the ground guiltily. "I need your help."

"You wouldn't be the kiss stopper otherwise, would you?" She mocked him with a raised eyebrow.

Daiki turned away from the blonde, who was now staring at his two friends. "So you didn't… you weren't…" He stammered and then he smirked. "Well, I see you didn't win everything, Aominecchi." He said viciously. It was petty, but he enjoyed this misfortune he'd unintentionally caused.

"You –" Daiki growled, his muscle tensing.

Aya glancing at the two quickly jumped between them, facing Aomine. "Hey!"

Daiki blinked at her, she just barely stopped him from punching the blonde; she had probably no idea. That comment enraged him to no ends. The best friend or not…

"I get you two had a very… heated and eventful match. But stop it. _Please._ " All the previous mood went down the drain and she was actually scared, that if the two decided to have a real all out fight, she wouldn't be able to stop them on her own. They both did jiu jitsu after all. A chill ran down her spine.

Noticing the fear in her eyes Daiki buckled back. He didn't want to scare her. He was angry, infuriated, disappointed, but he didn't want her to be scared of him for something as impulsive as breaking Kise's nose. But oh how he would've enjoyed that.

'Thank you.' Her eyes told him and she exhaled in relief.

Then she turned towards Kise, who was rubbing his sore forehead – Ayacchi sure had hard shoulders. "What do you need me to help you with?"

"I don't want him to know." He glanced at Daiki and pouted.

"Well, I ain't leaving you here alone with her." Aomine grumbled. It was a stalemate situation.

"They'll be the death of mine one day." She muttered under her breath, reaching her hands towards the heavens in a praying gesture. Then she looked back at their confused faces and turned to Kise. "Daiki isn't leaving. I need the oil to sink into his skin as much as possible. So either you need my help or you don't." Her eyes narrowed at his left foot. "And judging by your inability to keep balance earlier…"

Kise chewed on his lower lip glaring at his foot. "Teach me how to tape it properly."

"What?!"

"Every video I found doesn't show it wholly. I can't copy it. And I need to play tomorrow. So… Teach me how to tape it."

She was dumbfounded. "… I need to see it first."

He made a vague gesture with his hand towards his foot. "Suit yourself."

" _You_ take off your slipper _and_ the sock yourself." She commanded. "I'm your friend, not a maid. Don't forget that."

"Ah… Sorry." He grumbled, feeling a dam of his emotions opening up. "I'm just… It was all my fault." He mumbled, ignoring Aominecchi the best he could. The treacherous tears were stinging in his eyes again and he lowered his head, letting his fringe to cover his eyes so Ayacchi wouldn't notice. "My fault… and no one… not one of them said a thing. No one blames me! Can you… I don't… It's all my fault!" He leaned forward, took off his slipper and threw it against the wall near the door.

The violent gesture made her lean back from him. But then she sighed in compassion and rested her hand on top of his head. "Would it help if they blamed you?"

"No…" He sniffled a bit, keeping his head hung down. "I'm pathetic."

She wasn't sure what she could tell him. There wasn't much, not really. "You'll win next time." She said with a kind smile, switching into a big sister mode. "Let's see the disloyal, devilish foot that causes you troubles, 'kay?"

Her voice was warm and soothing, he chuckled and nodded.

When he took off the sock and rolled up his long pants to reveal his left ankle she gasped. The ankle was swollen and bruised, so was his foot. When she gently touched it, he winced.

"How can you even consider playing on that?" She asked.

"I have to."

"No." She ran her fingers all over his foot, pressing some points, luring some yelps of pain. "I'm surprised you can step on it."

"It's not broken."

"That's not necessarily true…" She shook her head and got up. "I'll need some ice for that. You two." She glanced at them in warning. "Don't fight," she ordered them. But when she reached the door, she whipped around. "You know what? Don't move and don't talk until I'm back. Understood?" She asked firmly and waited for both of them to nod. "Good."

When the door closed, Daiki shifted so he could peek at Kise's foot. "Tch." He curled his lips in distaste. So this was the price for the perfect copy? _Fuck!_

"She said not to move." Kise muttered.

"I'm –"

"Don't." Kise growled. "You didn't touch my foot, so don't. I know it wasn't your intention. It wasn't mine either." He chuckled desperately. "Guess that was the price for copying you. And I would gladly pay it again."

The blonde was hurt by Aomine's words, by his inability to win. But… Rivalry and friendship were balancing on the tip of a knife and he was actually curious which one would prevail in the end. He already knew which one he'd chose.

"Tch." Daiki was frowning deeply. Just how much turbulent could one day be for him? He really didn't dream of Kise getting hurt like this. He didn't dream of being that close to kissing the girl he loved. He didn't dream of this whole weird situation. Yet, here he was. _All that's missing is the ex…_ He thought bitterly.

######

"Uhm… So where do you think he is?" Kano asked everyone in the room, when Aomine hadn't returned for a good hour. "This is way to long for 'buying banana milk'."

"Where do you think?" Naito raised his eyes from the book he was reading. "With Aya of course. Hopefully, talking. Preferably for them, making out."

A horrified expression settled on Kano's face. "What? No!"

"Sorry Hideki, you might idolise the girl, but they are in love. And they're human." He said in a bored voice, stating the facts. "Of course they _want to_ make out! I'm surprised they're keeping in check in front of everyone else. But I'm glad for that. I certainly don't wish to be a witness."

"Why don't we go and check then?"

Ishii rolled his eyes. "Seriously, don't. One of them will kill you _if_ ," he shot a meaningful look to Naito, "they're at something. But I doubt that. Aomine did tire himself out too much to handle _any_ action –"

"I think you're underestimating his stamina given the case." Naito interrupted again.

"And _you_ will shut your mouth momentarily." He shook his head still looking at poor Kano, who was way too innocent for his own good. "I'm sure they are talking –"

"With their tongues tangled." No, Naito couldn't keep his mouth shut, which only led to Ishii grabbing a slipper and throwing it at him. "Oh… You missed." The boy stared at the shoe 15 centimetres from his head lazily, then he looked at Ishii smirked. But the second shoe was already flying his way, this time finding its mark. "Urgh." He groaned as his nose started bleeding again.

"Huh." Ishii stared at his hand. "I'm nowhere near Aomine's level, but I might get good at this." He praised himself.

"Not even close." Covering his nose, Naito headed to the bathroom.

He clapped his hands. "Okay, now with the interruption gone –"

"I can hear you!"

The key from the bathroom door was snatched, the door was closed and Ishii locked Naito in with a content smile on his face. "Finally gone." A bang on the door. "Let's turn the light off, shall we? Or will you be silent for a moment?" Nothing, Naito hated a complete darkness, he feared it and so the threat worked.

"You're savage." Kano muttered, staring at his best friend with wide eyes. Ishii had this kind of nature when truly pissed off, and well, Naito had it coming.

"Someone needs to keep you two in check, right?"

"Yeah… But you're scaring Sakurai." He pointed a finger at their profoundly terrified and surprised (but more terrified) roommate.

"Oh, Sorry Sakurai-kun. Can you deal with us?"

"Ah… Sorry." The boy blinked retreating further away on his bed. "I haven't seen or heard anything." His voice trembled slightly. "Sorry."

"See? You broke him again?" Kano commented in rather Naito-like style and laughter was heard from the bathroom.

Ishii glared at his childhood friend and smiled pleasantly. But it was a scary smile of a "good" man handing candy to children while luring them into his car to kidnap them. Naito and Kano feared this smile for their dear lives, because once that came out, they usually had to run for their lives.

"Okay, Sakurai… Now listen." Kano turned to him grimly. "When I tell you, run for your dear life and don't look back. You hear me?"

"Urgh! For dear lords, don't listen to the idiot!" Ishii groaned. "I have no reason to hurt you. I'll kill only the two of them."

"Uhm... Sorry… but that's not a very good idea, considering Aya-chan is their friend?" Sakurai peeped carefully. When Ishii glared at him, he raised his arms in defensive gesture. "I'm sorry. Sorry! Please forgive my rudeness, Ishii-san."

" – _san_?" All three of them burst out laughing; the initial quarrel forgotten.

"Sakurai, seriously, no need to overdo it with honorifics."

"Can you let me out?" Naito demanded.

"No."

"Coach might come for a patrol you know?"

"There's still enough time. A good half an hour at least." Ishii said contently. "Oh but… If Aomine isn't here when the coach patrols… what are we gonna do?"

"Uhm… stuff his bed with clothes or something and claim he's sleeping?" Kano said almost immediately. "Daiki did it when I sneaked out to buy snacks few weeks back… Mom bought it."

"That's actually a good idea."

"Yeah, I'm surprised it came from you!" The voice from the bathroom echoed.

"Turn off the light."

######

"Where's Kise?" Kasamatsu asked his roommates when he saw Kise's bed vacant. He went away only to buy some snacks for everyone and now the blonde was gone.

Moriyama shrugged. "I don't know."

Captain's eyes narrowed into dangerous slits. "He bribed you, didn't he?"

"Might have." The boy shrugged smoothly. "Still not saying."

######

Aya returned carrying a pack of ice and a clean towel. "You moved." She pointed an accusatory finger at Aomine. "But I'm glad you aren't fighting." She smiled at them. Kneeling down, she wrapped the ice around Kise's terribly looking ankle.

"What did you mean by ' _not necessarily true'_?" Kise asked. He was a bit creeped out by that answer. He couldn't afford a broken bone.

"Did you cool it right after the match?"

"Uh… no. I was too tired." He mumbled.

"Well… A foot and ankle are an incredibly complex mechanism, Model-kun. There are 26 bones, 33 joints, 107 ligaments and 19 muscles. It might be a minor sprain and the swelling might subside in a few hours, or you might've damaged it much more severely. I don't see what happened inside. While I think that nothing's broken, there might be a small crack somewhere or there might be ligament damage."

He paled and gulped. "How do you know all that?"

"I'm a dancer, but more than that, I'm an idiot. I've had cracks in at least 8 of those 26 bones already in each foot. Broken toes couple of times… So… I kinda did my research." She chuckled at his horrified expression. "It'll cool off, I'll use a swell relieving ointment and I'll tape it for you. You can watch and copy. There should be nothing broken. But," she stared right into his eyes seriously, "you need to promise me you won't play _and_ you'll visit a doctor immediately when you get home."

The frown on his face was deep. It was the first time she'd seen the model to frown like that. "…Fine…" He agreed through his gritted teeth. "Promise."

She sighed in relief. "If I see you wearing your jersey, I'm telling Kasamatsu-senpai."

"I mean it! I swear! I promise!"

She grinned. " _That_ sounded much more convincing."

After a couple of minutes spent in silence, she took off the ice. The swelling was receding a bit, which was good news. She found the ointment she wanted and she started to gently rub it into Kise's ankle and foot.

"Ne?" He asked curiously. "You said you broke your toes and all… Was it like… over practising? Or…?"

"Ah, well… Sometimes. I broke the big toe doing a pirouette as well as kicking a metal chair – to my defence it looked light enough… Broken pinky toe is not even considered an issue… Then I had a horse stomp on my foot twice in a row, quite a vicious animal that one was. Or just… you know coincidences."

"A horse?"

"A horse." She nodded surreptitiously. "Not mine. Akashi's… The animal apparently never liked me."

"He has a horse?!" Kise shouted in surprise.

"Yeah."

"And you?"

"Eh… In France, I guess…" She admitted grumpily, not wanting to think about the beautiful soul she saw only once in a while. "It was uncle's idea seven years ago… And I'm a neglecting owner."

"Ah… rich folks…" Kise laughed almost madly.

"Sorry?" She shrugged.

Her phone rang.

"Who is it?" She asked Daiki, who was the closest to the small table and the phone.

"Uh… Suzume – person."

She glanced at her hands covered with the ointment and dirty. "Pick it up! And put her on the speaker."

He did as he was told, placing the phone on the ground close to Aya. She opened her mouth to greet the girl, but she didn't get that far as the voice on the other end filled the room immediately.

" _You wouldn't believe this shit! Urgh! I won't be here on Sunday! My_ _ **dear mother**_ _overheard me talking with grandma about you coming over to deliver the cat. Haha. You can't imagine the scene! We are leaving tomorrow morning by car._ _ **CAR!**_ _And guess who's driving?! Huh? She is! I've never been so furious and frightened in my life!"_ A sound of something slamming could've been heard. " _Fuck! I hate her Aya!"_ Another hit-slam echoed through wherever Suzume was at.

The boys were flabbergasted by the outburst without any greetings. The words just spilled out of the other girl's mouth like an avalanche of uncontrolled emotions.

Aya was blinking at the phone, her palms frozen on Kise's foot. "Whoah, there. Love, cool off. It's the first time I heard you use the words _shit_ , and _fuck_."

" _Oh, stop it. How could you get it?! Your mother's been six feet under for years!"_

"Yes. that's right." Aya agreed icily.

"… _Dammit… I'm sorry."_ The girl swore guiltily and apologised. " _It's just so unfair! She sees you two as the bad influence! Like it was the two of you who_ _ **forced**_ _me to have a boyfriend, who_ _ **forced**_ _me to take in the cat, who_ _ **forced**_ _me to pick up volley…"_

"Hah… with all due respect to your mother… You started volley _**before**_ you met us. And I had no idea about Tooru-senpai for a good three months, not even about your crush. And the cat well… Taiga might've been persuasive." She smiled at the end. "I don't mind telling her that myself."

" _Urgh."_ It was audible that the girl sat on the ground; apparently she had her speaker on too. " _It's just… I'm so, so sorry! I wanted to see you both so much! And now it's–"_

"You'll see us in the camp, no worries–"

" _I bet you re-routed your planned trip to France because of me, and now it'll take longer and you'll have less time to be with your grandparents and cousins and all… the two babies you've send me… Dammit! Why do I even have to listen to her? Why does father?! I don't get it, Aya! And that woman drowned Marshmallow…"_ The girl's emotions were all over the place, changing, shifting.

"Shhhh… It's gonna be all right. I'll gladly meet with Saeru-san and Naoto-san. Taiga too. We'll make sure that Dorian is in their hands. You just take care of yourself, 'kay? You _need_ to go with her now, so you can get rid of that stigma."

" _Heh… yeah… I can't believe they got her to officially give me up and disinherit me. I thought the damn family of hers would eat me alive, limb by limb."_ The voice was bitter. " _Wait… am I… on the speaker too?"_

"Well yeah…"

" _Damn. I bet someone else is in the room with you then, right?"_ The girl chuckled hysterically. " _I guess I didn't give you the space to warn me…"_

"It's just Daiki and Kise – the Model-kun. It's fine. If it was Tatsuya I would've warned you. Sorry, I didn't want you to close up again."

There was a moment of dead silence, until the girl took a deep breath. " _Sorry guys. I'm… soon to be Moriyama Suzume, the idiot's best friend. And no worries, I'm usually not this crazy, but… Well… She's my cushion and lightning rod. If anyone else said_ _ **that**_ _about Robin's mom… well… they'd be dead."_

"Hey." Both boys greeted her. "This is a bit awkward…" Kise noted, "but, uhm, is there a possibility we'd actually meet sometime? You know… so we can connect the… _**that**_ … with a person?"

Suzume laughed heartily. " _I really hope not. I'm embarrassed by my outburst now. I guess you're the Model-kun? Kise Ryouta-kun, right?"_ The girl changed her behaviour almost immediately.

"Yeah." The blonde nodded, that was one interesting person on the other end. "Nice to meet you."

" _Nice to meet you."_ She chuckled. " _I guess I won't hear much from Aomine then… But so you know, boy… If you hurt Robin, you'll answer to me."_

"Hey!" Aya bristled and Daiki shot her a very curious look. "That's enough, Suzu."

" _Hai, hai… So…"_

"We won't see each other on Sunday." Aya said and chills ran down her spine again. Why was she so restless whenever she thought about Suzume? If it was some sort of a premonition she hoped it would disappear quickly.

" _I have a bad feeling about this."_ Suzume muttered, ignoring the boys once again. It was easy to imagine Aya was alone when they were talking over the phone.

"What do you mean?"

" _It's not the book related… But… mother… she doesn't like when someone disagrees, or when she has to step down. Giving me up, giving the custody to father and grandparents only, by allowing me to take father's family name… While they are not divorcing… Something just doesn't bode well. Like I told you, the calm before the storm…"_

Aya paled. There it was again, as if they had a string connecting them in weird ways. "She did make a scene, didn't she? I bet it wasn't quiet." She tried to joke it away.

" _Just how long do you think we know each other? I see through you, Robin. You're feeling uneasy too, aren't you?"_

She bit her lip. Yes, Suzume saw right through her whenever the girl wanted. "…it'll be alright."

" _You_ _ **want**_ _it to be alright."_

Suzume was right. She was worried beyond herself, because after hearing all that rant, she felt like there was a heavy ominous cloud hanging in the air. And she wouldn't lie… "… Yeah… I _**want**_ it to be alright, and so it will. I want you to be safe and finally happy and annoy me to no end. That's what I want."

" _But you don't really believe it, for one reason or another… Well, never mind. I know you'll worry even if tell you not to, and I'll worry even if you tell me not to. We won't figure it out, until something happens. Then we'll know, like_ ' _ **ah, that was it'**_ _."_

"I guess." Aya shrugged, it made sense. "When are you leaving?"

" _10 AM. Three or four hours by car. I'm taking headphones and a book."_

"Let me know when you get to Sendai, 'kay?"

Suzume snorted. " _Yes, mom. I'll let you know. Oh, and… about the camp… the competition at the end?"_

That question made Aya feel a bit better. "What about it? Oh…" If Suzume could see through Aya, it went the other way too. "No, no, no. I'm not helping you."

" _Ayaaa! There's no way, no way, we can come up with a good choreography on our own. We're not dancers! Come on! He's a basketball freak and I'm a volleyball freak. That quest is impossible for us to achieve."_

"I want you to try, Love."

" _I'll pester you till you give in."_

"You're free to try."

" _We have no chance to win anything…"_

"I can forfeit if you ask me to."

" _Oh, don't you dare! If the best one steps down just to make us, normal mundanes, happy and give us a chance to win, who are we supposed to chase after then, huh? And besides, Love,"_ she giggled contently, " _you have one disadvantage now."_

Aya raised an eyebrow at that. "Which is?" Good that Suzume was finding distractions from her peculiar situation.

" _You don't have your sexy half-russian by your side anymore."_

That made Aya burst out laughing. "That was a good one." She wiped the corners of her eyes. "Don't tell me you find him _sexy_ … out of all the words you could've used."

" _Well yeah, but he's too short and too combustible. But sexy nonetheless. I can appreciate that much. And he could lead_ _ **you**_ _without much trouble. Don't forget that. You have a disadvantage."_ She concluded definitively.

"We'll see about that."

" _True, true._ _ **Suzume! Where the hell have you disappeared to! I was worried when I didn't find you in the room! And here you are! Hiding in the gym!"**_ Another voice appeared on the other side. " _Ah, Yomi! Chill, I needed to hit some, without breaking your window again, and talk to Robin…_ _ **Rob–Ah! Aya-chan! Hey! I hope she didn't pester you too much!"**_

"Hey! Don't worry. I'm the lightning rod, remember?"

" _ **Yeah, because I'm just the loser.**_ _Hey! That's not true! Aya just gets some things better._ _ **Mhm! So I'm an unreliable younger sister then, eh? Okay, come on! Play against me!**_ _You can't play volley one-on-one, stupid._ _ **Then serve! I'll receive them all!"**_

"Okay, lovers, have your quarrel, but I need to go and treat the guys." Aya mixed in the girls' little argument.

" _ **Ah! The Interhigh! Good luck! I hope yo –**_ _Okay! Bye bye, Aya. Sorry again. See you in the camp. And sorry for freaking you out guys. It was –"_ The call was ended.

Aya was blinking at the phone for a moment, sorting out everything the boys just witnessed. "Okay… So…" It was a mess.

"Your girly best friend." Aomine nodded gravely.

"Mhm… a very dignified and kind girly best friend." She specified with a grin. "When she's off the court and not pissed off."

"…and not talking to you, Sweetheart?" He raised an eyebrow teasingly.

"…depends on the situation."

"Actually." Kise peeped up. "I kinda like her. There must some weird stuff happening to her, so it's quite understandable she needed a distraction, and the _lightning rod_. The other one sounded nice too."

"Yomi-chan. Suzu's childhood friend and the best rival." She cleared. She was actually happy to hear there was someone having Suzume's back in Akita. Seeing the curiosity in the boys' eyes she shrugged and explained. "In the last year of Suzume's middle school – she was in Miyagi then, they both participated in the finals of the Spring tournament – the Winter cup of volleyball basically – Suzume won."

Kise laughed. "Why am I not even surprised? I heard the rivalry there too."

"Yeah." She returned to his ankle again. The ointment was all sunken in, and she could finally tape. The Suzume's distraction worked out pretty well. "I see some pattern there." She laughed.

"Like Aominecchi and me?" He raised an eyebrow glancing at Aomine.

"Something like that." She thought to Taiga and Tatsuya, but Kise's comparison worked just as well. "Can you follow, or should I slow down?" She asked suddenly, talking with them, she forgot he wanted to 'copy' the taping.

"It's fine. I'm observing." He said, frowning in focus.

In a few moments she was done. "Free to go, Model-kun. But don't forget the promise."

"Yeah, doctor. I get it." He nodded. "So I guess I should give you the privacy now?" He teased them.

And before Aomine could retort, another knock on the door echoed in the room. It was a series of one sharp knock then pause followed by two quick knocks then another pause and a sharp knock once again.

Aya groaned recognising the pattern and she turned her eyes to heavens. _He's the one we missed here…_ "Come in, Tatsuya!" She called out to the person on the other side of the door.

 _I shouldn't have thought about him…_ Aomine rolled his eyes at the irony of the situation.

"So you still remember…" Tatsuya's words got caught up in his throat when he saw the two aces in Aya's room. One half naked, occupying a blanket on the floor and another one sitting on the ground leaning against Aya's bed with taped ankle. He closed the door quickly. The lights were already out in the entire hotel, if someone came to check on her it would've been a huge problem.

"Of course I do. Welcome to this hospice." She joked. "What's your problem?" She asked staring at him carefully, though it was already obvious. He was supporting his right arm even when standing relaxed, droplets of sweat were glimmering on his forehead and his expression, despite the poker face, was tense with pain.

"Can I talk to you alone?" He asked, his expression never changing. There was no indication he was hurt on his face.

"No can do." She said and her curt response made both boys halt in their getting up.

There was a pause, when Tatsuya valued all pros and cons. He wasn't an active player, and Kaijo was already out of the competition, so it didn't really matter if they knew or not. "It popped…"

"As in dislocated?"

Tatsuya nodded. "Not as much and as far as before but… can you pop it back?"

"I need to put up a sign out there ' _In need of pain, strain and stress relief, as well as any other issues with your moving apparatus, feel free to come in'_." She grumbled irritably. "You do realise I'm no doctor and could cause more damage."

"I also know you can put it back like before and not make a ruckus at 10:30 PM. I sneaked out after Araki-sensei's check." He said impatiently. "Please. I'll owe you."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Giving me an I-owe-you without specification… You're quite daring you know?"

"I dated you, remember?" He said in challenge. "Will you help me, or not?" Impatience was lacing his voice too. He wanted to be over with this.

"Fine. Shirt off."

"We should really go, Ayacchi." Kise said after hearing about the coaches; he hadn't realised the time. "If coaches find us here…" He glanced nervously at Aominecchi, but the bluenette didn't seem willing to budge a muscle and was idly playing with the cat.

"Don't." Surprisingly, it was Tatsuya who spoke up. "If it's only Aya and me, it'll be a bigger issue, and besides, she doesn't trust me enough to be here alone with me. If it weren't for the two of you, she probably wouldn't have let me in. Right?" He looked at her to check if his assumption was correct.

"Right, of course." She nodded. "Stay, Model-kun, and don't worry, _you_ don't owe me anything if you keep the promise."

"Sure." The blonde nodded and moved closer to Aominecchi and the cat. The kitty came to him craving attention too.

"Okay, now. I seriously don't have the whole night and I need to re-route our trip with Taiga, so chop-chop. Shirt off."

"Do I have to?" He protested.

"If it's about the hickie I don't give a damn. Come on." She prompted him.

"Heh." Tatsuya grimaced. "I guess you'll have to help, I can't move the arm much."

Aomine's eyes narrowed at hearing this and he glared at the smooth bastard, who just asked Aya to undress him. And she actually did, without any hesitation in her movement. He was jealous and he was exhausted. So many things and emotions packed in one day were killing him.

"Uhm, you know, Aominecchi…" Kise whispered while Aya and Tatsuya discussed how the injury happened. "She can do it so efficiently, because she doesn't feel anything towards him anymore." He wasn't sure why he was trying to calm Aominecchi after that match. One thing was provoking him himself, but Tatsuya… Kise didn't like the boy much either.

"Tch. You can't know that." He grumbled quietly in response.

"I do and you heard it yesterday too. Besides, I think she told you so herself as well."

That was true. "I still hate it."

"That I believe."

Aya's surprised whistle got their attention back to Tatsuya.

"You found yourself a kitty, I see." She exclaimed staring at his back full of scabs and deep scratches. She automatically traced some of them softly. _How savage…_

Tatsuya rolled his eyes, finally some visible emotion the boys could understand too. "A kitty? She's a freaking Freddy Krueger." He grunted.

It made her laugh. "Well, sit down and show them too."

"Oh god…" Kise gasped and Aomine made a frightened face when he imagined what had happened to Tatsuya. "She is savage…" Kise commented.

"I agree." Aya glanced at Kise with a grimace. Then she tilted her head and stared at Tatsuya, waiting until he'd look at her. "If that's how she shows her appreciation, you must've done a spectacular job in satisfying her." She said.

"Too bad you wouldn't know." He teased, and when the only reaction was an eye roll, he sighed. "I'm actually done with her."

"A one night stand?" She hummed and ran her fingers over his shoulder, figuring out how much dislocated it actually was and how she should pop it back. She knew she had to keep her calm and triple check before attempting to fix it. The last thing she wanted was to cause more damage.

"An easy decision." He nodded. "I can't even change in front of the guys now, 'cause it's mortifying. You'd never do that."

She chuckled. "I don't have the nails to cause such a disaster, I admit…"

"Even if you had you wouldn't. You're not a stupid idiot." He shook his head. He missed her.

"And you shouldn't compare. Ah, here." She blinked when she discovered the way to pop his shoulder back. But she had to check it again just in case.

"I'm trying not to. Can you imagine the state of my sheets after that? The guy in charge of laundry gave some really freaked out face when I came to ask for new ones and brought those to have them cleaned."

"I bet they searched your room in search for a corpse about now."

He chuckled. It was quite easy to talk about this with her. She really wasn't taking any of it personally. It was bitter, but it was right. He should let it go too. "They won't find any."

"You should've called. I know some hacks how to get blood off of almost anything." She said monotonously, focused on his shoulder. "Ah… that should do it."

She found the way and he could already imagine the pain which would follow.

She squeezed his shoulder close to the neck, and grabbed his upper arm. "It'll hurt." She announced as she rested his forearm around her waist and her right leg against his hip. She needed the lever.

"I know." He nodded and gritted his teeth.

"Okay, let's hope it'll work."

"Just do it." He growled.

She took a breath, staring into his eyes. If she counted, he'd tense and it would go badly. He couldn't know the exact moment when she'd pull.

Levelling her breathing with him, she counted inwardly. _One, two, three!_

The shoulder made a sick popping sound and Tatsuya barely muffled his pain-filled outcry. It came out as a feral growl.

"You alive?" She asked carefully.

"Feels in place…" He said weakly. He already knew how it felt when the job was done right. And it wasn't the first time she fixed his shoulder for him.

"You _will_ go to a hospital for a proper X-ray. Understood?"

He avoided eye contact. The hospital was not a place he wanted to visit, it meant paying money. He probably couldn't afford that and it was already fine.

"Tatsuya."

"…I'll say fine, but you know I won't. It's fine now. No need to."

Instead of arguing she grabbed the shoulder, digging her fingers into it, which made Tatsuya shrink back in pain. "You will. I'll ask Hero to drag you there."

"Traitor."

"Gladly. But I'm warning _you_ in advance. It's your health and if you want to practise in the summer camp, I highly recommend you to have it checked by a professional and let it heal _properly_."

"Urgh, fine, fine, I'll go." He agreed reluctantly.

"Good." She quickly applied an ointment and found a bandage to wrap it up. "Seriously… my first aid just experienced a raid of wild raccoons…" She commented with a disappointed shake of her head.

"Well… thank you."

She raised an eyebrow at that. "Don't thank me yet, there's still the I-owe-you."

"It's not that bad, you aren't a savage after all. Ah, do you have some painkillers?"

"I guess…" She disappeared in the bathroom for a second and returned with a small package of something she threw to him.

He caught it easily and frowned at the pills. "Advil? Really? That stuff's for cramps."

She rolled her eyes. "It's ibuprofen based painkiller in general, I don't have anything else. It works for me, and when _**I**_ take it, it must be for a damn terrible pain. But if you don't want it…"

"I'll take it." He said immediately, Aya didn't take painkillers often and she didn't need it for cramps, he knew that much. So if this stuff should work… And he was allergic to paracetamol…

She looked at all three of them, for the first time noticing that Daiki was entertaining Dorian. "Okay, time to –"

The door flew open and Katsunori stood there like an angry deity. "What in the world is the meaning of this?!" He thundered, glaring at the three boys.

They all froze and stared at the angry coach. The darkness of the hallways only added to his intimidating posture.

 _leave…_ She finished inwardly.

"Get out. All three of you!" Katsunori ordered.

"Hai!" They all sprang to their feet, standing as straight as if they swallowed rulers.

"Put your t-shirts on, for god's sake." He frowned at Aomine and Tatsuya.

"Yes, sir." Daiki answered immediately, shocked by the sudden authority radiating from the shorter man. He could imagine his father there. And he knew the blonde had similar thoughts.

Katsunori noted the taped foot and the wrapped up shoulder, the only one without any obvious damage was Aomine. But it made him wonder. Aya was standing there, startled by his sudden barge in, but slowly relaxing. There was nothing she'd need to hide from him, and he was glad for that, though the bruise on her thigh worried him.

As they passed by him, one by one, they didn't dare meeting his eyes.

Tatsuya vanished in the darkness like a ghost first.

"Ah." Kise yelped when his leg almost gave out again. It felt better, but he was in a hurry and forgot to take it easy. This time, it was Aomine grabbing his elbow and straightening him up. He blinked at his friend, genuinely surprised after everything he had said during the match.

"Shut up." Aomine growled before Kise could comment his actions, and threw the blonde's arm over his shoulders.

"I haven't said anything." The blonde smiled happily. The friendship prevailed after all…

"Then turn off your mind."

"Not possible, Aominecchi."

"Go die already."

Katsunori stared after the two, half smiling at their strange friendship. The day must've been truly eventful if they could already be in one another's presence, and even helping out one another. He turned to Aya, walked in and closed the door.

She just stared at him, waiting for the scolding.

"I won't yell at you, there was nothing going on and I'm not stupid or blind." He said and sat on the chair, watching her as she put away the blanket from the ground and collected all the things she'd used in treating the boys. "I'm quite surprised all three of them came to you."

"I'm a ' _witch of many spells'_." She liked the way Daiki worded it.

"I'm aware of that. How's Aomine?" He asked seriously.

"Good."

"Seriously. I can see something is off with him; I'm the coach after all. And if Kise took damage… Their bodies don't match up to their talents yet, Aya. You know it as well as I do."

"He wants to play against Rakuzan no matter what, Katsu. You can't take that away from him. I mean _**he**_ _**wants**_ to play."

"As a former player, I completely understand. As a coach, I can't let him self-destruct." He pulled at his fringe.

"It's nothing serious. Just a muscle strain. I gave him a sport's massage to relieve it…"

"It's nothing serious _yet_ … If he performs the same as he did today, which I bet he will… And we'll probably need him tomorrow too."

"Ten minutes tomorrow. Don't ask more of him, he needs to rest."

"That I agree on, and then?"

She opened the window wide and pulled the package of cigarettes from her jacket taking out one. It was an overly exhausting day; she really had the need for nicotine. She offered one to Katsunori and to her surprise he took it.

"I'd take the gamble." She shrugged, inhaling the fumes. "Let him play. I'll try to persuade him to tape his knees to prevent the serious damage and ease the strain. Then it'll be up to you as the coach to watch over him and pull him off the court when necessary. But let him play, please."

"I guess that could work. After all, I can relate to his desire to play against Akashi." He nodded, observing the smoke trailing out of the window. "Taiga played with pulled muscles… And he isn't seriously injured."

"You could see his injuries. I believe Daiki can't mask it better than my brother."

"First name basis already? Or finally?" He teased her with a raised eyebrow.

"Shut up… I first need to validate with father."

He raised an eyebrow at his goddaughter. "Threaten him, you mean?" He'd already submitted Taiga to interrogation, there was no way he would act as a guardian without knowing everything.

"I don't have much of a choice." She shrugged and glanced at his cigarette. "I didn't know you smoked."

 _Change of topic I see…_ "I don't."

"Yet you are."

"Indeed."

######

"So she's _the_ Kagami…" Imayoshi said out loud to give it more credibility. "The world champion…" He added and shook his head. "I knew she was a piece of work, but this? This, I haven't expected. Those articles?... It's like…"

"Mind blowing?" Tada asked with a smile and rolled on his stomach to face the other three. "Like me being gay?"

"Nah, I knew that from the start." Imayoshi waved his hand.

Tada raised an eyebrow at him. " _Really?_ "

"Ah, details… maybe not from the start, but… I figured it out quickly enough."

"None of that… _whore_ crap is true, right?" Wakamatsu asked, keeping his voice surprisingly quiet. It was way past the lights-out. He was loud, but he wasn't and idiot. And they'd just heard the coach thundering at someone – no one dared to go and check it out.

"Of course not." Imayoshi shook his head. "I'd bet she and Aomine haven't even kissed yet. If the articles were true… well… We would've known~"

"Why did you make it sound lecherous?" Susa asked him with a raised eyebrow. He rarely spoke up, choosing to stay out of the spotlight and enjoying the peace that came with it. But sometimes… The captain and his friend went really overboard in his merits, and _the_ n he stepped in.

"Try to deny she is a looker then!"

"Gladly!" Tada and Wakamatsu said without hesitation.

"Urgh… the wrong sample…" He rolled his eyes. Aya wasn't his type either, but she was pretty, he'd admit that much.

"What do we do now?" Wakamatsu asked.

Imayoshi shrugged. "Nothing. It doesn't change anything. Us knowing or not, doesn't change a thing; she is still the same manager taking care of our bruises and helping us with practises. However…"

"Oh, no." Tada rolled his eyes. "Don't go there, Imayoshi. Really."

"It's something she doesn't want people to know so…"

"Seriously, Imayoshi." Susa mixed in again. "What are you gonna blackmail her with? Hanging the articles on the pinboards around the school? What are we, middle schoolers? Even you aren't that cruel."

"Oya~ I wouldn't step that low, don't worry… I was thinking only about telling Aomine…"

Tada laughed. "And what makes you think he doesn't know already?"

"Why would he?"

"Duuuh… because she likes him? They're closer than you want to believe and Aomine wouldn't respect just anyone, captain. For someone who reads people that well, you fail to see the things you don't want to. Or am I wrong?" There was something meaningful in Tada's gaze and it made the hair on the back of his neck prickle.

"The money though… Club could use some additional funding…" He muttered.

"Oh, but it does…" Susa nodded thoughtfully. "Who do you think paid for those hoops Aomine had broken? The club or him? Don't be naïve, the cut from his scholarship covered barely a quarter of the sum. And the first aid kit, the ointments and high-quality tapings… You think we could afford them from the club funds? If so, there would be no training camp possible for us."

Susa was the accountant for the club, he knew about all the money flowing into the club and flowing out of it. The Interhigh hotel fees and such were paid directly by school, but training camps, necessary equipment and jerseys were financed from the funds allocated to the club at the beginning of the year.

"What? So you knew?!" Wakamatsu pointed a finger at the senpai.

"Not everything. She came to ask me about the financing during the first week and I explained it to her. After the hoop incident, she came again, giving out the money, telling me to keep it between us." He shrugged. "So I did. I asked her how she'd gotten it and she said she was teaching dancing and it paid well and that the coach knew… I didn't really care about it more. And that she buys supplies regularly… I thought you've noticed."

"Why do I hear these things as the last?! I'm the captain, dammit!"

"You said you didn't want to be bothered by money."

"I didn't mean it that you'd keep things from me!" Seeing Imayoshi angry or annoyed was a rare sight. The four of them had the luck, and Susa-senpai with his calmness could rein in on the captain with his slightly bullying personality exceptionally well.

"I didn't keep it from you. You simply didn't ask, so I didn't tell." He replied calmly.

* * *

 **A/N:** That's it for now. Please don't kill me! But I've always wanted Kise to be the interruption at some point so... And he'd just lost to Aomine, so a little (unintentional) payback is allowed, I think.

The next chapter will be not so idle... storm's to come.

Let me know what you think but remember, reviews are appreciated, but never necessary.

S.


	39. Chapter 39: You won't play

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone who followed, favourited and reviewed, it makes me very happy! Here's another chapter, as I warned before, storm's to come, but still...

Enjoy!

* * *

 _There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm._ – _**Willa Cather**_

 _Life experience is what defines our character, even if it means getting your heart broken or being lied to. You know, you need the downs to appreciate the ups._ – _**Nev Schulman**_

 _You can't win an argument. You can't because if you lose it, you lose it; and if you win it, you lose it. ―_ _ **Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People**_

 _Life is short. Focus on what really matters most. You have to change your priorities over time. ―_ _ **Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart**_

 _The course of true love never did run smooth. ―_ _ **William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream**_

* * *

"Was your _talking_ with Aya enjoyable?" Naito asked in the morning. When Aomine had returned, he hadn't spoken a word to anyone, well, Kano and Sakurai had already been sleeping like good kids, but still…

The ace raised an eyebrow at his roommate and a teasing smirk appeared on his face. "Very much." He said, guessing their ideas, but what of it? He didn't care; they could think whatever they wanted.

"We heard Kise too…" Ishii looked at both of them. "I don't assume he joined you?"

Aomine shrugged. "I don't need to explain anything to you. Think what you want."

"Told you, nothing happened." Ishii whispered to Naito quietly, withstanding Aomine's frustrated glare.

######

"Morning." Aya greeted Aomine when she spotted him in the hallway. She forgot to watch the time playing with Dorian and she expected to be the last to arrive for breakfast. Apparently, she was wrong.

"Uh, hey." He nodded in greeting, surprised to see her head for breakfast this late. He really didn't forget anything that had happened the previous night. And sure as hell, he had no idea how to behave now.

They headed towards the staircase and down to the dining hall.

"Are you feeling okay?" She asked curiously.

"Yeah." But under her scrutinizing stare he sighed. "A bit sore, but fine."

"That's normal. Your knees?" She probed. She needed to be sure.

"Tch." His usual frown deepened. He didn't like this topic, but apparently she wasn't willing to poke their 'almost kiss' from yesterday. Well, neither was he. "Fine enough."

"Good. Rest as much as you can today, thankfully we have the match at 5PM so it should be okay."

He nodded and gave her a curious sideways glance. "Did you have a problem yesterday?"

"With Katsunori?" With a raised eyebrow she laughed. "Not really. He was surprised and curious about the bandaged idiots and wanted to know if you were fine–" noticing his sudden horrified expression she quickly added: "– no worries, I assured him you were fine enough. But he is not stupid, Daiki. He'll be watching you today. I'm sure of that."

"I need to play tomorrow."

"I know. And you will." She smiled at him. "So… Did the boys interrogate you when you got back?" She didn't forget the 'almost kiss' either.

He blushed slightly and scratched his cheek. "Not yesterday, but they did a couple of minutes ago... I avoided it. It's none of anyone's business."

A small blush didn't avoid her either. "That I agree with."

They were already at the bottom of the staircase and had only a few meters to the dining hall, when they heard a massive stomping of someone running down the stairs in admirable speed and vigour. They turned around and waited to see the person. Soon, Hero emerged; her bob cut hair bouncing as she was taking steps by two and muttering swears and curses for being late under her breath. Considering her shortness it was a sight to remember and she wasn't watching her way at all. All she was focusing on was her speed and stairs under her feet – she wanted to avoid an embarrassing fall at all costs.

Aya and Daiki exchanged glances and smirked. Then Aomine took a step right to stand in the girls way. Hero would either notice him, or she'd ram into him. Either way, they were curious about the reaction of the small girl.

"Gyah!"

The second option came true. Hero rammed full-force into Aomine and he had to take a few steps back from the impact. It surprised him how much strength that little missile could muster. Hero on the other hand scared the crap out of herself as she hadn't expected anyone to be wandering the hallways at the time.

"For fuck's sake! What the hell is yer fuckin' problem?" She started her rant taking a few steps back to crane her neck, rubbing her nose which she hit against Aomine's chest. "Can't ya see I'm in a hurry! I'm friggin' late! Masa-chin will kill me!" She used Atsushi's nickname for their coach.

"Good morning to you too, Hero." Aya greeted her, laughing at the tantrum.

"Oh, Booby-chan ya have no idea… no idea…" She shook her head grimly, thinking of the shinai awaiting her in the dining hall.

"Please, the breakfast will be there for the next half an hour. Plenty of time…"

"But we have the match at 10:30! We need to go over the strategy again. It's fuckin' Rakuzan! …and I have a bad feelin' Cookie-monster will bail." She complained, but remained standing with the two. Then she realised it was Aya _and_ Aomine, and a wide grin appeared on her face. She hadn't interrogated Satsuki for nothing. "Hmmm~ Ya spendin' every possible minute together?" She asked.

"I don't get what you're trying to imply…" Aya said with a smile.

"Oh, ya do."

"I certainly don't." Aomine said with a raised eyebrow. "What are you up to?"

"Ah." Her eyes glowed with mischief and she couldn't help it. "Booby-chan and Spray-tan sitting in a tree~"

The moment those words left her mouth both of them slapped their palms across her mouth – Aya was quicker – and glared down at her. "Seriously?!" They asked in unison. Daiki had hoped the nickname was forgotten, then again, if she'd used his name it would've sounded really weird.

Hero shrugged and asked something like 'What?!' against their palms, but it was only a muffled sound.

They let go.

"It's true though, ain't it?" She protested immediately after gasping for air. "Pinky-pie told me so!"

"Pinky-pie?" Their eyes almost bulged out at the nickname. "As in… Satsuki? What made you change the nickname?" Aya asked in surprise.

Hero shrugged. "I know when to back down. The previous one obviously offended her, and if I wanted to get some intel, well… Pinky-pie it is."

Aomine sniggered. "Fitting enough."

"Yeah, right?"

Aya shook her head at the two. "Come on, I'm hungry."

"I'm so lookin' forward to that trainin' camp with the two of ya."

Aya and Daiki glanced at each other over Hero's head, who now seemed to be leading them both, they blushed and looked away. Aya laughed quietly. _Really… I'm looking forward to that too._ She commented inwardly.

######

Even though it was Saturday, all the Seirin members gathered in their gym, which was available to them all summer long. After witnessing the match between Touou and Kaijo, they couldn't keep still and needed the practise. It didn't matter that they had just returned from the deadly training camp.

"GAME?!" Hyuuga shouted in surprise when he walked into the gym good half an hour before the set time for practise and saw everyone playing already. "Wait… EVERYBODY'S HERE?!"

"AH!" They stopped, startled by the sudden shouting. "HI, CAPTAIN!"

"Well, fine, whatever… Wait… Are you sure?!" He exclaimed. "I'm glad that everyone's motivated, but you've got to last during the official practise time. Be careful not to wreck your bodies by overtraining."

"How can we not?! After watching that match!" Kiyoshi said, already trembling from exhaustion. He'd spent too much time in hospital and out of practise.

"Of all people you look the worst, Kiyoshi! You're already trembling like a leaf!" The captain scolded him.

Taiga snorted. "You do realise we are up against the generation of miracles this winter, right? Either we do it, or die trying! No time for worries."

Hyuuga huffed, raising his eyebrow. _He sure talks big…_ "I appreciate your motivation, but you still shouldn't overdo it. I bet Aya-san wouldn't appreciate that."

"Easier said than done." Taiga grumbled. "I'm leaving tomorrow and I won't be back till late August."

"And you will train your ass off wherever you'll be. Understood?" He ordered the teen with hands on his hips. It felt better after they learned some bits about Kagami's background and summer plans. The boy trusted them, and they should trust their ace too.

"Ossu." There was no other way he'd have it. And Aya wouldn't let him laze around.

"Hey! Kuroko's here!" Koganei called out to get everyone's attention.

"Eh? He wasn't here?" Someone asked in surprise.

"Good morning." The ghostly boy greeted them.

"You're here! Good!" Hyuuga nodded. "We'll be starting early today then."

Kuroko nodded and glanced into the box he was carrying. "Look what I've got here."

"What?"

"A doggie." He said, and as if it was a command a doggie's head popped out from the box. "Woof." It said and wagged its tail.

They all froze in shock, staring at the blue-eyed puppy of a strange origin, perhaps a mix of Alaskan malamute with something else no one could quite pinpoint. It was curiously staring back at them.

"You've brought a doggie _**here**_?! No!"

"Why?"

Kuroko hummed. "I found it in a park nearby. It had ' _adopt me'_ note attached" He shrugged and placed the box on the floor, taking the dog onto his arms, where the puppy squirmed and climbed all over Kuroko, settling on the bluenette's head. "I couldn't leave him there. He's only about two months old…"

"I think the doggie likes you!" Koganei said with a smile.

"But what are we going to do with the dog?" Hyuuga wondered. "It's not a sin to just ignore it along the road, but once we've taken it in, it's bad to give it away… How big it's gonna get anyways? We can't use the club funds to take care of the dog…"

"Hmmm…" Izuki was staring at the dog and Kuroko with a thoughtful expression. There was something odd about the duo. "Hey, everyone!" He called out when he realised what it was. "Don't you think the doggie looks like…"

Everyone came closer and stared at both, the dog and Kuroko.

"IT'S KUROKO!" They cried out collectively. "ITS EYES!"

"Damn! We're getting emotionally attached to it already!" Hyuuga swore. The puppy was cute, indeed.

"Doggie!" Koganei pointed a finger at the dog. "From today onwards, your name is Tetsuya #2."

"HA?! Don't give it a name! Now we really can't put it back onto streets anymore!" Not that the captain wanted to do it.

"Uhm…" Kiyoshi hummed to get everyone's attention again. "One more thing. I noticed…" He turned his head towards Taiga crouched in a corner of the gym, covering his head and trembling in fear. "What are you doing there, Kagami?!"

"No… Well… I… Uhm, I have a problem with dogs…" He stammered, glancing at the group of excited boys.

"HUUUH?! WHY?! You weakling! We thought you were a Tiger when you first arrived! Tiger, don't succumb to the little doggie like this!"

He glared at Hyuuga for that. "I NEVER SAID I WAS A TIGER!" He protested. It wasn't his fault that Taiga and Tiger were pronounced about the same.

"Kagami-kun, please don't say that." Kuroko spoke to him from an awfully close distance.

"Kuroko?" He turned around to face the boy and the dog. _Oh crap!_ They were too close, he backed away, but Kuroko followed.

"Look here – it's so cute!" He got closer to Taiga again.

Taiga backed again and soon he was running from Kuroko and the pup, who were chasing him around the gym. "Stay away from me! Damn you, Kuroko! Stop… or I'll kill you… Afterwards!" He kept shouting threats and cursing over his shoulder as he tried to keep the distance between the pup and him.

"…Morning everyone!" Riko strolled into the gym. "What's the commotion over there?" She asked curiously. "You have…" She squinted her eyes to zoom on the thing in Kuroko's hands. "A DOGGIE?!" She squealed excitedly, as she ran towards Kuroko and snatched the puppy. With #2 in her arms she made some pirouettes admiring its fur and eyes and cuteness. She glowed like a little kid getting a new toy.

Kiyoshi sighed. "We can't abandon it anymore, we'll figure out how to take care of it. Hands up, those who want to keep it in our club."

Everyone raised their arm. Everyone except Taiga; he really couldn't handle dogs. But he was outvoted, although Riko as their coach wasn't sure it was wise to keep a pet in the club. Still, she said she'd agree if Kuroko managed to persuade Taiga to vote 'yes' and thus there'd be unanimous agreement.

Taiga dreaded Kuroko's way of 'getting him and #2 along'. _This'll be one hell of a long day…_

######

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN YOU WON'T PLAY?!" Masako's sharp voice cut through the air in the dining hall like a thunder. Everyone turned they attention to Yosen.

"What?" Several guys at Touou's table whispered.

Aya noticed that Hero shrank back to herself, she'd been late which started the coaches annoyance and now when Atsushi announced he wouldn't play… Akashi was staring levelly at Atsushi and a content smile appeared on his face.

"Look at him." Aya growled lowly to Daiki, who was sitting next to her and pointed to Akashi with her chin. They hadn't escaped curious stares of their teammates; obviously a word of Daiki spending considerable amount of time in her room spread around the team rather quickly. Well, she didn't particularly care. "He's glowing in complacency." Oh, how she wanted to wipe that smile off Akashi's face. With her fist. Preferably.

"Heh… I'd love to see his expression when he loses."

Aya nodded in agreement. "You think he won't play either?" She asked, remembering Akashi's words from the very first day.

"Hard to say. He does have three uncrowned kings on his team… Yosen has none, and besides Murasakibara all they have is height and defence. And your ex is incapacitated."

"Then you'll play!" Masako suddenly got up and pointed the tip of her sword at Tatsuya. It got Aya's attention once again and she paled.

"Oh, no…" She muttered.

Tatsuya flashed a smile. "I'm glad to have the opportunity, coach, th–"

"–but unfortunately, he isn't registered as a team member, let alone an active player." Okamura said with a sigh and crossed his arms over his broad chest. "We can't magically pull him out like a rabbit from a hat." The coach fumed and glared at her captain, who calmly withstood it and once she shifted her gaze to Atsushi again, Okamura shot a withering look at Tatsuya. As the captain, he had been informed about the injured shoulder by Atsushi. _What is the injured idiot thinking?!_

"I'll find a way!"

"Masa-chan." Katsunori felt the need to get involved, mainly due to the alarm which flashed in his niece's eyes for a second. "They won't allow it. If they did we could change and shift players as we wanted. Even among the teams. You know, Kaijo lost yesterday, so we could borrow Kasamatsu-kun for today… And claim he was a part of the team we 'forgot' to sign in…"

"What do you mean by that, coach?" Imayoshi mumbled under his breath.

"Why me?" Kasamatsu protested too, though it was kind of a praise of his skills.

Katsunori ignored both boys and stared at angry Masako.

"Oh, then what am I supposed to do, if this –"she pointed the tip of her shinai at Atsushi, who winced at the sight, "lazy bum refuses to play?! Hah?!"

"Your authority sure sucks…" He muttered.

"WHAT?!" The Yosen's coach was enraged and that blazing fires in her eyes reminded Katsunori that she had been a part of some motorcycle gang. Probably still was, and she was definitely a leader.

It wasn't wise to provoke her. He shrugged. "Nothing at all… Well… He might be feeling sick."

"SICK?! He's fucking lazy!"

"Ohooo!" Hero squealed upon hearing her coach swear like that for the first time.

"Language, Masa-chan. You're setting an example. Not to mention you're offending Genta."

Kaijo's coach almost choked with his food when he heard that. "Don't get me involved here, Katsu." He glared at Katsunori. His former teammate just shrugged it off with a smile. Those past wounds were probably long healed.

"That midget swears anyways, so what?" She defended herself and took a deep breath to calm down, ignoring Sumire's angry retort ("I ain't midget, Masa-chin!"). She was supposed to be the calm and strategic coach. If there was a way to beat Rakuzan without the giant, she had to figure it out.

"Aka-chin won't play either." Atsushi drawled staring back at his former captain.

"That's true, Araki-sensei." Akashi was quick to meddle in. "I'm, after all, not needed in this minor match."

Masako gawked at the arrogance. This brat was calling her team 'minor'?! She gripped the shinai tighter. Oh, how she wanted to smack him. "Don't be surprised if you lose then." She said with a dignity. As an adult and a coach she wouldn't get into argument with this self-conceited brat. Suddenly, she kind of appreciated her 'lazy' giant, because he wasn't trying to act as if he ate all the wisdom of the world. And she could now guess where the idea to 'sit out' the match had come from, because Atsushi usually didn't cause problems like this.

"I don't lose, sensei." Akashi said and got up to leave. "Good luck to you all." He said over his shoulder, his team flowing out after him.

"Damn brat." She muttered under her breath. No, she wouldn't want this one in her team.

Aya's phone chimed and she fished it out. She read the message, replied and frowned deeply.

"What's up?" Daiki leaned over her shoulder to see the bad news, but she'd already closed her messages.

"Suzume is leaving Akita now… I have a bad feeling about this." She sighed.

The phone call the girls had shared was weighing on his mind too. He didn't get the full picture, but from what he'd overheard, Suzume didn't like her mother much and she was scared of going on this journey. But it still wasn't a valid reason for Aya to be anxious all day long. "Aren't you worrying over nothing? She'll be fine."

Aya sighed and shook her head. "You're probably right."

######

Everyone was excited to see the match between Yosen and Rakuzan, even though the two members of the generation of miracles were sitting this one out. Satsuki managed to nag Aomine into coming with them to watch the match too.

"Those three are interesting; Nebuya Eikichi the center, Mibuchi Reo the shooting guard and Hayama Koutarou the small forward." That's how Satsuki started her lecture about the three outstanding players.

It made Aomine roll his eyes. He didn't need it, he would see how good they were or weren't on his own once the match would start. But the others seemed interested, Aya included, so he bit back an annoyed retort he had ready.

"Ah, can I sit here?" Tatsuya appeared next to them and pointed at the vacant seat to Aya's right. Under Daiki's glare he simply smiled and waited for the girl to reply.

Aya shrugged. "Sure, why are you not with the rest of your team?"

"I don't get along with them that much…" He trailed off, Satsuki's lecture piquing his interest. The pinkette sure had an eye for perfect analyses and outstanding players. His arrival interrupted her speech for only a second and she happily continued.

"Well, of course we got the first ball." He commented, interrupting Satsuki again, because the match had started and no one was listening to her anymore.

"You have two guys over two metres tall. I guess Okamura-taichou's original position is center, right?"

"He switched to PF because of Atsushi. And the shooting guard is Muri-kun."

"How good is his shooting rate?" Aya asked curiously watching the slow paced game of the first quarter.

"8 in 10 free shots, mostly…" He shrugged. The girls probably had the data. "Whoa…" He stared at Mibuchi's three pointer. The form, the accuracy, the overall performance, it was perfect. "That's no match for Muri-kun." He muttered.

"Perfect shots?" She asked with a raised eyebrow. Of course Tatsuya could appreciate a fellow shooting guard.

"And extremely difficult to perform…" Sakurai added from behind them. "Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt… sorry."

Aya sighed. "Stop apologising, really."

"What's so special about it?" Kano asked immediately, he wanted to know. After all, he was still relatively new to basketball.

"Well… He needs to jump high and into a fade-away all the while maintaining his centre of gravity mid-air in order to shoot." Sakurai scratched his cheek.

"Not to mention he has to aim while getting further away from the hoop. The shot is usually called 'Heaven'." Tatsuya added, glancing at the boy who asked. "And it has its twin shot 'Earth', where he can get a foul, thus make a four-point play."

"Huh." Satsuki smiled. "You've done your research too, I see."

Tatsuya shrugged – it hurt like hell – but he shrugged anyways. "I like to know who I might face. Besides, I'm a fellow shooting guard too. It's interesting to watch the others' styles."

The first quarter was slow paced. Yosen managed to keep the score in check, their defence was exceptional, the best in the entire country, but they attacking power wasn't as good. It compensated, but it wasn't enough. They ended the quarter with score 23-24 for Rakuzan.

"This will be a tight match, indeed."

"We'll lose." Tatsuya said. "The defence is good for nothing if they can't make the shots right. And Rakuzan is getting used to it. All they need to do, is pace the game up, and even the shield of Aegis will be skewered. We're missing Atsushi on the inside."

Aya gave him a sideways glance. "Do you really not trust your teammates?"

"It's not about trust here. I'm just being realistic."

"After the first quarter with a score like that I'd say you're being pessimistic."

He sighed. "Whatever."

The second quarter started in the same – according to Aomine – sluggish pace and he yawned. He could already see the winner, and it wasn't Yosen. Murasakibara was obviously missing on the inside, and even if the gorilla-like captain stood guard quite well, Mibuchi's three pointers were getting the best of him. So far, the shooting guard was the main point gatherer for Rakuzan. Not to mention the bulky Nebuya who, despite his smaller size, caused problems. And then there was Hayama, who didn't get much of a space so far, but Aomine could sense that the blonde would be the one to get the pace of the game up. He wanted to see that happen. The team eerily reminded him of Teiko, of his former team. All that was missing was the sixth man. _Heh… Interesting bunch you've got there Akashi._

But the point guard was nowhere near Akashi's level, not even Imayoshi's, and he was the main source of fumbles during the game. And the power forward seemed to had just recently started with the game, he was average, if not below average at the point.

"I wanna leave." Aomine complained mid game. The score was tied at 46-46.

"Then go." Aya said with a half smirk, provoking him. Hayama was out of the spotlight for now, but she guessed that Rakuzan would speed things up very soon. They shouldn't drag the game like this much longer.

"Not yet." He grumbled; his eyes staring at Hayama, who was radiating confidence and skill, yet didn't have the chance to show off. "I wanna see him."

"Then why are you complaining?"

"'cause it's slow. And that PF is pathetic. Kano could take him!"

"Eh? Really?!" Kano glowed like a little sun behind them. Getting such praise from Aomine… He could as well grow wings and fly off.

Daiki rolled his eyes. "Don't get on a high horse here..." He grumbled begrudgingly, realising he had just complimented someone.

"Says the guy with ' _The only one who can beat me is me'_ mantra." Naito pointed out dryly and everyone around them laughed.

"Careful, you might not wake up tomorrow." Daiki threatened him icily.

"Warning understood." Naito nodded seriously. _I should learn to keep my mouth shut…_

Katsunori shook his head at this bunch he called his team. "I'm surprised the score is tied." He mused. He decided to watch the match with his team, to have a better picture of the style of both teams. "I thought they'd have some difference by now. It seems as if they are testing each other for an awfully long time."

"They should speed up in no time." Imayoshi pointed out.

And indeed, the third quarter started with Hayama getting the ball. And the fun began. The boy's speed was exceptional. His dribbling was powerful and incredibly fast, like lightning. The opponents could barely watch the ball, let alone steal it. They couldn't match up to his nimble speed and reflexes. A deafening banging sound echoed throughout the entire stadium when he possessed the ball. The sound itself was unnerving and nipping at the confidence of whomever faced it. This way he could get passes to Mibuchi or Nebuya.

"Finally." Aomine smirked widely. This boy he wanted to face.

"Similar to you, eh?" Kano asked curiously. "But damn, how can he dribble like that?"

"Years of practise." Aya said.

"He isn't showing everything." Aomine said and leaned forward a bit. _He has one… no, two notches higher level than this._

"Well, they know we are watching." Katsunori shrugged. He was actually glad that Aomine was interested in someone else beside his former teammates.

"They abandoned their PG and PF," Satsuki's eyes widened in surprise, "it looks like three on five now, and they are winning…" It seemed like they got rid of a dead weight holding them back. Those three were a good team with an outstanding cooperation.

Hayama's sudden involvement, Mibuchi's four pointers and Nebuya's rebounds earned Rakuzan a lead. The third quarter ended with Rakuzan leading 71 – 65. It was close and manageable, but the flow of the game had been tipped to Rakuzan's side already.

"I don't believe they will win this…" Aya huffed referring to Rakuzan, but she could see it too now.

And they did. Rakuzan won by 14 points. They were all staring at the score board: 94 – 80 for Rakuzan. The game was pleasant to watch – too boring according to Aomine since it wasn't as heated at Kaijo vs. Touou and he had to sit tight and watch – but there was a lot to learn. And those two schools weren't explosive offensive teams. Yosen was a defensive team, while Rakuzan was well balanced all-round team.

"It was a good game. They played well." Tatsuya summarized it. He still felt rather detached from the team so the loss didn't affect him much. He got up to leave, but then he remembered something and turned to Aya. "Don't you have some spare bandages and tape?"

The question caught her unprepared. "You should ask Hero. Don't you have it in your team's first aid kit too?"

"It's too thin and barely holds up." He complained.

Aya sighed; at least she always knew how much of the medical / taping supplies she had. The stock of tape and bandages, however, was getting alarmingly small by the day. She was using the tape daily, Kise had stopped by to ask for some tape before too, now Tatsuya, and she was more than sure that Aomine would need it during both matches. If she gave some to Tatsuya now, there wouldn't be enough for her own team. _There won't be enough anyways…_

"I don't have enough. Considering the amount I've used already… I guess I should go and restock after lunch..."

"Don't you have your specialised shop all the way back in Tokyo?" Katsunori asked her with a raised eyebrow.

"If I go right after lunch, I should make it back in time for our match. And if not, well, you don't need me that much. I'm not on the bench anyways, right?"

"Can't you find the stuff you need in this area?"

She shrugged. "Probably. But I'm positive that looking around will take more time than going to Tokyo and back."

"All right. But come tell me when you'll be leaving, okay?"

She sighed. "I'm not a kid, but fine. I'll report to you."

######

During lunch, Aya kept her phone on the table, and she kept on checking it every ten minutes. Suzume should've messaged her a long time ago. Even if they had left at 10AM, as had been the original plan, she should have been in Sendai by now. There was nothing. The worry was eating her up, because she could feel that something was wrong.

She had typed a message 'Are you okay?' to Suzume half an hour ago. It had been delivered but no reply came. This wasn't like the tall girl at all and it only enhanced Aya's bad premonition which was lurking around for days.

The rest of the team noticed her strange behaviour too. If they asked her directly and alerted her that she was being obvious, she'd deny it and pull out her mask of nonchalance, which no one wanted. They were strangely happy that the redhead wasn't keeping her guards up as cautiously as before. Hence, they observed quietly wondering what was going on with their manager.

Daiki was sitting opposite her and her constant fidgeting was making _him_ anxious about the girl he'd never met. He stretched his legs, bumping into hers. She startled at first, looking up at him, but he forced her to keep her legs where they were by caging them with his own. It also effectively stopped the nervous tapping of her foot against the floor. It was a quiet and invisible movement, but sometimes she would tap against his shoe without realising it and it was driving him crazy.

'Calm down.' He looked at her almost softly, ignoring the rest of the team.

'I can't.' She looked back at him desperately. But the physical contact was comforting her and she didn't protest. The tapping stopped. She leaned her calves against Daiki's so they could touch with the largest area possible.

She took a deep breath; she needed to think about something else. Anything else. "Do you need anything except the tape?" She asked and looked at everyone flashing her usual cheerful smile. Without Daiki's touch she probably wouldn't have been able to do it now.

Considering the fact they were leaving the next day, there wasn't much the boys needed. They asked mostly for snacks and sweets. And Naito asked for a book, because he had nothing more to read, and he wanted Aya to pick something for him – out of curiosity of what the girl would choose for him.

######

"Aya-chan! Welcome, welcome!" An older lady working in the sport's shop where Aya was a patron greeted her with a smile. "Aren't you supposed to be somewhere else?"

"Hello! I just popped out for a while to restock the first aid." She explained cheerfully. The shop was huge and well stocked, there was about anything one could demand. Aya liked it particularly because of dance sport section, which wasn't common in sports' shops, except this one. And they usually had Taiga's shoe size there too.

The lady nodded and started walking towards the tape, bandage, plaster etc. section they had there. "Yes, yes. Come on, your usual purchase has just arrived and there is a new brand we ordered." She hummed all the way, describing the properties and qualities of the new brand, comparing it to the rest, but not claiming it was the best.

Aya appreciated that. The small talk actually helped her to think of something else besides Suzume. And soon the conversation shifted to the Interhigh and their matches. The lady with her motherly aura wanted to know everything, but Aya filtered it as usual.

She took several packs of tape, just in case, and weighed the new one in her hand, observing it carefully. "Hmmm… I'll stick with the usual. But I'll test the new one if you want me to."

"Yes! I'll be happy to get feedback from you, Aya-chan."

"Sure thing." She smiled and followed the lady to pay for her purchase. "Please, no packages. I have my own bag."

"But –"

"No buts." She chuckled. "Too many wrappings and packages are only a waste."

The lady sighed. "All right. Have it your way."

She checked the time. It was 2PM, there were still good three hours for her to spend, including the way back and so she decided to visit a bookshop she knew well. The sweets and snacks could've been bought later on the train station.

She opened the door to the familiar, cosy bookshop of Arami Ken. A bell hanging above the door jingled in greeting.

"Hello!" She greeted the shopkeeper, who was sitting behind the counter sipping from his coffee. The shop seemed vacant and he was reading idly.

"Ah!" He startled and quickly closed the book, almost spilling the coffee all over the table. He adjusted his glasses and blinked at the new guest, probably the first one in some hours. A recognition sparkled in his eyes. "Aya-chan! You startled me!"

"Sorry, sorry." She apologised with a chuckle. "I need to buy a book for someone, and this was the first place that came to my mind."

"Eh? Aya?" Kiku's surprised voice came from one of the tables. To see the redhead, she had to lean forward as she was shielded from the door by one of the numerous high bookshelves. She hadn't expected to meet the redhead there, or anywhere in Tokyo until late August.

"Kiku! Hey! I didn't think you'd be here."

"I didn't think _you_ 'd be here. Could you leave from the Interhigh? Are we winning?" She asked curiously. In fact, she wanted to go, but there was no one to accompany her, transportation was rather expensive and she was scared to go to a huge stadium all on her own. Even though she could just ask Wakamatsu or Aya to come and fetch her at the station, still… She didn't want to be a bother to anyone.

Aya smiled at the girl's cheerfulness, oh how much she needed it. "I think I have enough time for one coffee… Would you mind?" She glanced at the store owner questioningly.

He grinned. "One coffee on its way!" He saluted, always happy to see the two girls chatting at one of his tables. "And…" He halted, "who are you buying this book you need for? We'd better not forget about it later."

"Uhm… Naito-kun." She said with a finger on her lips glancing at Kiku, but the girl shook her head – she didn't know Naito that well. "He is intelligent, composed, usually keeps quiet and observes others, but he has a rather dry sense of humour, I guess… And sometimes he blurts out biting remarks without thinking. I've seen him read detective stories but also fantasy and even some manga."

"Hmmm…" He tapped on his temple in thought. "I'll think about it, while I brew the coffee."

"Thank you!" With a smile she took over the armchair opposite Kiku. "So? What do you want to know about the Interhigh?"

Kiku's chocolate brown eyes sparkled in curiosity. "Everything!" She breathed out excitedly.

And so, Aya told her everything important. She brushed the matches quickly, only talking about the match against Kaijo and everything that concerned the match – including the injuries and the 'almost-kiss' (which made Kiku blush and hide her face in her palms all the while staring at Aya wide-eyed). The only thing she omitted was Suzume and her troubles. When she checked the phone there was no message from her tall friend, only one from Taiga, who was: 1. – annoyed and scared by some dog (Aya didn't understand half of it), 2. – starting to worry about Suzume as well, because she didn't reply to his messages either.

"In just a week…" Kiku muttered, still blushing.

Aya shrugged with a smile. "I think it took much longer than that."

"True." She finished her tea and stared out of the window. "Somehow… I wish I could be there." The words escaped here before she could stop them. She quickly covered her mouth and looked sheepishly at the redhead.

"Hmmm…" Aya tapped her finger against her lower lip. "Then why don't you come with me?"

"W-what?! No! I can't…"

"Why not?" She probed. "I bet there still is one free room and if not you can stay with me if you don't mind the cat or with Satsuki. That's something we could talk out with the hotel."

The redhead made everything sound so easy. "I'd need to go home, tell my parents and all! It's not that simple, Aya."

"Ah… Sorry." The Kiku's reaction made her feel a little abashed. "I guess, for me, it is just that simple to go whenever wherever…"

 _And also a bit lonesome I believe…_ She thought, but would never say it to Aya. The situation the twins were in was well known to her. "Well… It's not for me."

"I know. Sorry. But…"

Kiku raised an eyebrow in question.

"Why don't you come at least for the finals tomorrow? It's not _that_ far…"

"Are you sure you'll get into the finals?"

Aya smirked. "100%, our guys _are_ that good after all."

"I don't know…"

"Are you scared of going alone?"

"A bit…" Kiku admitted. "I might run into someone I don't want to see."

"Won't your brother be willing to accompany you? And you can get a ride home in the school bus – there are enough vacant seats…"

"Hmmm…" Kiku chewed at her lower lip as she was rolling the idea in her head. It wasn't a bad one. Actually, she could make them cookies too, regardless of the outcome of the match. And it wasn't a sleepover thing, so her parents would be probably okay with it – more okay than with the summer training camp, where they allowed her to go to anyways.

"Sounds good, right?" Aya was observing her friend curiously; Kiku was always quite unreadable for her. With her timidity, quietness and kindness which could subside and give way to teasing and unusual cheerfulness, the small girl could be rather enigmatic too. One never knew which side of her would resurface.

"Yeah…" She nodded absent-mindedly. "It could work out. I'll ask Ryuu-nii-san tonight, he is supposed to come for dinner."

"I'll be looking forward to seeing you then." Aya smiled. "And how are you spending the holidays?"

"The orphanage, the dojo and here. And I've already done the homework."

"Whoah… I haven't even started."

Kiku smirked. "And we both know you won't until the last few days."

"True." She laughed, knowing all too well she wouldn't have much time for homework.

After a thorough search they found a book for Naito. Aya was sceptical about it at first, she'd never read the author, and hearing it was an English author known for his subtle jokes depending on the language and wording itself she really doubted the translation could equal the original. But it caught her interest and it was especially something like this to pique Naito's interest. She added the book to her list too, but she'd read it in the original language. And compare it later, maybe…

But the discussion about books got her so immersed that she forgot to watch the time.

"Oh, dammit!" She swore when she'd realised her mistake.

Kiku glanced at the clock hanging on the wall. "You've missed the train." It wasn't a question.

"I've missed my bus which was supposed to take me to the station. Even if I run I won't make it…"

"When is the next one?" She knew that getting from Tokyo to Chiba prefecture wasn't such a problem, but if Aya missed some connecting transport in between… well…

"Well… train is not such a problem, connecting to another bus is. To get where I need to it'd take me hour and a half, since I'm here, two hours. Match starts in hour and a half and I'll get there in… two and half hours, not to mention I need to buy them snacks, so three hours." She sighed, sometimes, she hated transportation; it could mess up her plans really well. "I won't make it for the match."

"If you're lucky you might catch the dinner."

######

Katsunori was surprised when Satsuki knocked on his door hour and a half before the match. Aya had already informed them all she wouldn't make it in time for the match. At times like these, he was glad for the group chat she had created. But the pinkette's presence made him wary.

He was dressed casually in sweat pants and a loose black t-shirt, which was unusual for him. Reading glasses with a stylish frame – Hikaru's choice – were settled on his nose and made him mysteriously even more handsome (he never realised it) and he was holding a book he'd been reading up until her knocking had interrupted him.

"Momoi-san, what brings you here?" He asked her a bit awkwardly, feeling uncomfortable to be caught in his leisure clothes by a student.

"I need to discuss something with you. Can I come in?" There was a certain resolve shining in her magenta orbs, but there was also a hint of guilt, which he didn't like.

His eyes narrowed suspiciously. "What about?"

She glanced left and right nervously, as if she was trying to hide something. "Aomine-kun."

 _That's not good…_ He thought. "Okay, come in." He took a step back and let the girl in. She sat on a vacant chair and fidgeted.

"What is it?" He leaned against the door frame and crossed his arms over his chest. The book was still in his hand and he used a forefinger as a bookmark.

Satsuki bit her lower lip and took a deep breath to speak up. "I think Aomine-kun is injured. And I want you to take him off the matches from now on." Her voice was resolute, but he could see a hinge of guilt remaining in her eyes.

"Why do you think so?" He asked, willing to let the pinkette explain everything. Playing dumb had its advantages when dealing with students who seemed to be hiding something, as a teacher he knew that.

"He is moving differently. When I asked him he said he was fine, Aya-chan said the same thing, but I know him the best. I've observed him for years and I think his knees are hurting. If he plays against Akashi-kun he will get seriously injured. You can't allow that!"

"We will lose without him."

His grey eyes bored into hers and she wanted to take a step back, but she was sitting and it wasn't possible. The coach in his casual clothes with messy hair and glasses was an unknown variable and she wasn't sure how much she could pester him. He looked different, more approachable and at the same time more distant than ever. She didn't understand it in the slightest. Yet, she was determined to protect her best friend at all costs.

"Maybe not. But he definitely can't risk a serious injury. And he won't hold back in the finals. You can't allow him to play. Please!"

The worry in Satsuki's eyes made him sigh. "Have you talked with him?"

"He doesn't want to talk to me. I think he talked with Aya-chan, but… They're trying to hide it, I'm sure of it." Suddenly, she was angry at the redhead. "I don't get why she encourages him to injure himself! She should do the opposite!" Her natural respect for coach was being overshadowed by her irritation.

"Because he wants to play." He ran fingers through his hair. "Look, we can let him play and once we see something is off, we can pull him off anytime. What you're suggesting is a drastic measure and I don't think it's necessary."

"Aomine-kun requires drastic measures! I know him! Once we realise something is off, it'll be _way_ off, and way too late. He's an idiot and he will play until he'll destroy himself, mainly if it's Akashi-kun… Coach, _please._ " She insisted, not realising that her voice was getting louder and tighter with emotion.

He raised an eyebrow at that. "And why forbid him to play today too? All we need is 10 minutes, and he doesn't need to go all out."

He knew that some people (like Aya) could hide their pain very well, and he wasn't fond of the idea to let him play either, but they needed him. And what more, Aomine _wanted_ to play. Katsunori was willing to let him as long as the ace was honest about his condition and taped his knees. He hadn't expected the pink haired advocate to come and demand Aomine's withdrawal from the matches.

"To prove the point that he needs to rest and heal. If we let him play today, he'll insist on playing tomorrow." _He'll insist anyways, but…_

"I think you're overly anxious, Momoi-san." He kept his voice purposefully calm, hoping the pinkette would calm down too, but it didn't seem to be working.

She frowned; she didn't expect this to be so difficult and so annoying. The coach was sure headstrong. "I don't want to see my best friend shattered just because you and your niece need to prove something to yourselves." She spat angrily. "And, unfortunately, you're the only one with the authority to hold him back. I need you to do it, because if something happens to him, I'll make sure you'll be accountable."

He blinked at her taken aback by her outburst. _Threatening me now? I see Aya can have some bad influence._ But if Satsuki's mother pulled some strings, he could very well face consequences he didn't want to face in his teaching and coaching career. There were wheels spinning he couldn't influence and some people just had long fingers. Momoi Satsuki was that kind of a person whether she realised it or not.

"Fine." He yielded. "Call a meeting here in half an hour. And I want you to inform Aya about it."

She stared at him for a moment. "Fine." But she was already decided not to tell her. If Aya thought it was the coach's idea, it would be for the best.

######

As the team gathered in Katsunori's room, he was already wearing his usual, almost business-like shirt and matching necktie, his hair was combed and neat and he wasn't wearing glasses anymore. The boys were confused about the sudden meeting Satsuki had called them to. The match was starting in an hour and they were expecting it impatiently.

"What is going on?" Imayoshi asked seriously when the last boys – Aomine and Kano – arrived.

Katsunori sighed and pulled at his fringe. "Yamaoka-kun, you'll play the match." He said.

"Yeah, I know." The third year nodded and tilted his head in question.

"The _whole_ match." Katsunori specified. They could handle the Onita high even without Aomine.

"WHAT?!" Several guys asked at the same time, Imayoshi included, but Aomine's voice was the loudest. And the ace continued. "YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS!"

The coach sent an icy glare towards the boy. "Don't yell at me. And as a matter of fact," he continued, holding the stormy gaze, "you won't play in this competition anymore." His voice was resolute.

As the coach he didn't have to explain his reasoning and he sure as hell wouldn't blame Aya that it had been her who had told him about Aomine's condition and Satsuki… well… he needed the team to trust their manager and he couldn't undermine her. Part of his mind wondered if Satsuki had planned it this way all along.

There was a moment of silence. The faces of everyone went from pure shock to worry and something close to anxiety. Only Aomine's face twisted in rage.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!" He couldn't keep his voice down, coach or no coach, this was unfair. He wanted, no, he _needed_ to play in both matches. His eyes ran around the room, the redhead wasn't there. Why the hell she wasn't there?!

Satsuki winced; she wasn't used to Aomine yelling like that. It actually scared her and she took a step back, glad that he wasn't paying her any attention. She hoped the coach wouldn't explain himself too much. As long as Aomine believed it was solely coach's idea, it was going to be fine.

Katsunori stared back at him placidly. "You're not fit enough to play. It's my decision as the coach–"

"I'M _FIT_ ENOUGH! I AM THE ACE, DAMMIT! YOU CAN'T JUST TAKE ME OFF LIKE THAT?!" He didn't care he was yelling at the coach at the moment. He was seeing red and the only thing he could feel was hot white fury. "YOU'LL LOSE THE FINALS WITHOUT ME!" There was a certain desperate edge in his voice.

Unconsciously he made a step forward and he felt two pair of hands grabbing him from sides so he wouldn't launch at the man in front of him. He tried to free himself from whomever it was holding him back – he didn't care who – but they had an iron grip and his elbow protested.

"It's my final decision." Katsunori said coldly. He understood the boy, he felt sorry for him, but he let nothing of that reflect in his expression or eyes. "Get him out to cool off." He cocked his head towards the door and Wakamatsu and Tada had to fight the ace to be able to drag him out, all the while he kept spouting insults at them and the coach. Unfazed by the scene he looked at Imayoshi. "Get the team ready, we meet in the changing room within 20 minutes. Be sure to win this match."

"What about Aomine?" The captain asked uncertainly. A scene like this could cause a problem in the team's concentration during the match.

"Leave him alone. He'll settle down eventually."

######

"LET ME GO ALREADY!" He's had enough of the two bastards who dragged him to the hallway.

"THEN COOL OFF, FOR GODS SAKE!" Wakamatsu bellowed back at him, easily equalling the volume. "YOU'RE BEHAVING LIKE A KID, DAMMIT! THE INJURED IDIOTS SHOULD SHUT UP AND HEAL!"

"FUCK OFF, BAKAMATSU! LIKE HELL YOU KNOW ABOUT MY _INJURIES_!" He roared. Wakamatsu's comment only made him more furious.

He didn't care anymore; he used his heel to stomp on Wakamatsu's foot. The quick sharp movement sent a pain through Wakamatsu's leg and he loosened his grip, which was just enough for Aomine to land a good aimed elbow punch into Wakamatsu's ribs. The punch made them both wince, as Aomine's left elbow protested painfully, but it served its purpose. Wakamatsu staggered away, holding his abused side and glaring angrily at the ace.

"HEY!" Tada shouted, but before he could say anything more a strong left blow was delivered to his jaw. He blinked in shock and backed away. The force behind that punch was quite something and he hadn't expected Aomine to actually punch him.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" Masako's voice rang in the hallway and she crossed that few meters separating her from the boys in a second. It was only a coincidence that she decided to go for a coffee.

She always carried her shinai along and now it proved to be handy. In a lightning fast movement, her shinai sprang up above her head and then swung down hitting Aomine on the head. It hit him hard as she used the strength of her entire body. The sound of the hit resonated in the hallway for a moment. It hurt, yes, but the shinai wouldn't cause any serious injury a bruise at most. And it shocked Aomine enough to stop his nonsensical behaviour fuelled by rage.

"Wh –?" He started, staring at the Yosen's coach in astonishment and disbelief.

"No fights or your team can be out of the competition for good, brat." She said, resting the shinai against her shoulder. Her legs were spread wider apart and she was staring down at him (even though she was shorter). Her steely gaze told him loud and clear he didn't want to go against that woman. "As it was within your own team I'll turn a blind eye."

"Thank you." Tada said despite taking the punch. "We need to play."

She nodded. "Get out of my sight." She pointed the shinai towards the staircase.

"Tch." Aomine clicked his tongue. _I warned them_. But he didn't argue further, with his head hurting, he passed by Masako and disappeared down the staircase. He wasn't sure he'd return so soon. He didn't want to see anyone.

"What in the blazes happened?" She asked the two boys who had taken some hits – though she'd have to admit, that frowning ace was good at fights, there had been no excessive movement in his little performance.

"Coach forbade him to play further. He made a scene and we dragged him out before he could launch at the coach… Bastard!" Wakamatsu growled, hoping the foot and ribs would stop hurting until the match.

Masako laughed heartily at that, tilting her head backwards. "I'd love to see that old idiot getting punched."

She could understand the situation much better now too. Once she had been forced to sit out a match she had knocked out the team's captain. Her short fuse had been legendary back then. So she completely understood Aomine's action, especially if they were restricting him. She wouldn't have had that either. But it was still amusing.

"It's not funny, Araki-sensei." Tada joined in, rubbing his sore jaw.

"It is, it is." She waved her hand. "But he wouldn't. No matter how lax Harasawa can look, he isn't one to be trifled with, boys."

They exchanged glances, not believing her, but then again, when the person who apparently hated their coach said it and meant it, maybe she was right. _And_ she had hit Aomine.

"Oh, well." She turned on her heel to leave. "Good luck in your match. Win it." She said over her shoulder and tapping the shinai against her shoulder she continued to descend the stairs.

######

Finally on train, Aya took out her phone to check the messages again. There was nothing new; only the reply from Katsunori that she didn't have to hurry. Her battery was barely 2% and she cursed under her breath. She'd forgotten to charge the previous day and all the checking did the trick. Still, no message from Suzume had been delivered. An icy hand squeezed Aya's heart and she resolved on calling Suzume's grandparents once she got back to the hotel and charged her phone.

But she could still manage to send one quick message: 'Good luck and win the match, Honey-bun.' to Aomine. The phone died just as she tapped the 'send' button. She didn't know if the message was delivered or not. She hoped it was.

######

Daiki strolled onto the outside court further away from the hotel. He was fuming, kicking every rock he found on his way violently. There were two guys playing one-on-one and the third was watching them, keeping a record of points scored. They seemed to be enjoying themselves and apparently they had no intention to head for the Interhigh matches. It only annoyed him even more.

"Hey!" He called out to them. "Gimme the ball and get lost." He demanded bossily, not willing to go back to the hotel to fetch a ball.

The guy who wanted to shoot had missed as Daiki's voice disturbed his concentration. "Huh?" All three of them turned to him.

With hands shoved inside the pockets of his shorts he approached the trio. "I said gimme the ball and get lost." He repeated.

"Who do you think you are?!" One of them spoke. He was relatively tall with his hair cut shorter than Daiki's, but there was nothing special or memorable about the guy.

"Oi, oi, that's Aomine Daiki." His friend peeped up from behind him. " _ **The**_ Aomine Daiki. Maybe we should listen."

"Hah?! This prick could be an emperor's son for all I care." He barked back, then turned his eyes back to Daiki. "If you want the ball come and take it in a match." He challenged.

Daiki smirked dangerously; it would've been boring without the challenge. The other guy cleared the space for the two, but Daiki shook his head. "That's not even a warm up. All three of you play."

They blinked in surprise and then stepped onto the court as well. Aomine Daiki or not, they thought the three of them had a solid chance.

How wrong they were.

In a mere three minutes they were sitting on their butts breathless. Daiki was holding onto the hoop with his right hand and hanging in the air above them, glaring down at them. He let go and jumped down a groan escaping him as his knees took the impact. He strolled towards the ball victoriously and picked it up, spinning it on his forefinger.

"I won. Now get lost." He ordered the trio roughly.

They all gave him looks of disdain and anger, but there was also awe and even fear. They scrambled to their feet and left the ace to himself.

Once they were out of his sight he threw the ball against the fence with a grunt, using his entire force. The fence trembled and rattled receiving the canon ball. "FUCK!" He shouted at the poor ball and went there to pick it up again.

He leaned against the mesh of the fence and slowly slid onto the patch of grass encircling the court. Anger was still boiling the blood in his veins and he felt betrayed. Betrayed by the coach and the entire team; no one had tried to back him up. He knew it might've been his fault for not caring enough and skipping too many practises, but still… It sucked.

He checked his phone, but there were no messages except the one from Aya in the group chat saying she wouldn't make it in time. It was strange. The redhead had never missed their match, and he had no idea what her reasons were. She got held up, yeah, but… something was bothering him just at the edge of his mind and he couldn't fully grasp it.

He dialled her number, but her phone was shut down. He frowned. And then he grasped it, a certain dreadful idea crossed his mind and bit into his heart. Aya had been the only one he'd honestly talked with about his hurting knees and elbow. The coach's niece. And the good liar. _Of course…_ He thought bitterly. He had _**trusted**_ her!

He closed his eyes and exhaled sharply. The thought was wrenching. The girl he loved, almost kissed, had gone behind his back like that while claiming otherwise? It infuriated and saddened him more than anything. "Dammit!" He punched the ground.

######

It was close to dinner time, and Aomine still wasn't anywhere in the hotel. Given the situation, the boys started to worry. They'd never seen the ace as furious, angry and desperate as he had been when the coach announced that he couldn't play in the final match. Injuries… And Aya-chan hadn't been there at all, so there had been no one to rein in on him or to run after him. After that, the team's mood slumped way below freezing temperatures.

They had won the match by good 30 points but… It had been an awfully quiet, quick and efficient match. The ace's removal shocked them, but instead of weakening and distracting them, it seemed to have the opposite effect.

"What do we do?" Kano asked his roommates. "We need to get him inside, somehow." He was worried about Aomine.

"We don't know where he went." Naito said and his voice was tighter than usual. Even he felt some sort of sympathy for Aomine after his outburst. Not that he'd forgotten the slipper…

"Aya-chan might." Ishii shrugged. The girl was the only one who could manage Aomine when he was pissed off like that; the only one, who dared to go and poke the bear.

Naito rolled his eyes. "Yeah, except she isn't back yet either. Remember? The taping and book…"

"Oh god…" Ishii muttered. "So she has no idea what happened…"

"Maybe Satsuki-chan informed her?" Kano guessed. "I don't think she doesn't know…"

"Sorry, to butt in, but… Imayoshi-san couldn't reach her. He said her phone was off." Sakurai joined in. It had happened in the half-break during the match and the boys couldn't have known. "I don't think Momoi-san had better success at that."

"Don't we have her work-phone number?" He tried.

Sakurai shook his head negatively. "Imayoshi-san asked that too, but she doesn't give that to anyone outside the work. And she doesn't store personal numbers there either. I doubt she remembers anyone's number… So… Sorry."

"How convenient…" Naito snorted. "So Aya doesn't know and Aomine is god knows where."

"Do you think it was coach's idea?" Ishii asked, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. Something didn't bode well. He hadn't noticed any deficiency in Aomine's condition, but Aya-chan had come to fetch the ace after all.

"You aren't suggesting that Aya-chan asked him to do that, are you?!" Kano couldn't believe that.

His friend shrugged. "She did come to _talk_ with Aomine yesterday. What if we got it all wrong and she wanted to discuss his condition? And knowing him, well, he wouldn't sit out just like that." It was logical to turn to an adult for help, no?

Naito was, however, shaking his head in disagreement. "Even if she had discussed his condition with him, she wouldn't have asked coach to do that–"

"But she was late, what if she called him?"

"Then she would've called Aomine!" He threw his hands in the air. "Maybe her phone is dead, or lost, or stolen. Who knows? But it's not Aya-chan's style. If she wanted Aomine out, she would've talked to him herself instead of using coach to deal with it. Or she would've warned Aomine, but judging by his reaction that wasn't the case, he wasn't expecting it. And if she had known coach wanted to put him out, she definitely wouldn't have left to restock the taping." It took him some time to realise this, because the entire situation had been so unexpected and shocking. Now he was annoyed at both, the coach and the pinkette for going behind Aya's back, though he wouldn't tell it to the others. "Although I'd bet Aomine believes it was Aya-chan's idea… As she was the only one missing there… And if he can't reach her in any way…"

"Then we should be looking for him!" Kano exclaimed, getting up to go put on his shoes, but Ishii grabbed his elbow to stop him.

"And tell him what exactly?"

"Ah… Well, that it's not Aya-chan's fault?"

"You think he'd believe you?"

He chewed his lip and looked away. "Then what do we do?"

"Watch. There is nothing else we can do." Naito shrugged. "If you try, I think you'll only make it worse than it is. And maybe we are only making ridiculous scenarios…"

"Still…" Ishii muttered. "This won't be nice…"

######

Aya was angry at herself for missing the match and disappointing the boys. The silent treatment of Suzume was worrying her and now her phone was dead. Yet, she decided to at least fulfil her promise to buy everything the boys had asked her to. When she was done with all the shopping it was already evening and the sun was setting quickly, colouring the sky deep orange and almost red. The sun here was setting around an hour sooner than it was in the LA, it was also rising sooner. But Aya liked longer evenings better.

"I'll miss the dinner too." She sighed glancing at her watch.

Still, she took a brisk walk back to the hotel. She could've taken a bus again, but she needed the fresh salty air and the breeze softly blowing from the ocean. The water was not visible from where she was, but she could smell it was quite close. It all had a calming effect and she sighed contently.

 _Huh, another court…_ She though, passing by a basketball court she hadn't noticed before. There was a figure half-hidden by long shadows sitting on the opposite side of the court. She squinted to see better in the rapidly receding light.

"Daiki?" She called out to him in surprise. She didn't expect to meet him on her way back; it made her happy.

But he didn't react and so she walked through the entrance and stepped onto the court, approaching him. Something about his posture gave off a small warning and she frowned. He was rolling a ball around, shutting out the outside world. It made her wonder how long he'd been there.

"Daiki." She tried again a bit louder.

"Huh?" He raised his head to look at her and he blinked in surprise.

"Hey." She smiled. "What are you doing here? You'll miss the dinner."

"I'm not hungry." He grumbled; the surprise of seeing her overshadowing the anger and betrayal he felt.

She shrugged. "Sorry I missed the match, I got held up. And my phone died. How are your knees holding up?" She asked, tilting her head to a side curiously. "I–"

"Tch." He got up abruptly and glared down at her, cutting her words off. "How convenient! Thanks to you, they are holding up marvellously." The sarcasm was heavily lacing his voice.

Something was definitely wrong. She knew this wasn't a praise or thanks for her yesterday's effort. Daiki was pissed off. "What?"

"You heard."

"Daiki, what happened?" She asked cautiously. It wasn't like him to be this… she had no idea how to describe what she felt him radiating. It was probably hostility, like he was suddenly out of her reach. And it wasn't pleasant.

"Don't call me that." He snapped at her.

It felt like a slap and she took a step back, dumbfounded. What the hell? She opened her mouth to say something, but he didn't let her.

"Why d' you even ask? You know what happened very well!" His voice rose with each word, going from a dangerous mutter into almost a shout.

"Uhm, I don't. I wasn't here." She reminded him softly and held her forearms up in a defensive gesture. She had no idea what was going on.

"Oh, don't play innocent with me! It's your fault!" He took a step towards her, feeling he had the upper hand.

But he seemed to forget that Aya had a short fuse herself, and despite the fact that she was in control of it most of the time, she could very well lash back. And she didn't like when he was blaming her for god knows what. Instead of backing away, she took a step forward.

"What is my fault then?!" She snapped back at him.

"Tch," he clicked his tongue in annoyance. "DAMMIT! You know! You're the one who told coach about my knees!"

There was a hint of 'oh' flashing in her eyes quickly. Because she _had_ talked about Katsunori about it, but Aomine had been allowed to play, she didn't get what was the problem. "That–"

"I knew it! It _was_ you who made me sit out!" He shouted angrily.

"What? Sit out? You sat out the whole match?" She asked in genuine disbelief.

Aya was a marvellous actor when she wanted to be, he knew. And so he considered her surprise to be fabricated. "Because of you! I should never have trusted you! Liar! Traitor!"

His words hurt like a whiplash and there was nothing she could say. He simply didn't want to listen to her. No matter what she'd say, he already had his mind set on her being the treacherous liar. The fact that it was Daiki accusing her hurt a thousand times more. There was no point in arguing further. She didn't want to be hurt more.

She took a few steps back, her face turning into a bitter scowl. "I guess we've both made a mistake then, Aomine." She said gravely, reverting to using his family name once again.

Then she turned on her heel and walked away calmly, with her head held high. In reality, she wanted to run. To run as fast as she could until her legs gave way under her. Tears stung in her eyes and she bit them back. While she was used to being called names and insults, those people could never get close enough to hurt her. And there he was, the person she trusted so much calling her a traitor. Which wasn't even true.

Daiki watched her leaving silhouette and his heart felt heavy. He was in the right so why the hell did it feel so damn wrong? The hurt bordering with heartbreak that flashed in her eyes couldn't be real, could it? She didn't try to argue back, or explain herself, which only enforced his belief it had been her. And it made him only disappointed and sad.

Aya's pace quickened once she'd left Aomine's sight. She wanted to be in her room, where she'd be able to let out those treacherous tears she had to hold in. Aomine had had the upper hand in their argument the whole time; she had no chance to explain herself or to contradict him, as she had no idea what she'd been being accused of. Too late she'd learned what the problem was. And while she knew the anger could create terrible words, it didn't ease up the pain she was feeling. The words had been said, and he had meant them.

But the whole way, her mind was racing, trying to figure out what exactly had happened. _He didn't get the message then_. She realised. This was a huge misunderstanding. But why would Katsunori make him sit out when he agreed to do the opposite? Why the hell he hadn't let her know? It wasn't his way of coaching. Sure, Imayoshi could've noticed too, but the captain would've found a different way to deal with it. And no one else knew.

Except…

Satsuki.

Aya's insides twisted violently, threatening to make her retch. It felt like she got punched into her stomach, the air being driven out of her lungs. Suddenly, she was glad she missed the diner. The long lost friend she'd just found again went behind her back like this. And Satsuki knew about her feelings for Aomine, yet…

 _So much about trust and 'friends'._ She thought bitterly and she stopped to take a deep breath to calm down. After a moment she turned left and headed towards the hotel.

"Robin. What happened?" Tatsuya's voice stopped her.

She turned to blink at him. He was sitting near the vending machine, chatting with Fukui-kun, Hero and Atsushi about their next match to determine their placement in the tournament. She didn't notice them there. And all were watching her with slight worry in their eyes.

Quickly, she fabricated a smile that was non-existent a second ago. "Nothing. I'm just disappointed I missed our match. That's all."

He held her gaze for a moment. Something had happened and she was hurt, he knew that face already. "Do you want to talk?" He asked.

Realising the fake smiles didn't work on Tatsuya, she gave it up, slipping back to her anguish. "I want to be alone." She said resolutely. "Ah, I got you something." She reached into the bag she was carrying and produced new bandages with an additional ointment, which she threw to Tatsuya.

"Eh? I didn't… Thank you."

A small smile formed on her lips. "I don't doubt Hero's care, but I thought you shouldn't pillage your team's first aid kit because of your own stupidity."

"Kind as ever." He chuckled and shook his head. "If you need to talk, I'm here."

"I know. Thanks."

Aya turned and left the four to discuss their match. With a sigh she climbed the stairs, getting ready to meet the boys. They didn't have to know she ran into Aomine on her way back. She walked around all the Touou's rooms, delivering sweets, leaving Aomine's and Imayoshi's room as last. By the time she went to Aomine's room, she'd already been informed about the scene he'd caused and the entire match.

Kano opened the door immediately after she knocked. "Aya-chan! Come on in!" He ushered her inside the room. "You missed the dinner."

His friendliness and brotherly worry made her chuckle. "I know. But I'm not hungry anyways." She opened her bag to fish out their share of sweets. "Sooo, these are yours."

"Thank you!"

They took their shares and she threw Aomine's bag of crisps on his bed, along with the taping she'd bought for him.

"You met him, didn't you?" Naito asked, observing the way she'd thrown those things.

She shrugged. "I wish I hadn't." There was an edge to her tone, indicating she wasn't willing to discuss it, but her perfectly fabricated smile faded. Those four were her classmates, her friends, and even if they still didn't know a lot of things, they cared. That was enough.

"He blames you, right?"

"Look," she sighed and glared at the boy. "I met him. We argued. I don't wanna talk about it." She held his gaze, then deciding he wouldn't pry any more she nodded. "Now. Here's your book. I have no idea if you'll like it, but I added in on my 'to read list' too."

"Terry Pratchett?" He raised an eyebrow at the author's name. "Never heard of him."

"Neither had I until a couple of hours ago. It looked like something you might be interested in, though." She was glad he took an interest in the book and started reading its summary, humming to himself quietly.

"Hm… I might even like it. Thanks." Naito placed the book on his night table and pulled out his wallet to pay for the book. Aya accepted the money without arguing.

"Okay, guys. I need to stop by Imayoshi's room and then I'll pay a visit to Katsunori. Sorry, I can't stay longer to discuss the match."

"It's fine." Ishii smiled at her. "The match is probably the last thing you're interested in now."

She half-smiled, "I wish it wasn't, but you're right. Thanks guys, I'm glad to have you lot." She turned and left.

The four stared at each other dumbfounded. "She's glad to have us…" Ishii muttered.

"Never heard a girl to say that." Kano added with tears in his eyes and blinked. "Aya-chan is awesome."

"Until she breaks your heart." Naito jabbed.

"I'm not in love with her, stupid." He protested immediately. "She's a friend. A friend."

Sakurai was smiling too. The girl was too overwhelming for him to handle, but he liked her too. She was strangely kind.

######

"IT POOPED INTO MY SNEAKER!" Taiga yelled at his teammates accusingly, showing them the puppy's load in his poor sneaker.

 _It's getting worse_. They all thought. Kuroko pursued Taiga with the doggie the whole day, and now, when the day came to an end, this had happened. It was probably around the time they called it quits and went home. All they needed to do was tidy up the gym and pack their stuff.

Cursing, he walked out in his casual shoes to try and somehow clean these ones.

"Shit, perhaps I should buy a new pair…?" He wondered, while trying to shake out the poop from his shoe. Then he sighed and looked up at the black sky, he couldn't see the stars from here. He was worried about Suzume, and now he felt something was wrong with Aya too. He felt he needed to be with his sister. And there was that blasted dog!

"Kagami-kun!" Kuroko's voice interrupted his thoughts. "Why don't you try accepting it?"

"Huh?" Kagami turned around to face his shadow, just to see him approaching him with #2 again. "KYAA! STAY AWAY FROM ME!" He jumped a few paces back, dropping the shoe. Then he glared at Kuroko. "No way! I'm scared of dogs!"

Kuroko was looking back at him with that unreadable expression of his. "Perhaps… You think, there are lots of violent dogs around, but #2 isn't one of those! I'm not coercing you to take care of it, but please, try petting it?" He asked. "I'm sure someone will take proper care of it, so it won't be abandoned again, but try putting down your prejudices and take a closer look."

"Kuroko, can you come over here?" Hyuuga called him and Kuroko trotted back into the gym.

"Wait!" Taiga protested. "Don't leave me with #2 alone!" Then he stared at the unrestrained puppy sitting a meter away from him. He was frightened to death.

 _Even if you say it's different… I don't understand it just like I don't understand other dogs!_ He thought. Aya might've tried to persuade him to like dogs too, their both grandparents did have a few after all, but he simply couldn't stand them. _Would it bite me if I extend my hand?_

He slowly picked up the sneaker. #2 kept watching him curiously, but didn't move a muscle.

"Eh?" Taiga blinked in surprise. "There's a gash in my sneaker. I didn't notice it." He glanced at the doggie again. There was no way the doggie could be _that_ smart… But…

 _I might get injured if I continue to practise in these. Speaking of which... We've had a tough training regimen as always, but everyone looked cheerful. They like the dog. I don't like hearing a dog barking in practises or matches, but the same goes for rudely shouting spectators. Maybe… The dog isn't that bad?_ Musing like that he slowly reached his hand towards the patiently waiting #2.

Instead of biting him, Tetsuya #2 sniffed his hand and licked it.

######

Her visit at Imayoshi's was a bit longer. The captain had the need to explain the situation and the match to Aya. And when she saw Tada's bruised jaw, she demanded some serious explanation. The boy didn't want to explain it at first, but she worked on it until she got the answer. She wasn't half that surprised of its origins, just disappointed.

When she was about to leave, Imayoshi had to bully her a bit. "We've figured you out, _Kagami_ Aya-chan~" He was curious how much the girl could endure in a day.

Her hand froze on the door knob and she sighed. There was no way she'd let him provoke her. "Took you long enough~"

"Oya? I thought you'd be… uncomfortable."

"I am. But… So long you don't put articles and photos around the school's pinboards like a middle schooler, I don't care anymore."

Then she continued to interrogate Katsunori. At first, he was going round and round, before admitting it was Satsuki who sought him out in order to let Aomine heal. It was just as she had thought. She told Katsunori about what had happened with Aomine, but she asked him not to butt in. She also told him about Suzume, because she needed to get it off her chest. Then she left, and all she wanted to be alone for some time.

She almost entered her room, when Satsuki called out to her happily. "Aya-chan! Welcome back! Come on, we need to discuss tomorrow's strategy. There were some changes in the line up."

"I think you can make it work without my insight." Aya said coldly and turned to look at the pinkette.

Satsuki backed away under the hostile glare of those reddish orbs. _She found out…_ "But it was coach's decision, not mine!"

"Cut the crap. First of all, I talked to Katsunori just a minute ago and I'm not stupid. Next, I'd have appreciated it if you had at least warned me that you decided to make him sit out, because it wasn't pleasant to learn this little _detail_ from Aomine." When Satsuki opened her mouth to protest, Aya held out her hand to shut her up. "And don't try to use my dead phone as an excuse, or claim you don't have my work-phone number, you do, and so does Katsunori, but he told _you_ to call me, didn't he?"

She shuffled backwards again and fondled with her skirt. "Ah, yes. I forgot, sorry."

"Forgot, or didn't want to?" Aya bit. "Thought I wouldn't figure it out? Anyways. Congratulations. You've managed to improve my relationship with Aomine. And ours too. Be proud. My _trusted_ friend." Sarcasm was dripping viciously from her voice and her anger was finally getting out. "Oh, and next time you want to ' _check up on Aomine's condition'_ , please do it yourself." She walked into the room and slammed the door behind her.

Satsuki remained standing in the hallway, speechless, and tears welled in her eyes. She'd never meant for this. She simply wanted to protect her friend!

"Those two hate when someone goes behind their backs like this, Momocchi." Kise came out around the corner; he'd barely managed to jump behind to hide.

"I needed to help Aomine-kun! He can't get injured while playing against Akashi-kun!" She protested. "He was supposed to believe it was coach's decision! Not Aya-chan's or mine!"

He chuckled. "Things are usually not as they are _supposed_ to be. Aominecchi's not the brightest, but… Aya-chan was probably the only one he talked with honestly about it." He shrugged. "Of course he came to that conclusion. I believe she would've told him to sit out herself if she'd believed he hadn't been in condition to play."

"Are you blaming me for this?!" She bristled. "I just wanted to help!"

"The road to hell is paved with good intentions." He said. It was something his mother was repeating to him way too often. "You should've talked with Aominecchi directly. And you know it."

"He can't know it was me."

 _Oh, how typical…_ He thought and fought an eye roll. "So it's better he thinks it was the girl he loves who went behind his back and lied to him? Look, I won't tell on you, and neither will Ayacchi, I believe. But once he figures it out, because he will…"

Satsuki covered her mouth again. "What have I done?"

######

Tears rolling down her face, Aya stumbled to find her charger and connect her phone. Dorian greeted her happily and meowed in greeting, but she ignored him. She didn't bother to turn on the lights. In the familiar cooing darkness, she slumped to the ground and rested her back against the bed, pulling her knees close to her chest. She buried her face in them and let the tears flow freely.

It'd been some time since she'd felt this hurt by another person. The gap between her and Aomine reappeared. For him to ask her to call him by his family name again… It was serious. True, she'd started using his name out of the blue, because she wanted and he hadn't stopped her, maybe he'd liked it. _Dammit!_ Aomine should've known that if she wanted him off a match she would've fucking told him herself! _You should've tried explaining… arguing… anything!_ _Dammit!_ She punched the floor and bit her lip. She was crying quietly, like she'd always been.

Dorian rubbed himself against her thighs in try to help and demanding food. So she started to absent-mindedly petting him. Dorian purred in response, food would've been better, but this affection was nice too.

After a moment, she had no idea how long; she reached to turn on her phone. There were no new messages, and out of curiosity she checked when the message she'd sent had been delivered to Aomine. The time corresponded with the time she'd turned on the phone again. _Of course…_ She snorted and wiped the tears with a back of her hand. It was pointless to cry over this misunderstanding any more than she'd had.

The phone chimed.

'You okay?' Taiga was asking.

'No. Emotional crap, nothing serious. Talk to you later.' She replied.

'… Okay. But if you need me to come…'

'No worries, Tai. I'm fine. Anything new from Suzume?'

'No… I'm worried.'

'Gonna call again.'

'Join me in.' He demanded.

She smiled at that and proceeded to make a group call. It was around 10PM already and she hoped that Suzume would be allowed to pick up. It was a silly thought, as the tall girl ignored her phone the whole day.

" _I guess we won't get lucky…"_ Taiga commented after the phone continued dialling Suzume without any response.

"Only a bit more."

" _You sure, you're okay? You sound like you've cried."_

"Venting out anger and a stupid argument. I'm fine, Tai. Suzu is more important now."

" _You think something happened?"_

"Now, I'm more than sure about it…" She said grimly.

After another three tones, when they were about to give up, someone picked up.

" _Hello? Aya-chan, Taiga-kun?"_ A coarse voice of an old woman sounded over the phone. And Aya's heart froze.

"Saeru-obaa-san. Good evening." Aya greeted her. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but…"

" _Did Suzume forget her phone at home?"_ Taiga asked hopefully, interrupting his sister, who hissed back at him.

Instead of answering a sob echoed through the line. " _N-no, I wish she'd had."_ The woman forced the words.

"What happened?" Aya asked, noticing how Taiga quieted down completely. Saeru's words sounded ominous.

" _Ah,"_ she swallowed with a certain difficulty. " _There was a… a… car accident. A frontal collision… with a truck… transporting steel rods. She is… My son… Her parents are…"_ Saeru was choking on those words and tears and sobs.

" _Hey."_ Naoto's voice took over as he took the phone from his wife. He could maintain some sort of detachment. " _I'm sorry kids. My son and his wife are dead. We are in the Akita's city hospital. Suzume just got out of a surgery, we don't know if she wakes up. And even if she does, her legs are severely damaged. She won't ever play volley again."_ He rasped out, it was obvious he had cried too. " _I'm sorry."_

Aya dropped the phone then. She couldn't believe it. This was too much. Too much for one fucking day! Her best friend was in a hospital, near dead, with her future half-destroyed. And she had felt something had been about to happen! The only thought in Aya's mind was: _Why Suzume?_

" _Aya!"_ She heard Taiga's voice, and then he apologised to the startled old man.

"Ah… yeah… Sorry, I just dropped the phone… Uhm… Naoto-san, can we come?" She asked immediately. "I want to see her. I promised her…"

"…" Naoto wondered about it for a moment. As a family member he wasn't pleased by it, then again, it only showed how strong the bond between Suzume and the twins was. He'd seen the dozen of messages and missed phone calls they'd left on Suzume's phone. And if he considered Suzume's feelings… " _If you want, you can. My granddaughter doesn't have a lot of friends after all, Aya-chan."_

" _ **We will.**_ " The twins said in unison.

" _We'll be here. Thank you."_ Naoto said and hung up.

"Taiga… I… I knew, I felt something bad would happen… I just never thought…" She had a lump in her throat and new tears welled in her eyes. "Why her? Out of all people?!"

" _Shhh… This is definitely not your fault. We'll go there. Now."_ He sounded dead set on the idea.

"How? We booked a plain for tomorrow late afternoon."

" _Do you want to wait until then? Because I can't sit around."_

"Of course not." She got up and turned on the light. She started picking up her things and throwing it on the bed.

" _Well then… Car, I guess? We can be there tomorrow around 8 – 9AM if we leave at midnight. Planes are in the morning, and trains well… I'll call Hiroto if he could lend his car, or come or whatever... I'll fetch you in less than two hours. 'kay?"_

"I need a cigarette."

Taiga hummed in agreement. In this situation, he wouldn't be surprised if Aya smoked half the package in one go. " _No alcohol, please. If, by chance I'm driving, I can't keep at it for 8 hours, I'll need you to relieve me."_

"No worries. I know. I'll be waiting for you."

They both hung up.

It was like a house of cards crashing down. Aomine, Satsuki, Suzume… people could be alienated or lost so easily. She was once again reminded about the simple fact. The idea of losing another important person was unthinkable for Aya. She needed to go to her friend. She needed to leave.

"FUCK!" She yelled at the surprised Dorian who immediately sought a hideout under the bed.

After taking a quick shower and hastily packing all of her stuff, she fed Dorian. Then she took the pack of cigarettes and headed outside. She needed the fresh air.

On her way out she stopped by Katsunori's room again.

"I need to leave." She said before he managed to fully open the door.

"What happened?" He asked immediately, taking in her eyes slightly reddened from crying and the cigarettes in her hand. This was not because of Aomine, he guessed, maybe a bit, but there must've been something more.

"Suzume was in a car crash. She is in the hospital. Taiga will come and fetch me by midnight, we need to go there." She said mechanically, chewing on her lip. "She might not wake up. Even if she does… There'll most likely be a permanent damage."

Katsunori's eyes widened. Then, without saying anything, he reached out and pulled Aya into a hug, resting his chin on top of her head. "She'll be all right." He reassured her. "If the girl is half the person you've described, she's a fighter. And she'll get through this."

"I'm believing that." She muttered against his chest. This was a fatherly hug she hadn't received in so damn long that it made her want to cry again.

"Will you tell the boys?" He asked her.

"Can you do it tomorrow? I don't feel like saying goodbyes tonight."

"Okay. Want me to come with you?" He glanced at the cigarettes.

"No. I wanna be alone now."

"Sure." He understood. "Don't do anything stupid."

"I won't." She promised, pushed herself away and walked out.

######

"Mayu!" Hiroto found her in the small back apartment built in the bar. She was changing into her uniform, to go take over the top floor bar. This wasn't her usual job, but she did help out once in a while. Her husband's business was now part hers too and she wanted to know everything she could about it. She was even thinking of quitting her job and coming to work here, she liked the bar more.

"Huh?" She stopped her activity and looked up at her man. "What's up, dear?"

"Change of plans." He said grimly and threw her car keys from the counter.

She caught it and blinked at it in surprise. "This must be serious." Those were the keys from _hers_ car. The sports car Hiroto dreaded to drive, because its horsepower was something he said he couldn't handle. But she loved it, it was her baby she nourished and cared for. Cars and occasional not-fully-legal races had been her bread and butter, and the only way to keep in contact with her older brother.

"The twins need a ride."

"Where to?" She asked simply, pulling the uniform over her head to get back into her casual clothes.

"Akita city hospital. And you need to pick up Aya somewhere in Chiba."

"Whew, good 7 hours." She noted.

"8,5." He corrected her.

"I could make it in 6 alone, but with kids… its 7."

"Please be careful." He said and kissed her forehead. "Their friend was just in a car crash…"

She frowned at that. "I'll get us there in one piece, don't worry." She stood on her tiptoes to kiss him on the lips. "You'll need to cover my shifts for tonight and tomorrow."

"I'll take care of it."

"Good." She smiled happily. "Love you."

"Love you too."

######

When Daiki's phone chimed, he ignored it. It was probably Satsuki, panicking and asking him to get back again. He didn't feel like doing that. He wandered the streets aimlessly, not wishing to go back. Stopping by at small ramen restaurant for a late dinner, he was thinking about the redhead the entire time. He couldn't help it, he was hurt and angry, but he couldn't stop wondering about her strange reaction in the evening. _Wouldn't she usually argue back?_ Aya's been worried and anxious the whole day, he'd noticed. And they had talked about his knees in the morning; there was no reason for her to suddenly pull him out. _Why the hell did she do it then?!_ He thought, the feeling of betrayal deepening.

Reluctantly, he pulled his phone out to see dozens of messages from the guys and from Satsuki. Even Kise wrote him a message to come back. _Tch… They sure miss me…_

And then, there was a message from Aya, delivered an hour and a half ago.

It piqued his interest, but he didn't open it. She probably wanted the same thing as everyone else – him coming back. He wasn't in the mood for that. And if it was an apology, she could stick it up her exquisite behind for all he cared.

He wandered around a bit more and then he decided it was time to head back. He was tired. When he finally got back to the hotel – he hadn't realised just far he'd wandered. Unusually for him, he was staring at his feet, kicking stones again. So when a voice suddenly barked at him, it startled him.

"Came to say goodbye?"

His head shot up and he noticed an unbelievable sports car, a kind of car all men dreamed about. Then he took in the scene. Kagami Taiga was standing by the car with his hand slumped over the door, while his sister would climb into the back. There was a woman he'd never met at the steering wheel and she looked rather young to drive such a car.

"What?" Aya turned around and her eyes widened in surprise. "Oh…"

For a moment, he was caught speechless. Aya's eyes were red rimmed, but so tired he couldn't read any emotion in them. Then he frowned. _Where the hell was she leaving in the middle of the night?_

"Running away?" He asked, without thinking about it.

Anger flashed in her eyes but then she waved her hand in resignation. "Whatever you say," she said and climbed inside the car. Right now, she wasn't in the mood for explanations and he certainly wasn't willing to listen.

Taiga put his seat back into position and got into car too. "I thought you knew her better." His voice was laced with bitterness and hostility. Then he snorted, "guess I was wrong." He closed the door and the car pulled away.

Daiki was left there alone with his thoughts. And a worm of regret and doubt started to eat him up. He just couldn't figure it out. It was pointless to try. _What the hell…_ He spun on his heel and headed to the hotel, hoping that the boys would all be asleep by now.

* * *

 **A/N:** That's about it. I hope it doesn't look that it's all Aomine's fault (if so, sorry), I think it's the fault of all three of them; lack of communication and hasty judgement...

The next chapter might come a bit later than usual; I can't seem to keep up with my schedule. Still, I hope I'll update on time.

Let me know what you think but remember, reviews are appreciated, but never necessary.

S.


	40. Chapter 40: No one gives up

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone who followed, favourited and reviewed! It makes me very happy :)

I managed to finish another chapter, so I'm posting on time (more or less).

Enjoy!

* * *

 _You cannot control the behavior of others, but you can always choose how you respond to it. ―_ _ **Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart**_

 _The strongest people find the courage and caring to help others, even if they are going through their own storm. ―_ _ **Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart**_

 _Tears shed for another person are not a sign of weakness. They are a sign of a pure heart. ―_ _ **José N. Harris, MI VIDA: A Story of Faith, Hope and Love**_

 _Life is not always a matter of holding good cards, but sometimes, playing a poor hand well. ―_ _ **Jack London**_

 _Please believe that things are good with me, and even when they're not, they will be soon enough. And I will always believe the same about you. –_ _ **Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower**_

* * *

The journey to Akita was silent.

Mayu was fully focused on driving, usually she'd want to talk with them, but the twins had unapproachable aura around them. It was obvious they didn't want to talk and she respected it. The music was quietly humming in the car, because as passengers, the two didn't protest against it. After all, Mayu needed something to keep her awake and alert.

Taiga would occasionally ask something, but even he was surprisingly quiet and worried; not only about Suzume, but about Aya too. He could feel his twin's distress, but if she refused to talk about it, he could do little to nothing to help. The state she was in was caused by something more than just Suzume and Taiga would swear it was partly Aomine's doing. The bluenette appeared to have something against Aya, and judging by their interaction they must've had argued quite seriously. He knew his sister that much. He hadn't had time to punch the arrogant prick, but if he got his hands on the tanned ace, he'd strangle him without a second thought.

Aya was sitting in the back, curled up on the seat and staring into the darkness flowing outside the windows. She didn't feel like crying anymore and more cigarettes wouldn't help either. She felt empty. Exhausted by all the emotions she'd felt that day going from embarrassment through excitement through joy through worry and anger and bitterness and shock and anxiety, and different combinations of all those, she couldn't feel a thing now. The quiet hum of the music and engine were lulling her to sleep. She was drifting into a sweet oblivion just to be jerked awake when an image of Suzume laying on the hospital bed appeared in her mind. No, she would definitely not be able to sleep until she knew her friend escaped from a gravedigger's shovel and would recover, or at least survive. Aya wasn't sure she'd handle another person leaving her life like that. The idea itself was unbearable. And then there were Aomine and Satsuki… She didn't have the strength to think about them.

######

Breakfast in the hotel was quiet. Touou's team knew they'd lose without Aomine. They were good, but not enough; they'd all seen Rakuzan in action. But despite the nonexistent chance to win they decided to fight them head on. The second place wasn't that bad after all.

However, the sudden absence of their cheerful manager hit them hard. The coach said she'd had a very urgent matter to attend to, but he hadn't specified it, which caused further wonders and questions among the boys. Part of them believed it might've been Aomine's fault and the ace refused to communicate with anyone. Even Satsuki was strangely absent minded and depressed over something.

Tatsuya strolled towards Touou's table. He couldn't watch that depressed atmosphere looming over Aya's team any longer. If they continued like that, they could forfeit the match without trying at all. "Where's Aya?" He asked, looking at the coach.

Katsunori glanced at the boy unimpressed by his direct question. "She went away." He answered curtly, he didn't know Tatsuya that much and he owed him nothing, but it surprised him that Aya hadn't told the boy anything.

"Why?" Tatsuya demanded further.

"I believe that's none of your business."

"It is my business," he raised his voice slightly, "it's their business too." His eyes ran around the faces looking at him. "You all look like a bunch of beaten dogs. You got into the finals. This anxiousness won't help you win it. If Aya saw you right now, she'd wallop you." He wasn't sure why he was trying to cheer them up, but his team had lost to Rakuzan quite badly, he hoped Touou might put up a more decent fight – their offence was better after all.

Katsunori sighed, there was something interesting about the boy, he gave him that much. The grey eyes met another and they locked their gazes for a moment. Then Katsunori decided to explain the situation, the team deserved it and Aya hadn't asked him to keep it a secret, she'd simply asked him to tell them.

"Her best friend was in a car accident yesterday, a frontal collision, and is currently balancing on the death's threshold. Aya had to go there, she isn't a person to sit and wait while her friends are in danger. That's why she's gone. She said she was sorry for not staying here to support you."

"She's needed elsewhere right now…" Tatsuya said quietly. "The best friend... it's Suzume, right? How bad was the crash?"

Katsunori narrowed his eyes at Tatsuya. "Bad enough to kill the girl's parents on the front seats. No one knows if she will wake up. That's all I know. Is that enough for you, Himuro-kun?" He gave him a withering look.

There was a murmur of voices.

Tatsuya paled upon hearing this. He ran his left hand up his face and into his hair in shock. He lifted his fringe unconsciously, revealing the scar on his cheek beneath it. In the moment, he was too shocked to pay attention to curious glances the boys and even Katsunori sent his way. Even if Aya and he had been broken up by the time Seth had been forced to leave the twins, Tatsuya had seen what it did to her. She couldn't handle losing people; it ate up on her soul and heart and fuelled her nightmares as Taiga had told him once. And Seth hadn't been facing a possibility of death. He couldn't imagine what Aya must've been feeling, but he prayed that Suzume – whoever she was – would get through it.

He shook his head and his hair fell back immediately. "I'm sorry."

"Me too." Katsunori said. "Is there anything else you want?"

Tatsuya watched the boys for a while. "You should play to win." He looked at Aomine in particular – something was definitely off about the ace. "Despite the situation, I'm sure she'll watch your match eventually. And trust me, nothing feels more bitter than Aya's scolding after putting up a half-assed fight. I'd know that..." He muttered the last sentence under his breath and turned to rejoin his team.

After hearing all this, Aomine felt as if he swallowed a bucket of ice. The Suzume girl he'd heard before was now fighting for her life? So Aya's premonition and anxiousness hadn't been off at all. It was eerie, but it made him realise… Oh, how stupid he'd been the previous evening! He wanted to punch himself for those words. _Running away? Kagami Aya? I'm a fuckin' idiot!_ His hand travelled up his face in desperation. Of course Taiga had looked at him with that murderous light in his eyes. And maybe…

He fished out his phone and finally checked the message from Aya he'd ignored before.

'Good luck and win the match, Honey-bun.' It said. The delivery time was late evening, long after the match had ended. It didn't make any sense to him. Could she actually send it before the match and it was only delivered this late? If she knew he was sitting out, why would she send that to him at all? The redhead wasn't someone who was mean. And then there was the taping he'd found on his bed along with some snacks he liked but hadn't asked for. She had no reason to give him any of those if he was out.

A terrible feeling made his insides churn. Most likely it wasn't Aya's doing... Her surprise when he'd snapped at her had most likely been genuine and she truly had had no idea what he'd been talking about – hence the lack of arguments. ' _I thought you knew her better.'_ Taiga's words rang in the back of his mind. The words he couldn't understand the previous night.

 _Oh, fuck…_ He thought, remembering all he'd told her. _Liar? Traitor? Running away?! Dammit… She's neither of those!_ He realised desperately, too late.

If she wanted him to sit out, she would've told him herself just like she'd told Kise. Why hadn't he realised it sooner? Well, his rage was blinding enough that he punched Tada – someone who had never done anything to him. Of course he hadn't been thinking soberly or logically.

And now, the redhead was gone for the summer.

######

The twins arrived at the hospital around 8AM. They barely waited for Mayu to safely stop the car as they tumbled out and towards the hospital building.

It was the first time that Aya ignored her panic about hospitals. She walked into ER like she owned the place; with her usual elegance, despite the whole-night drive and previous crying. Some nurses and medics glanced at her in curiosity – the girl was pale enough to end up as their next patient. She didn't care about it.

Taiga was surprised that she was keeping it together, but he was ready to support her if she showed any sign of getting a panic attack. There was none.

"Aya-chan!" Saeru called out to her when she noticed the familiar red hair.

"Ah, Saeru-obaa-san." Aya bowed her head in greeting and threaded her way towards the old woman.

Saeru looked almost scary; waxy pale with her eyes red from crying and dark circles underneath them – a sign she hadn't slept a minute. She was carrying two steaming coffees, probably for her and her husband sitting somewhere in a waiting room. Saeru looked like she'd aged 10 years in one day.

"Oh, Aya-chan." A lump appeared in Saeru's throat again and she took in a shaky breath to calm down.

"I'm sorry for your loss." Aya said and lowered her head. Taiga repeated the action. The old woman had just lost her son.

Saeru nodded. "Come." She jerked her head towards where they were sitting the whole night.

The twins followed silently. Afraid of what they'd see.

Naoto was sitting in front of an ICU room, resting his elbows on his knees with his head hanging low. His fingers were intertwined and he was squeezing his fists so tight his knuckles were all white. When he heard them, he looked up and nodded in recognition, but he said nothing. He couldn't.

Aya looked at the door her heart feeling heavy as lead. There was a glass window next to the door. The blinds on the window were opened, most likely for the grandparents. They officially weren't allowed in after the surgery.

The twins could see their best friend lying on a hospital bed with numerous cannulae sticking out of her arm. The monitors were beeping, showing her heart and lung functions. Suzume's head was bandaged too; she must've hit it as well. But the worst sight was the legs. External fixation devices were used to hold both Suzume's shin bones in place. The right leg was completely surrounded by the strange frame.

When Aya saw that, her knees buckled under her weight and she grabbed onto Taiga's elbow to keep balance. She covered her mouth with her hand and tears pricked her eyes again.

"What the hell is that thing?" She asked in a whisper, her throat was dry making her unable to use her voice.

"It keeps the bones in place." A soft manly voice came from behind them.

When they turned they saw a doctor around Aya's height with dark circles under his eyes. "I'm Tomizawa Akio. Her attending doctor." He introduced himself and glanced at the unconscious girl in the room. "I believe you're her friends." The doctor looked at Saeru who nodded and sipped from the coffee all the while watching Suzume.

"You can tell them everything; these two are like her siblings. Like Yomi-chan." Naoto said, his voice was coarse and heavy.

Tomizawa nodded and sighed. Moriyama Suzume was a miracle. The girl must've had an unbelievable will to live, because he couldn't explain it otherwise. The blood-loss had been enormous. Him and several of his colleagues had spent over 10 hours in the surgery of this girl and there were moments when they'd thought they'd lose her. But he didn't want to burden the teenagers by all the details.

"It's a miracle, she made it. But the next few days will be really crucial. For now we're keeping her in artificial sleep. I believe she will heal. Suzume-chan is a real fighter." He said.

Aya narrowed her eyes at him. She wasn't satisfied by that. "She needs to wake up first…" She muttered.

"And she will." The doctor said with certainty he sure didn't feel.

"There is a possibility of coma too. Doctor, please, don't treat me like a kid. What are her chances?"

He ran his fingers through his short hair and sighed heavily. "I don't know." He admitted. "A metal rod ran through her right side just under the ribcage, it damaged a small part of her intestines which we treated first. We fixed her ribs broken by the seatbelt which also caused surface injuries. Her legs were tattered when the front seat rammed to the back where she was sitting damaging bones and muscles too. She lost a huge amount of blood we needed to replace. Four of us worked for over 6 hours on putting her legs back together. Thankfully, her spine and other organs weren't affected. She is stabilised, and for now we are keeping her asleep. We did everything we could and more; we wanted to avoid multiple surgeries. It's all up to her now. But she's young and I've never seen a fighter like that. She should get through this."

"Will she walk again?" She asked with a lump in her throat.

"That depends on her too. We fixed the bones in her legs and knees with screws, sewed all the muscles and damaged nerves so they can heal properly. Physically, she will heal, but it will hurt a lot, she'll need a lot of rehabilitation and a long recovery time. She might limp for the rest of her life, but she might also fully recover and play volley once again. She is young and strong. But there are things beyond us too. And right now, I can't say anything for sure."

The twins nodded grimly. They wanted to know too much too soon. Of course it wasn't that simple. They'd spent their share of days in a hospital too. And their injuries were nowhere near this serious.

"Can we go in?"

The doctor shook his head. "It's a sterile environment. She can't afford to get an infection."

"And if we dress up into one of those things you wear?" Taiga pleaded. "Only for a moment."

Tomizawa glanced at the grandparents – he had let them in for a moment too. The girl, even if unconscious could probably sense the people around her. And the support was a very important part of any recovery process, he knew. They both nodded.

"Only for three minutes." He said.

They nodded.

While he took them aside to properly sterilise them both, Mayu arrived and greeted the Moriyamas, offering her condolences. As a partly former racer, she was aware of how damaging a car crash could be. However, she'd never had or seen one this bad. She felt sorry for the girl and for the twins. The older couple was surprised that this instinctively offered support from the twins and their close ones was helping them too. Those kids surely had bonds for life.

The beeping of the monitor and the scents of the room made Aya stagger for a moment. The fear was back and a part of her wanted to get out and run, while another part wanted to stay by her friend's side until she'd wake up. And she knew that neither was possible.

"You okay?" Taiga asked her softly, overwhelmed by the situation too.

Tomizawa glanced at them curiously. The redheaded girl looked ready to pass out any minute too and it worried him.

"Yeah," she peeped, "I just hate hospitals." She bit her lip and overcame the sudden irrational wave of fear.

"Three minutes." The doctor reminded them and walked out, staying just behind the window. He had a daughter of that age too, so he promised he'd watch over Suzume as a hawk. The girl had to survive.

The twins nodded and approached Suzume's bedsides cautiously. Aya reached out and grasped Suzume's palm into her own. The skin was dry and warm and despite the bruises on her face, Suzume looked peaceful. It scared her. She gave Suzume's hand a small squeeze, noticing that Taiga was doing the same. As if saying 'Hey, we're here with you'.

Hot tears rolled down Aya's cheeks again. This was the worst. "You have to fight, Love, I need you." She said in a whisper.

" _We_ need you." Taiga added; his voice low and tense, he was fighting the tears himself. As a boy, he didn't feel comfortable when he was crying. "You can't give up, you hear me?"

######

"Did you argue with Aya?" Tatsuya ambushed him at the vending machine. Aomine had unapproachable aura since the morning and even his own team kept their distance. Tatsuya'd noticed that Aomine hadn't been playing in the semi-finals but he'd had no idea why. And then Aya's face when she'd returned yesterday and Aomine's reaction… Tatsuya wasn't stupid.

Daiki was bent forward, taking out his drink and he lifted his gaze to look at Tatsuya. "What's that to you?" He asked with hostility lacing his voice.

Tatsuya shrugged, "nothing. But I'm still a part of her patchwork family. Like it or not, I care."

"What do you want?" A deep crease formed on Daiki's forehead when he frowned. He was beating himself up quite efficiently, unable to figure out what to do. He didn't have the capacity needed to try understanding Ex's reasoning.

"I want to help." He said simply. "I've known her for a much longer time than you. But I need to know what happened."

Daiki's frown deepened even more. "Why would you?" He really didn't like this guy.

"Because I love her." Tatsuya said straightforwardly. "And because I owe her. All I want is for her to be happy. Although trust me, I'd rather strangle you."

"Heh, says a guy with an injured shoulder." Daiki snorted, but he took in everything Tatsuya said. Certainly, the note that Tatsuya 'loved her' didn't please him in the slightest. But maybe he could at least try to respect this obviously masochistic weirdo.

Tatsuya rolled his eyes. "So? Do you want my insight or not?"

"Honestly? No." He said, staring at Tatsuya confidently. He'd rather ask Kise than the ex. But Kise knew the redhead even less than him, or maybe about the same, considering she trusted the blonde too. It was a real struggle. He didn't want to owe anything to Tatsuya. He sighed. "But I guess I don't have much of a choice."

"You won't owe me anything." Tatsuya said as if reading his mind. "I'm doing it for her, not you." He jerked his head towards the door and the outside courts. He didn't want to discuss this here. One never knew who might be listening.

"Figures." He smirked and followed after the shorter boy.

At the courts he quickly enlightened Tatsuya about the cause of his dispute with Aya. He sure didn't know how to phrase it well and he felt odd saying it out loud to basically his enemy. But he was curious about what Tatsuya might say, and he was that desperate.

Tatsuya sighed heavily after hearing the short version of the story. "You're stupid idiots. Both of you."

"HEY!"

With a raised palm he tried to quiet the tanned ace. "You're an idiot for not trusting her and calling her all that, especially after the night she treated us all. If only you listened to what she says properly… And she's an idiot for not punching you in the face once you blamed her."

"But it was logical! She could've very well arranged it!"

"That's true." Tatsuya nodded. "She could have. But first, she'd warn you, or tell you herself, second, she had competed with injuries too, she understands what it means and she would do everything in her power to keep you running if you wanted. She'd be a hypocrite if she rat you out without warning you first. Trust me, I know."

Aomine grumbled and nodded in agreement, very reluctantly though. He'd figured that much on his own already. "So?"

"Call her! Talk it out. This won't go away on its own. You hurt her deeply. I bet it went both ways, but…"

"Tch," he hated dealing with important things over the phone. "I doubt she'll pick up." _Why am I even talking with him?_

"Maybe not, but you will have tried. And she'll see that you are trying, caring… If you love her, learn to admit your mistakes and say sorry. I learnt it too late. Bickers are normal, she is fiery, but the real arguments… She tries to avoid that if possible. And she's always known how to say sorry and swallow her pride to save her relationships. Well… most of them." Why he was getting involved to such a degree was beyond his understanding. Maybe he truly was a masochist. But he hated that expression on Aya's face and he cared. He wasn't the boyfriend anymore, but he was the twins' older brother. Who else was supposed to care if not him?

"How long will she stay in Akita?"

"If you're thinking about going up with us to talk to her, forget it. By the time we'll get home she'll have been long gone." Tatsuya shrugged, he knew Aya's schedule already. "Although I believe she'd rather stay with Suzume until the girl heals, she can't. They have their flight in the early evening and they'll only have a couple of days with the French branch of their family and then she needs to check out the place and all contracts regarding the training camp and all."

"You know awfully lot." Daiki grumbled displeased by the fact.

Tatsuya shrugged again with a half smile. "I've been around her for 7 years; I know how she works. Well… I only assume she'll board that flight, but you know; she went to the training camp month after her mother had been killed, because someone had to take care of it. If she can't swap with Suzume, she'll go and do her work. For that girl's sake too."

Daiki gave him a small nod. He could sense that the ex was being honest; it was readable in his grey eyes. And Daiki always had some sort of sixth sense or instinct for that.

"Where'd you get the scar?" He asked spontaneously. Befriending the ex wasn't his intention, but he wanted to know a bit more and tolerate the guy a bit more. Tatsuya was after all, a part of Aya's life he couldn't erase. Though it didn't make him less jealous. The ex knew damn much and he wasn't going away.

"Oh," Tatsuya blinked at him in surprise and pulled up his fringe. He'd probably shown it to more people from Touou. "This?" The scar was a ragged line copying Tatsuya's left cheekbone, starting at a side of his nose, under the eye and snaking almost to the top of his ear. The wound must've been bone-deep and bled like crazy and it apparently hadn't been stitched or left to heal properly. But it was an old wound.

"Yeah."

Tatsuya smirked. "Well, I like to present it as a memento from a fight."

"Which is a lie," Daiki nodded with a smirk too.

"It sounds better. Less bloody and cooler than it was."

"What did you do?"

"We were eleven, exploring around some empty house to be demolished, not paying too much attention. Some local thugs happened to have illegal dog fights in the area and the property served to contain two of those dogs, well, they were wolf-dogs. We didn't know and we were curious. There was a high iron fence with spikes and some iron rods were haphazardly spread around the property. And you know Aya. She found a place with missing spikes and we climbed over the fence with her help – she was the best at that. Real three idiots." He shook his head remembering that day and snorted derisively. He felt he could say the story to this guy – and maybe Aomine had already known.

"Of course we were chased and had to jump over the fence into safety. I went over first, then the twins, but as I tumbled over I slipped and almost impaled myself on one of those rods. Thankfully, it only scratched my cheek down to the bone and missed my eye. I don't remember much of the fall. Aya scratched the small of her back quite deeply. And Taiga got bitten, almost pulled back down. If it weren't for Seth putting down those dogs, Taiga might've been a goner. All of us really…" He shrugged. Aya would've jumped back for her twin and he would've jumped back for both.

Daiki was blinking in disbelief. "For real?"

"I swear. Seth wanted to kill us for sneaking out behind his back. We didn't dare look him in the eyes for the next two weeks."

"That I believe." He said grimly, imagining a reaction of his own father. "Doesn't make me like you any better."

"Urgh, please, just don't _like_ me." Tatsuya teased with an eye roll, letting his emotion show for once. "Aya wouldn't appreciate that. And it gets awkward when I have to turn down guys."

Daiki blushed in mortification, and then paled. "Tch, go to hell! I hate you!" He exclaimed and turned on his heel to leave.

"You're welcome!" Tatsuya called after him and shook his head. "He sure asked a pointless question…" He mumbled and traced the scar with his fingers.

######

Daiki returned to his room and sat down with a sigh. The boys didn't talk to him, so he assumed they knew about his dispute with Aya. _I deserve that._ He thought.

It was Naito's voice that rang through the room. "Okay, what the hell happened?" He'd had enough of this nonsense.

Daiki's head snapped up and he looked at Naito in surprise. "Huh?"

"Aya left because of her friend, but there's more to it. What happened between the two of you?" He rephrased it and kept his unwavering eyes pinned at Aomine. "Did you really blame her for _that_?"

He snorted. "If she told you, why do you ask?"

Naito groan in exasperation. "Because she _didn't_ tell us a thing. Only that you argued and she didn't want to talk about it."

"So?" He raised an eyebrow. "You know it anyways. What do you want?"

"Nothing. I wanna tell you that you're an idiot! A stupid fuckin' idiot and you'd have deserved to be slaped. That's it." He threw his hands into the air and ignored the warning looks of Ishii and Kano. "So? What now?"

"What ' _what now'_?" Daiki was utterly confused by the smarty pants. He had no idea what the boy wanted to achieve with this or what was the point of the insults. But he took it levelly, after all, he and Naito were far from being friends.

"Urgh! You've watched Rakuzan play yesterday. We all know we'll probably lose, but how do we keep them in check? How do we play?"

"What?"

Naito rolled his eyes. "You're the goddamn arrogant ace of the generation of miracles. Don't tell me that instinct is the only thing you have."

Daiki, and as he noted he wasn't the only one, was totally dumbfounded. Naito was asking his help?

"Don't blink at me like a lost kitty, Aomine. Imayoshi said you were _reliable_ , I wanna know how much. Just because you can't be on the court doesn't mean you can't participate at all." He avoided using the word 'help'.

"Stop it Shouhei," Ishii shook his head. "He is too full of himself to lend a hand – or his insight to the small flies like the rest of us."

"Tch." Daiki clicked his tongue in annoyance. "You're selling me short now. I don't skip matches because I want you to lose." He said and a smirk appeared on his face. He'd never thought about 'helping' them from the bench. Maybe his team spirit was still buried deep under the ashes, but the ashes were starting to smoke. The small fire was kindling deep inside him and even if he didn't want to 'help' his team per se, he'd sure as hell like to see a surprise on Akashi's face once they'd won without him. Still, he knew this would be one hell of a task to accomplish.

Ishii's eyebrow shot upwards. "Did you hit your head?"

Daiki shrugged. "I don't like Akashi as he is now. And Aya will watch, right?"

The three boys snorted derisively and a small smile appeared on Sakurai's face.

"Start talking." Ishii prompted him.

"Imayoshi's room in half an hour." He said curtly and got up to leave, grabbing Satsuki's research off Sakurai's bed in the process. At the door he stopped for a moment and looked at them over his shoulder. "Get the coach, but leave Satsuki out of it. I don't think I want to deal with her yapping when Aya's not here to handle her."

"Roger that." Kano saluted and once Aomine left, he turned to the other three. "Who was that and where did Aomine disappear to?"

"Oh, it's him all right. _Satsuki's yapping_ , is all him." Ishii tried to imitate the husky voice but failed like so many others. "He probably wants to make things better with Aya this way."

"Dealing with the guilt, you think?" Naito asked.

"Maybe he's just genuinely trying to help?" Sakurai peeped and when the three heads turned to him he apologised out of reflex.

"Why would he do that?"

"Because he hates losing?" Sakurai shrugged. "And whether he admits it or not Touou is his team. He did train with you, didn't he?"

"You think it's still there?" Naito asked sceptically. He doubted that; once you reached a certain height it was almost impossible to go back.

"Sorry, but what makes you think it's not? He trained with you and Arai-kun; even helped you during that match. When Iki-senpai offended Kuroko-kun that time, Aomine-san smashed him against a locker. He went all out against Kise-kun. And well, sorry for me saying that, but Aya-san is obviously in love with him. She doesn't strike me as someone who'd love a total asshole who thinks only about himself. Maybe he doesn't show it, but he cares in his own way." Sakurai finished his monologue with a long sigh and the others were blinking at the sudden confidence that radiated from the shy boy. He sure respected Aomine a whole lot.

There was a moment of silence.

Then, "whoa…" Kano opened his mouth. "The time, when Sakurai spoke more than one sentence without the excessive apologies, has come. The world may well end today."

Naito slapped the back of his neck for that comment, because it made Sakurai blush and apologise once again.

"It's fine, Sakurai." Ishii patted the boy with a grin. "We're happy you're finally hatching."

"Not a good choice of words." Naito rolled his eyes.

"Shut up, Shouhei. Like you're not surprised."

######

Once Daiki had a goal set, it was easier to not beat himself up for Aya. He'd try calling her later on, but now there was a match happening in less than two hours and he needed to come up with a way to make Rakuzan's play difficult. Even if he knew how the enemy played and could oppose it himself, he wasn't much of a thinker for strategies and crap – he simply didn't need it. However, there was someone sly who called himself Aomine's best friend _and_ knew Akashi and his team.

"Oi, Kise!" He banged at the door with his fist three times before the door opened and Kasamatsu glared at him.

"What are _you_ doing here?" He asked with a hostile glare.

"Tch, I think your hearing is all right, _captain_. Come out you blonde bastard!" He called to Kise and took a step forward, forcing Kasamatsu to budge backwards.

"Aominecchi?" Kise came out of the bathroom half naked and with his hair damp. "What do you want?" He knew about the dispute between Aominecchi and Ayacchi, and he hadn't expected Aominecchi to come to him for advice. Then he'd gone to pester Murasakibaracchi for information about Yosen and had found out that Ex-kun had had some 'conversation' with Aominecchi. Kise knew a lot of things going on around him, yet he was burning with curiosity.

"Akashi to lose." Daiki answered curtly.

"And what do you need from me?"

"Someone sly."

Kise blinked and then a broad grin formed on his face. "Didn't you tell me that teamwork was pointless?" He teased.

Daiki shrugged. "It is for me. But I'm forbidden to play and it's fucking Rakuzan. You've seen them."

Kise nodded and pulled a t-shirt over his head. "They haven't shown everything yet; Murasakibaracchi didn't play."

"I know. So?"

"You want to make things right with Ayacchi?" His yellow eyes pierced Aomine. With the tanned ace it was always action over words, Kise knew. "Fine, but you're buying drinks."

"Deal." Daiki ignored Kise's question and turned around to head for the vending machine. Buying drinks was a fair price.

"What was that?" Kasamatsu whispered to the blonde in confusion.

"Aominecchi asking for help." Kise flashed a grin and slipped past the captain, his eyes full of determination and something scary which gave Kasamatsu goose bumps – this side of Kise was an unknown territory which kept showing quite a lot during the Interhigh. "Trust me; it's as rare as snow in the summer."

Aomine slowed down for Kise, remembering the injured ankle. Then they headed down the stairs and to the vending machine to get their drinks. Kise chose strawberry juice and Daiki went for a tea.

"No banana milk today?"

"Shut up."

"So?" Kise seated himself in one of the armchairs comfortably and sipped from his juice. "What's your plan?"

"Hell if I know. That's Satsuki's and Aya's thing, not mine." As to confirm it he slapped the research against the small table.

"Aominecchi!" Kise whined. "If you want to give them insight and point out weaknesses, you ought to know the original strategy of your own team."

He shrugged. "Haven't thought that far."

The blonde sighed. He wasn't even surprised. "Then let's go to have a chat with your captain-san. We need to know the strategy and then we can think something up. He is sly himself, isn't he?"

"Errr… There's something I need to deal with first." He grumbled begrudgingly. The guilt he felt wasn't just because of Aya, though Aya made the biggest part of it.

"What did you do?"

"Short fuse." He groaned and got up to pay a visit to Imayoshi's room. "Come on, so we're done with it."

Kise's eyebrow shot up. He could very well imagine that whatever had happened hadn't been nice. "So _you_ are done with it, you mean?"

"That too."

Kise was tagging along Aomine with burning curiosity and expectation. So far, he was forced to keep to Kaijo and thus couldn't really get to know the others. Now, with Aomine asking for 'advice' he could get into the Touou's team and do his own research. Kaijo was out of the competition already, officially placing on the fifth place. But if he could see Rakuzan in trouble, he'd gladly lend a hand.

"Tch. Stop wagging your tail, Kise." Aomine grumbled, he could feel the excitement of the blonde. _Like a kid in a sweets shop._

"What? I'm not…!" Kise tried to protest.

"Hell you are."

"You're mean!"

"Yeah, yeah." He stopped in front of Imayoshi room and raised his hand to knock (bang) on the door. But the door to Imayoshi's room flung open before he could. It startled the two and they took a step back.

"What are you doing here?!" Wakamatsu asked equally surprised and glared at Aomine. The punch was definitely not forgotten or forgiven.

Daiki squared himself in determination. "There is something I want to talk about. Let us in."

"Oya?" Imayoshi peeked over Wakamatsu's shoulder. "How unusual, come on in then, Aomine."

"Imayoshi!" Wakamatsu protested loudly.

"Listen to your captain." Aomine smirked and pushed his way into the room, with Kise at tow.

Imayoshi raised an eyebrow at the unexpected blonde visitor carrying something that looked awfully like Satsuki's research. Wakamatsu returned back inside and closed the door behind him, crossing his arms over his chest. The vice-captain was frowning in annoyance. Tada and Susa were expectantly watching the two younger aces.

"What do you want to talk about?" Tada asked with a half smile.

"Ah… Well…" Aomine scratched the back of his neck sheepishly, not sure how to word his apology. He wasn't the one to say 'sorry' easily. But he knew when he did something stupid. "About yesterday…" He stammered a bit, avoiding eye contact with Tada.

Tada just raised his eyebrow expectantly.

"Well… I guess I shouldn't have punched you." He said after a while. "You shouldn't have held me for so long, but… I went over the line. I admit."

"And?" Tada prompted him.

"It wasn't fair."

Seeing the opportunity of a century, Tada continued. "And?"

"Urgh… Sorry." It was a begrudging apology, but neither of the boys expected Aomine to even consider apologising.

"I accept that." Tada nodded in satisfaction, rubbing his bruised jaw. "You, Kousuke?"

"Errr…" Wakamatsu's mouth were hanging open, "I, uh, I guess so. Yeah, fine." He stammered looking at his best friend for support.

Tada smirked. "Good. Now you should go, Kiku-chan might think you've forgotten."

"Oh, shit! That was Aya's job! Why did she dump it on me?!" He panicked yet again, not sure how to face the older brother who'd be tagging along to accompany Kiku.

"She isn't here, genius." Susa noted calmly. "Someone needs to show them the way."

"Why me?!"

Tada got up with an eye roll and pushed Wakamatsu out of the room. "Because, you're the one who's interested. And being the object of interest."

"What? I'm not. No way! I'm definitely not…"

"Urgh! GO!" Tada yelled the order, pushed Wakamatsu out of the room and slammed the door at his face. When he turned back to the boys he whew-ed and shook his head. "I swear I'll do something to him one day."

Imayoshi shook his head. "I'm surprised you haven't yet~"

Tada rolled his eyes at the captains innuendo, the two aces couldn't pick up. "Anyways, what brings you here, Aomine-kun?"

"Uh… right." He shook his head from the scene. "What… Uhm…"

Kise rolled his eyes, which he only did when extremely annoyed. "What is your strategy against Rakuzan? – he wants to ask. But since he isn't a team player he might be a bit shy about it."

"Tch. I'll fuckin' kill you." Aomine growled at the blonde.

"I'm under Ayacchi's protection."

"She ain't here if you haven't noticed."

Imayoshi clapped his hands sharply to stop the two. They were awfully similar to Tada and Wakamatsu right now, and it was something the captain definitely stored in his memory for future reference. "You want to know about the strategy?"

"Tch." Aomine clicked his tongue but nodded. "Yeah."

"Why?"

He shrugged. "To point the gaps. I was on Akashi's team after all. So was this one." He cocked his head towards Kise, who smiled broadly at three senpais.

"Yeah, and since Kaijo is out already and I'd love to see some degree of surprise on Akashicchi's face, I'd gladly lend a hand. And Rakuzan is awfully similar to our former team."

"The day is full of surprises. Well, first of all," the captain looked at Aomine and he kept staring for a long time. Considering if he should tell Aomine or not. Then he decided to tell it. "Aya-chan's friend should survive, if there won't be any severe complications. Though the girl's legs are fucked."

Aomine blinked at him in surprise. "How d' you know?"

"She messaged." He shrugged with a sly smile. "She also asked me to tell you, if you were _cooled off enough_. I s'pose you are."

So Aya knew it was only a stupid misunderstanding, but was unwilling to talk to him just yet. Aomine's mind went blank for a moment. It was strange, because it was usually the redhead who tried to resolve disputes. By thinking that she'd betrayed him, he was hurt too, but it was clear it was up to him to make the first step towards making things right again. He nodded in understanding. "Yeah… Thanks."

"Whoa… 'Sorry' and 'thanks' in one day from you, Aomine." Imayoshi shook his head in disbelief. "Are you really okay?"

"Burn in hell, wicked Imayoshi."

Imayoshi chuckled and his eyes opened more than his usual slits. "And now, while you still want to help us, the small flies, let's hear what your ideas are gonna be. I assume it'll be something like 'follow your instinct' or 'just do it'. But you might surprise."

A soft knock on the door. With a sigh and mumbling how missed they were, Imayoshi let in the four boys from Aomine's room, the coach, Yamaoka and Yori. So far those were the 'core' of the club.

"What a party…" Tada sighed as he watched the boys sitting down wherever was convenient for them.

"Another strategy meeting? It's too late for that, don't you think? The match starts in an hour and half." Katsunori commented dryly.

"It won't kill us and if it can help us…" Susa spoke up. "Why not listen to the aces who were on team with Akashi?"

The older man ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. "You've got a point." While he knew Shirogane Eiji, the coach of Rakuzan well, he didn't know much about Akashi's personality.

Aomine took a deep breath to put his thoughts in order. This was no big deal, right? It didn't make him any more team player than he wasn't, right? He dreaded becoming too close with them. "What's the strategy?" He asked, ignoring Katsunori's raised eyebrow and definitely not friendly look he was giving him. _He is her godfather after all…_

"The usual… Every man for himself, what else can we do? It's obvious that the difference in skills is immense. Even you would manage to guard only one of the kings at a time, maybe two if you were in particularly good shape. So we can go with our usual thing and try to take as much points as we can."

"Won't work here. Not when I'm benched." Aomine commented distastefully. "They play like a team _plus_ the difference in skills is huge. You won't handle the three kings in three one-on-one matches, gods forbid if Akashi decides to play against all odds. You're fucked then."

Tada snorted. "How encouraging."

"He won't do that, Aominecchi." Kise joined in. "Once Akashicchi decides on something, he sticks to it. He won't play, even if the score is tight."

Aomine shrugged. "Still, the three are good. Better than what they'd shown and what Satsuki has in there." He waved the research in the air. "She is good at this, but they didn't have to show they true abilities yet, so she can't know. Their future data is most likely what their best is now. And if you don't force at least one of them out of the court, you're fucked too."

"So what do you suggest?" Imayoshi asked, curiously. A plan was hatching in his head as well, but he wanted to hear Aomine's opinion.

"I suggest you somehow force Mibuchi out, I think Akashi will focus on him, and the constant three pointers are pain in the ass. Also, you," he pointed his chin at Tada, "should play in the match. Maybe not the whole match, but you can mark Mibuchi height-wise better than Ryou, but Ryou could figure out how to distinguish the damned heaven and earth shots."

Imayoshi hummed and tapped a finger against his lips. This was not bad at all. "What about Hayama?"

"His style is similar to mine. Double teaming won't help you much; he's too quick for you, so put someone with the best reflexes to mark him. Yamaoka would probably be better choice than Susa."

"Can Wakamatsu handle Nebuya?" Tada asked.

Aomine shrugged. "I don't see why not. They seem to be equally loud and annoying." The boys laughed at that.

"I would force them to foul." Kise peeped up again, carefully observing the team. "Maybe not the kings, but the others. It'll eat up the spirit once they have foul troubles. And if you can force the kings to foul…"

"Oya~ another sly fox. Your team did that the other day too."

The blonde shrugged. "Except Aominecchi, you _did_ freak out, so objective was accomplished."

"Point taken." Imayoshi grumbled, not pleased to remember the freaking out part. "So, how did you manage to force Aomine to foul you?"

"Ah, well…" Kise scratched his cheek sheepishly and started explaining.

######

"Ah, KIKU-SAN!" Wakamatsu shouted and waved at the little girl the moment he spotted her.

Kiku jerked her head in his direction, obviously startled and the man walking by her side followed her gaze until he saw Wakamatsu too. The man was quite tall, around 180 cm if Wakamatsu's judgement was correct. He had a bit longer dark brown hair and warm brown eyes just like Kiku. He was dressed in casual jeans and t-shirt and was carrying a plain linen bag full of something Wakamatsu suspected to be treats made by Kiku.

Once they reached Wakamatsu, the man let Kiku start the conversation, but he was curiously looking Wakamatsu up and down.

"Ah, uhm… Hi." Kiku stammered, looking at her feet. She blushed slightly. "Where is Aya?" She asked peeking at the tall blonde.

"Ah…" He scratched the back of his neck. It saddened him a bit. Was he the only one who was happy to see Kiku? "She had an urgent matter to attend to. Her friend was in some bad accident and is in a hospital. Aya-chan went to visit her…" He said, not sure if it was the right thing to do.

Kiku's eyes widened and she turned her face up to see if Wakamatsu was telling the truth. By his serious expression, she knew he wasn't lying. "Oh, I… She didn't tell me."

"She probably didn't want you to worry. She didn't tell us either. It was coach." He shrugged and looked the older man up and down again.

"Ah, uhm… Sorry!" She shook her head immediately, looking at her brother who had an amused expression on his face. "Ryuu-nii-san, this is Wakamatsu Kousuke-senpai." She said, blushing in embarrassment.

Ryuu bowed and reached out his hand for a handshake. "Ohno Ryuunosuke. Nice to _finally_ meet you." He said with a pleasant smile, watching the teenager blush at his words. "Thank you for taking care of my little sister." He said.

"Uh… yeah, nice to meet you too." Wakamatsu blabbered out not sure how to act in the presence of Kiku's brother. "Thank you for coming to watch our match."

"I can't wait to see you in action. Though I kinda hoped to meet the Aya-chan I've heard so much about too. Well, never mind." He shrugged, still smiling at the two shy teenagers. "Let's go then, we don't have much time and your team might need you?"

"Right. Let's go!" Wakamatsu said a bit too loudly, which made Kiku jump a bit again. He cursed himself inwardly for that. He hated the moments when the little girl was obviously startled because of him. Sometimes he felt that the closer he got to her, the further away she seemed to be. It was frustrating. He was aware that he couldn't push the little girl, but he just wanted to be around her without her jumping in fright whenever he spoke a bit louder without previous warning. He sighed heavily. "Sorry." He muttered to Kiku and turned around to lead them towards the stadium.

Kiku blinked at him in surprise. The sigh was laced with frustration and resignation. Was it her fault? She felt that yes, the boy was getting annoyed by her behaviour. She bit her lower lip, this was only expected.

Ryuu, feeling the sudden cold breeze between the two, leaned towards his sister and whispered into her ear. "He's a good guy, not someone to be scared of." That was his first impression of Wakamatsu and that's the image he had created for the teenager from Kiku's stories.

"I know." She muttered under her breath. "Can't help it…"

"Tell him then, he probably feels frustrated because he doesn't know."

"I can't." She shook her head.

"Hm?" Wakamatsu turned to look at the siblings over his shoulder.

"Nothing." Ryuu smiled at him. "I'm just complaining how heavy is the bag she made me carry."

Wakamatsu outstretched his hand to take the bag without even thinking about it. "I can take it."

"Thank you!" He handed the bag over. "But careful, the biscuits are fragile and Kiku spent the entire night making them for you." A smile appeared on his face when Kiku blushed and turned away from Wakamatsu to hide it.

"Oh?" Wakamatsu's eyebrow went up and he looked at Kiku, once again dejected by her reaction. Then he shrugged. "You didn't have to bother, we probably won't win anyways." He said in a volume that wouldn't scare her, but he let his dejection and certain amount of annoyance lace his voice.

That tone got her attention and she turned her eyes up in wonder and slight hurt. This was her fault, she was sure of it now. She frowned. Then she gulped and collected all ounces of courage she had. Ryuu was there with her. "I wanted to." She said looking straight into his eyes. "And I don't want you to lose."

Wakamatsu blinked at the sudden strength appearing in her voice. Well, she was an archer after all, the steely edge must've been there somewhere within her. And the way she said _you_ as if it was aimed at Wakamatsu himself and not the whole team. He shook his head to clear it. It was damn difficult to try and understand this tiny cute creature in front of him.

"Well, I don't want to lose either." He said and shrugged. "But Aomine can't play and they are strong."

"So are you." Kiku smiled and it was obvious she believed those words with her whole heart. "I was led to believe you're the strongest team out there."

He smirked and nodded shortly. "Then you should cheer real loud."

"Ah…" She blushed at that demand – because it was a demand – and pushed a lock of her hair behind her ear. It was getting longer. Maybe she should cut it? She wasn't sure anymore. But that smirk made her knees a bit weaker. _Dammit._ She thought.

"Let's go." Ryuu prompted them, satisfied by his comments. "You can't be late, Wakamatsu-kun."

######

"Aya-chan! Here you are!" Mayu sighed in relief and then frowned. She found the girl by a side entrance to the hospital building, crouched behind an outside ashtray, leaning against the wall and smoking. For some reason, it didn't really surprise her.

Aya looked at her by the corner of her eye; it was enough to acknowledge Mayu's presence. Taiga was with Suzume's grandparents and she just needed the fresh air outside the hospital. She felt the building would consume her if she hadn't gone out. The final match was just about to start too.

Mayu sighed again and seeing the young girl chewing on the cigarette's filter she crouched down by her side, leaning against the wall too.

The sky looked ready to fall down on them. The weather in Akita was stuffy and grey clouds were rolling in the sky the whole day. It was ready to rain, but once it started it would persistently rain or drizzle for long hours.

"Are you all right?" Mayu asked quietly but kindly. Maybe it was a stupid question, but she needed to ask something. She didn't know the twins all that much yet, but she was fond of them and she didn't like to see them down like this.

"As all right as I can possibly be." Aya said looking at a patch of grass at her feet. Maybe she could talk to Mayu; she felt that Hiroto's wife was a dependable, kind person and even if they didn't know her that much yet, she felt she could trust her and even confide in her.

"I don't know what to do." She admitted after a moment.

"I'm listening." Mayu said and rested her head against the wall looking at the heavy clouds. There was no point in prompting the girl more than that.

The redhead sighed and inhaled the tobacco fumes. "My best friend is here, helpless and fragile. I've never seen Suzu like this. It scares me to death and I can't do anything to help. My boys are just about to start their last match and again, I'm here, so there's nothing I can do to help them. And I've had an argument with Aomine… You know, I bet Hiroto told you I liked the guy." She waited for Mayu to nod, and then she continued. "He called me a traitor and liar, because he thinks I'm the one responsible for him being forced to sit out the last two matches… And while I know it was just a stupid misunderstanding, just a bunch of stupid words spat out in anger, it hurts. It was Satsuki's doing, I know she meant well, but she went behind my back. I feel betrayed too. And I can't get rid of that feeling. And then there is Suzu, and I feel like a hypocrite thinking about a stupid brawl with the guy I like while my best friend is fighting for her life and scaring me to death."

They went silent for a moment.

"We women can deal with many things at the same time, so you're not a hypocrite. You're anxious and worried and scared and hurt and it's normal to think about everything at once. You're shouldering a whole lot, Aya-chan."

"I kinda know that... But it's not just that. Suzume has always been in the summer dance camp. Ever since I can remember, always. My best friend, my summer friend. Now it feels like she left me alone in the camp and I don't feel like going there, but I have to because I'm the one organizing it. How stupid of me, really?" She rambled out and snorted derisively. She felt like a really bad and self-centred person now.

"If that was how you really felt, if you were angry at her, you wouldn't have gotten a car in the middle of the night to get here."

"I wonder about that…"

Mayu sighed; there was nothing she could say to cheer the girl without the words sounding shallow and stupid.

Aya crushed the rest of the cigarette and got up. "I guess we should go back."

She blinked at the girl in surprise and got up too.

"Thanks for listening. I feel a bit better." Aya said and headed back inside bracing herself for the smells and sounds of the hospital.

Mayu followed after the girl, staring at her back in quiet admiration. She was more than sure that Aya wasn't feeling better, but at least she could let out some of her bottled up emotions.

######

Touou entered the court accompanied by loud applause and cheering of the crowd. There were more people than on any other match. It was the finals after all. When Rakuzan entered the court from the opposite side, the crowd exploded even more. It was pleasant yet stressful at the same time. The lights were brightly illuminating the courts, but spectators' areas were dark, and they could hardly see where the rest of their team was.

Aomine felt strange. He wasn't a starter today. He wasn't even wearing his jersey, only the club's t-shirt, but his knees were properly taped. It was a group decision, where Satsuki didn't have any say. Just in case. And he wore long sweatpants over his shorts, to hide it from the pinkette.

The teams met and shook hands with their opponents. Then everyone went to their bench and the 10 minute warm up started.

"I see you are on the bench, Daiki." Akashi approached his former ace. "I thought you would be somewhere on your way to Tokyo now."

"And miss the opportunity to see you lose?" He raised an eyebrow and a wolfish grin twisted his lips. "Who knows, maybe I'll even decide to play." He provoked his former captain. There was not a force to wipe that grin off his face.

"You will not win even if you do."

"We'll see about that." He shrugged, turned around and left. As he passed by his teammates he leaned closer to Wakamatsu: "Make sure to get the first ball."

"Ha? Of course I'll get the first ball!" The blonde retorted immediately and ran onto the court to lead Touou's warm up as usual.

Tada laughed. "Kiku is watching, after all. That's all the motivation he needs." He told Aomine with a shrug. "He'll be the most fired up player out there."

Aomine sighed, he kind of understood. It was different when Aya was sitting there watching. He shuffled towards the bench and slumped down next to the coach and Satsuki.

"Did something happen?" Satsuki asked. She felt she was left out of something and she didn't like it.

"Why?" He looked at her in surprise.

"You're here while you don't play. You were in the changing room. Something is going on."

He yawned and stretched his long arms over his head. "Yeah, so? You don't have to know everything, do you?"

His words appeared harsher than usual to her. Maybe it was the guilt she felt because of her little underhanded play. She deserved it, but Aomine didn't know it was her, so he had no reason to be this harsh. She sighed but didn't protest.

The lack of protests and whining made Aomine raise an eyebrow curiously. Something was bothering the pinkette, he knew, and this ensured him about it. What he had to do was figure it out, but he wouldn't bother himself during the match.

######

Kiku was impatiently fidgeting on the edge of her seat. Even if she still didn't know that much about basketball, Aya had taught her a whole lot. And she was burning with curiosity. This match was supposed to be the best one.

"So they let Tada-senpai start." Naito muttered, observing the lined up boys.

"Is he not usually a starter?" Ryuunosuke asked curiously. He had a basic knowledge of rules, though he didn't enjoy watching sports. But he gladly accompanied his little sister – he wanted to meet the boys she called friends.

"No, not usually." Ishii answered. "It's already Sakurai's position, uh, no. 9." He cleared for the young man. "But today we need them both and we thought that the taller player would be a good start. And we need Mibuchi to foul."

"The fouling strategy is really stupid…" Kano frowned at no one in particular. It wasn't a bad strategy, it was just underhanded. He was a straightforward guy; something like this was way out of his concept.

"Yeah, but without Aomine, we need it." Naito shrugged, it was a fact. "They'll use the first quarter to test the waters, it should be slow. If Wakamatsu-senpai gets the first ball, we might manage to surprise them."

"Ah, here we go..."

All of them leaned forward, clutching their fists as the ball went up, praying, hoping. Both centres leapt up. Nebuya was stronger, but Wakamatsu's timing was better.

"YES!" Kano exclaimed when Wakamatsu flicked the ball to Imayoshi. It would usually go to Sakurai, or Tada, but they needed to score first, and Imayoshi was the best suited to have things done.

######

"So it's my job again?" Imayoshi sighed and smirked.

They were standing at the middle line. And the guy guarding him instinctively made a couple of steps towards his own basket; he suspected this would be a quick attack and he wanted to keep up with the experienced captain. Instead of a quick attack Imayoshi made a step back, jumped and shot in a smooth motion. This kind of shot was usually a sheer luck, but he could do it whenever it was absolutely necessary – or when it meant provoking someone. Provocation and teasing were Imayoshi's greatest motivators to do anything.

"Wha-?" The opposing guy started and watched the ball's arc with his mouth open.

Imayoshi shrugged. He knew he made it.

"Way to go, Imayoshi." Tada patted his shoulder with a grin knowing the captain hated such a display of affection.

"You'd better not shame yourself." He rolled his eyes.

"Don't worry." Tada chuckled and ran to steal the ball from the power forward that looked way too gloomy to be good.

Then another 2 points were scored by Wakamatsu, accompanied by a loud roar, as he forced his way around Nebuya.

After the first few seconds, Touou was leading, but soon the kings slowly took their rightful reign. Rakuzan's strategy was to test the waters first; it'd always been like that. And so far, Touou was one of the most offensive teams they'd faced – aggressive even. Aomine didn't play so they had unconsciously underestimated the rest of the Touou's team. They thought that maybe they'd slack off; they were supposed to expect to lose. And because Akashi wasn't playing, there was no one on court to put them in line. Well… they could feel their captain's murderous glare and quickly equalled the score.

Tada and Imayoshi were carefully observing Mibuchi and the point guard with no. 12, whose name they didn't know. After falling for Mibuchi's earth shots twice, Tada was slightly irritated, but he knew his role. When they changed guards again they nodded to each other in decision. It took them five minutes, and the score was tied but so be it. They weren't losing. And they hadn't been wrong in their previous observations during the meals. 'It's up to you.' Imayoshi mouthed.

Tada smiled and took his stance opposite Mibuchi. He had some more time before Mibuchi would get the ball. The game was now more focused on Wakamatsu and Susa who were trying to fend off bulky Nebuya.

But the ball found its way to them again; 2 minutes before the end of the first quarter. _Good time to nudge him…_

"Hmmm… seems you're not so bad, no-name-chan." Mibuchi looked at Tada and jumped backwards into a heaven shot. At first he wanted to get a 4 point play again, but Tada didn't seem interested in reacting. Mibuchi frowned. "But not so good either."

Tada watched the shot with a disinterested expression. "Nah, no point to try stopping those." He said casually, checking out his nails. "And I'm already bored of watching it."

During the meals at the hotel he noticed that Mibuchi was uptight and orderly, but also quite an attention seeker, a gay too. Tada had discussed with Imayoshi how to rile him up the best. This was what they came up with. Honestly, he'd always wanted to try and play the unapproachable guy. Now he got the chance.

Then Tada turned towards Yamaoka, "Oi, swap me here. That PF looks better." He said purposefully, accentuating the word 'looks' in a subtle way Yamaoka wouldn't decipher, but Mibuchi would. He needed to rub Mibuchi's sore spot.

Yamaoka just shrugged, he was already used to all the weird schemes those two could come up with.

The effect was immediate.

"Huh, why do I have to look at that ugly face?" He scowled at Yamaoka. "Can't you swap again?"

Yamaoka rolled his eyes and groaned. "Tch. Get used to it, lil' piggy. Maybe my ugly face will make you miss a couple of times." He decided to play by Imayoshi's rules on a whim. He had no idea what was going on, but bullying Mibuchi didn't feel that bad. And this was probably his last game in the high-school times and he wanted to win, but he needed that short rest from Hayama. The blonde was obnoxious. And way too quick for Yamaoka to handle.

"And an oaf too!" Mibuchi exclaimed indignantly. It was the first time someone had called him 'piggy'.

"Don't be sad Reo-nee." Hayama shouted cheerfully across the court. "I'll tire this one out and you'll get him back!"

"Not so loud!" Mibuchi rolled his eyes at the loud blonde and sighed. He didn't like this game.

The first quarter ended with Touou leading 25-23. The break was quiet and calm. There was no reason to panic or freak out. The fouling strategy would start in the second quarter when Rakuzan would pace up their game.

"You'll swap me after five minutes, 'kay?" Tada looked at Sakurai and wiped the sweat off his face. "You should surprise him with your quick release and you're less likely to fall for his earths. He managed to make me foul twice, dammit."

"That's-" Sakurai started, but he wasn't allowed to finish.

"4 point plays are his specialty, don't worry about it too much." Imayoshi shrugged, they needed to make some sacrifices too.

"Right…" He sighed, but Wakamatsu grabbed him around his shoulders and grinned widely.

"Don't worry, Shun. We're basically at the beginning and leading, we can win this!"

"I'd like to have your optimism, Kou, but you know… I don't have Kiku-chan cheering for me." He teased his best friend with a smirk.

"Hey! That's not! She's not… I don't think she will cheer at all…" The last words were mumbled quietly. He so wanted to hear Kiku cheer for him, to hear her voice echoing down here loud and clear, but he knew it was only his wishful thinking. It wasn't going to happen. And he felt disappointed already.

Shun could read that much, but he grinned and patted Wakamatsu's lower back. "Hmmm… Something tells me this game will make her do it."

######

"So once Tada-senpai gets 5 fouls, he is out of the game?" Kiku asked to confirm the rule. So far she hadn't seen it, so Aya hadn't had a need to explain that one.

"Yes. It's like that." Ishii nodded. "But he should swap with Sakurai after another five minutes. We think that Sakurai will be underestimated, even though he is actually faster than Tada-senpai in both shooting and reaction time. I think it'll step the game up a bit."

"At least we hope so." Naito shrugged. "They need Mibuchi to foul and so far, he hasn't fouled once."

"They'll figure out a way. And maybe Hayama will be tricked into fouling sooner than Mibuchi. Don't forget it's Tada-senpai marking him now and Yamaoka is marking Mibuchi." Kano added.

"Well true… Yamaoka is wider than Tada-senpai, stronger, but… His short fuse is terrible."

"Ah, look… Did he just foul?" Kiku asked and pointed at Nebuya.

"Huh?" Naito blinked in surprise. "Yeah. Seems like Wakamatsu-senpai jumped to shoot weaker than usual so Nebuya pushed him…" He smirked at that. Wakamatsu never stroke him as someone too clever or sly. But apparently he had good instincts and knew when to pull a trick – or maybe Tada-senpai had nudged him just before the play.

"And he made the shot too!" Kano clapped happily.

"Let's hope he'll make the free shot as well." Naito said and watched Wakamatsu as he threw in the free shot easily. "Well…" He chuckled, "why wouldn't he? He is the reliable senpai after all."

The second quarter was more or less equalled. However, Rakuzan's slightly superior skills were starting to show, but Touou was managing to keep up so far. Slowly but surely, Rakuzan's players were gathering fouls. Nebuya had already two, Hayama two, Mibuchi one and their power forward three.

But Touou had some fouls too. With the stronger opponents and not much experience in forcing opponents to foul, Touou was pressured a lot so fouls were inevitable on their side too. Yamaoka had two, Wakamatsu had one, Tada had three and Sakurai had one. Sakurai fell for the earth shot once – just as he swapped for Tada-senpai. It took him by surprise and he hated the fact he fell for it. Afterwards, he kept his distance and because he was shorter and physically weaker than Mibuchi, he made the older shooting guard falter and foul. But it was impossible for him to distinguish between Mibuchi's shots until it was too late. It was like playing a lottery.

"He's good." Sakurai muttered as he sat on the bench and wiped off his sweat. "I don't think I can keep him in check that much."

"Aren't your shots faster though?" Aomine asked with a wolfish smirk. Watching the game was only making him itch to play, but he knew he wouldn't.

"Still… Those shots are impossible." He sighed. Mibuchi's style and form were something Sakurai admired. His shots were faster and he needed less movement, but he was too short to reach Mibuchi's shots. And if he tried to block, Mibuchi was more prone to use earths.

"Instead of blocking him, why don't you try outshooting him?"

"Huh?" He blinked at Aomine in surprise.

"What?"

"Nothin'…" Sakurai shrugged and smiled for himself. "I might try that." He nodded. He had more energy and he truly needed less movement to shoot.

In the third quarter, Rakuzan pulled ahead of Touou. There was a 13 point difference, and it was difficult for Touou to catch up. When all three kings had three fouls each, Akashi told them something, and from that moment on, Touou couldn't force another foul. Sakurai was keeping up with Mibuchi in terms of shooting. Each Mibuchi's shot was countered by one Sakurai's, but not all of those shots went in, and Wakamatsu couldn't save them all.

The end of the third quarter was focused on Hayama, and even if Touou's players all had their shot at guarding the blonde, they couldn't equal his reflexes and speed. If there was someone capable of holding Hayama back, it was Aomine, who had to sit out. And it was obvious that he wanted to get out there and do it.

"I can give you a maximum of two minutes." Katsunori said quietly to Aomine, who was leaning forward watching the game intently.

"Huh?" He forced himself not to snap his head at the coach. "When?" He asked simply.

"Beginning of the last quarter. Just to scare them a bit."

"Put me in at the end so I can win it." He noticed that Satsuki tilted her head to listen to their conversation, so he lowered his voice even more. This wasn't her business.

"No. It's their match now. You can equal the score for them, but let them determine the outcome." Katsunori knew it sounded harsh, and it partly excluded Aomine from the team, but he was certain that this was Yamaoka's last game. And he wanted the boy to play the whole match. Aomine would swap Susa for those two minutes.

Aomine snorted lightly. "Fine. So long I get to test him."

"Don't overdo it." Katsunori warned him.

Everyone in his team was surprised that he'd play. Even if it was only for two minutes, everyone in Touou sighed in relief. The 15 point difference which was acquired by Rakuzan was something they knew they couldn't erase without Aomine's help. But they'd been long levelled up with him sitting out. So this was a pleasant change of plans.

Satsuki didn't dare to protest when she saw Aomine changing his t-shirt for the jersey and stretching during the last two minute break. If she did, he'd know it'd been her ratting him out. She noticed how Akashi glared their way and it made a chill ran down her spine, especially when Aomine's knees were taped.

"It's only precaution." He told her when he was about to step on the court. "I'm fine, Satsuki."

She paled and nodded. Aomine and Aya were hurt because of her, and there he assured her he was fine… _I'm so stupid…_ She gulped and sat down.

"Ohoooo!" Hayama's eyes sparkled in excitement when Aomine stood next to him indicating he was about to guard him.

"Don't be too happy." Aomine smirked at the blonde. _I only have two minutes._ He thought but his eyes found Akashi and he grinned at his former captain. 'Good luck.'

"You sure you're not too hurt?" Hayama grinned even wider. "You know… you need to keep up with me."

"Let's try it out." He said as he caught the ball from Imayoshi.

Aomine had to make the most of those two minutes he had. There was no time for him to test out the situation or run warm. He needed to score as much as he could. Those two minutes were his and his only.

Hayama blinked in shock when Aomine ran past him like a blur. "Oh, damn!" This was Aomine Daiki after all. He reacted, but he didn't catch up and the first points of the last quarter were scored by Aomine.

"He's faster than you." Nebuya told him when he got close.

"But his knees are taped… He won't last long."

But Aomine didn't need to last long. He needed to last for two minutes. And in that time frame, he was unstoppable. Hayama could be similar to him, but he would never stop him. Oh, but he tried.

When Hayama got the ball, he notched his dribbling. It was faster and louder than in any other match before. A grin spread on Aomine's face. He couldn't see the ball properly, but he could see Hayama, and he could sense his dribbling rhythm. In a few seconds he stole the ball, leaving Hayama dumbfounded.

 _You can't be serious!_ The blonde thought, feeling the chills running down his spine. He'd never expected Aomine to be this good. In his surprise, he reached out pulling at Aomine's jersey violently.

A referee's whistle rang through the air, announcing Hayama's fourth foul. It didn't stop the tanned ace from scoring a three pointer – they were quite far from the basket – and a free throw.

"Fuck…" Hayama swore avoiding eye-contact with Akashi. Rakuzan called out their last time-out and Hayama knew he was probably out of the match. The situation changed; the momentum of the match was tipped in Touou' s favour.

Aomine still had one more minute left.

######

"Wasn't he supposed to sit out?" Kiku blinked at the rapidly changing scoreboard. She'd seen Aomine play, but not like this. It looked like there was no one capable of stopping him. _He's like a demon…_ She thought and shuddered.

"Yeah… Something made coach change his mind apparently." Ishii rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"But I bet he won't play more than five minutes." Naito shrugged. "He shouldn't with those legs."

And indeed, after two minutes and fifteen seconds of the game's time Aomine was subbed out by Susa again. The score was only two points apart now. And those two points were immediately taken by Wakamatsu.

The game could start from scratch once again.

Everyone from Touou's team in the spectators' area was on the edge of their seat. The match turned into an all out scoring war and the pace was almost the same as in their game against Kaijo.

"The Akashi guy is savage." Naito muttered looking at Hayama who hadn't been subbed out after his fourth foul. Instead, Akashi forced him to play and atone for his mistakes. And Hayama had just scored another points. As if he wasn't affected by the fouls.

"I wonder how Aya-chan befriended him." Kano mused, not looking at his friends. The game was way too interesting.

"She can be savage too." He shrugged.

Rakuzan pulled ahead again and the exhaustion was obvious on all Touou's players. It wasn't only about running back and forth, it was mentally taxing as well. This was the final match. And they were in the team with Aomine Daiki. Losing was something they didn't want to admit. Aomine had even helped out a bit. Allowing them to start anew and yet… The difference in skills was all too obvious.

10 seconds before the final buzzer, the score was 100 – 109 for Rakuzan. They couldn't possibly catch up now. The last ball was handled by Wakamatsu. If they couldn't win, they'd score the last points of the match. A useless moral victory, just so they could feel a bit better. But Wakamatsu was determined to make it, even if he heard someone from the Rakuzan's bench yell: 'Stop him!'

Kiku, watching the last attempt rose to her feet. The whole game, she was watching Wakamatsu. He was often shouting something, she couldn't hear properly, but she guessed he was encouraging his teammates. That was one of his traits she liked. She didn't want Touou to lose, but she knew they wouldn't win. And that last attempt… She wanted Wakamatsu to make it. To slam the ball in and score the last points of the game. Showing off that Touou had never given up in this final match.

Led by some invisible string, she made a step towards the railing and cupped her mouth. She'd never done something like this, but she was too overwhelmed by the emotions to think about it. "GO FOR IT!" She shouted at the top of her lungs.

"Whoa…" Ryuunosuke blinked at his little sister in surprise. He'd never heard her yell so loudly in his life.

######

Wakamatsu almost tripped over his feet when he heard Kiku's voice loud and clear. She was encouraging him. And so, Nebuya could try and stop him all he wished, he felt like he could carry a mountain if he so needed.

He jumped and slammed the ball down as hard as he could. Nebuya jumped to stop him, but Wakamatsu rammed into his chest – he couldn't control it mid-leap – and he ended up falling on his behind, just as the buzzer announced the end of the match.

Wakamatsu swung on the rim a bit and then he jumped down. "Ah, sorry." He muttered looking down on Nebuya and he offered a hand to help his opponent with a sigh.

"Keh," Nebuya pushed Wakamatsu's hand away and stood up on his own. He was still shocked by the sudden spurt of strength from Wakamatsu. "I don't need help from the loser."

The blonde shrugged and turned to go to his teammates. He didn't really care about anything but Kiku cheering him on. They lost, but they'd expected that. It sucked, but whatever.

"Sorry," Sakurai lowered his head, "I should've been better."

"Cut it out, you did great. We are in second place. Nothing is your fault. They were simply better this time. And it's only a 7 point difference." Susa ruffled the first year's hair, but he felt bitter about this loss. They had tried so hard. Even Aomine had played to equal the score for them. Still, he felt he needed to console the first year shooting guard somehow.

And he wasn't alone.

"Yeah," Imayoshi joined in. "It sucks, but they are still better than us. We will try again in the Winter cup." He smiled at Sakurai and stared at the celebrating bunch, cursing inwardly. He hated to lose more than anything. This was a shame, because they had put in so much effort. _If only Aomine could play the entire time..._

Akashi kept his distance and the rest didn't seem that pleased by the victory. Wakamatsu's last slam dunk didn't allow them to celebrate fully. Nebuya was still slightly shocked – it was the first time in this competition when someone had seated him on the ground and he had to withstand Akashi's withering glare. They should've scored the last points. But Touou stole it from them.

######

The boys left to the changing room, leaving Kiku and her brother in the spectators' area. She promised she'd come too, but she needed a few minutes. Now, she was crouching down in embarrassment.

"What have I done?" She muttered and hid her head in her knees.

Ryuu laughed heartily and patted her head. "You cheered the guy you like. What's wrong with that?" He teased her.

"That was so embarrassing!" She squealed in protest and slapped his hand away. _They lost anyways! It was unnecessary._

"No, it was cute. And he did make it! It would've been embarrassing if he hadn't."

That made sense, but still. She didn't shout. Ever!

"Come on! If you want to give them biscuits, you should hurry."

"Ah!" She jumped up. "Right! Let's go!"

######

The atmosphere in the changing room was unusually calm. They weren't happy about their loss, it sucked, especially when the score was so tight in the end. But all the stress finally fell off of them, and all they wanted was to get over the closing ceremony and go home already. After they took showers, they gathered on the court again.

Thankfully the ceremony was quick and they were soon back in the changing rooms to take their stuff and go.

Kiku somehow survived giving out the biscuits, but she didn't dare look at the boys. She was blushing and staring at her feet. It was stupid really, because she knew that no one would laugh at her, but still…

The boys slowly flowed out of the changing room to go pack up their bags back into the hotel. Satsuki passed her by without stopping for a small talk. It surprised her and she stared after the pinkette. _What happened?_ She wondered.

"She caused a dispute between Aomine and Aya-chan." Naito noticing Kiku's curious stare stopped by to explain the situation. He was the last one to leave so he wouldn't cause any more ruckus with the explanation.

"What?"

He shrugged. "She made coach to withdraw Aomine from the last two matches. Aomine thought it had been Aya-chan."

"He did play today though…"

"And I bet it wasn't to Momoi-chan's tastes. But there was little she could do about it. He wasn't as injured as she made it look, after all."

"Hmmm…" She hummed. So this was Naito-kun. The observant and rational boy who liked reading. "What do you think about the book?"

"Huh?" He blinked at the small girl in surprise.

"The one Aya bought for you. I helped with choosing."

"So you met? No wonders she was late." He smiled. "Well, so far, I'm enjoying it."

Kiku nodded. "I'll give a try then."

"You should." With a nod he left. There was nothing more he wanted to discuss and he needed to pack too.

"Ah…" Kiku quickly followed after him. She tripped and almost fell if it wasn't for a wall she used as support.

Naito turned around when he heard a thud. "Sorry. You probably don't know where to go now, right?"

"Yeah." She blushed. "Sorry. Can I follow you?"

"Sure thing. Where is Ryuunosuke-san?"

Kiku shrugged and frowned. "He went to catch a train home. He said he had 'a date'." She didn't like the fact that her brother first promised to go with her and then bailed to be with some girlfriend she'd never heard him mention before. Well, she partly believed it was only an excuse to leave her alone with her friends.

"Come on then." He slowed his pace so Kiku could keep up with him and led her towards their hotel. He left her at the vending machine downstairs where she could idly wait for everyone.

The hotel was in chaos with all the boys packing up and taking their things to their busses outside. Kiku was sitting in one of the leather armchairs and observing the boys rushing around her without really noticing her.

Aomine passed by, obviously in deep thoughts. He was frowning deeply and there was another boy – in Yosen's uniform following after him. He said something to the frowning ace, they shook hands – it was a forced handshake, but a genuine one – and they parted ways. Aomine stared after the shorter guy with his face half hidden by his fringe for a moment before continuing his way.

The guy from Yosen with the half-hidden face returned. He seemed to have forgotten something and he ran up the stairs holding his shoulder as he did so. When he returned he was dragging a purple-haired giant behind him. Kiku backed into the armchair, hoping to disappear. She'd never seen such a tall man in her life. But they didn't notice her and vanished outside.

A midget girl ran past her, dragging several guys and her own bag was bouncing up and down on her back. She was shorter than Kiku and wearing a t-shirt with Yosen's insignia. She swore and her accent was strange. Kiku pinpointed the girl to be Yosen's manager – Hero, or Sumire-san – she'd heard about from Aya before.

Kiku was curious and even excited about the summer training camp. She wondered how she would manage to get along with all those people.

"Observing everyone?" Wakamatsu's voice sounded to her right and she almost got a heart attack. "Whoa, sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." He held his hands up in apologetic gesture – this time he realised her jumpiness was in place. He'd freak out too if someone spoke to him like this.

"Do you want to kill me today?" She asked accusingly with her hand over her heart.

"No." He said and sat on a sofa next to her. "Uhm…" He wasn't sure what to say and he blushed slightly.

Kiku stared at him for a moment and this time, it was him who avoided eye-contact. "W-what?" She asked baffled by the situation.

"… you cheered…" He said and blushed even more.

"Yeah." She breathed out. "I-I did." And she blushed too, hiding her face again. "It was weird. I knew it."

"No, no, no!" He leaned forward abruptly, grabbing Kiku's hands impulsively. He wanted her to look at him, so she wouldn't misunderstand. And he wanted to see her face too. He liked those deep brown eyes hidden behind thick-framed glasses. "It was great."

Her eyebrow went up in doubt.

"I mean it! I wouldn't have made him sit without it! Thank you!"

Honesty was the only thing she could read in his eyes. He was blushing too – he probably wasn't used to these kind of talks. He was still holding her small hand in his huge palms and he didn't seem willing to let go. She didn't really mind.

"Uhm…" She fondled her fingers and brushed Wakamatsu's skin. She blushed and wanted to pull back, but she forced herself not to. She moved her palms so she was actually holding his hands too.

He blinked in surprise at their, now intertwined, hands and then at Kiku, who lowered her gaze, blushing furiously.

"I-I… I'm not scared of you…" She said timidly. "I'm sorry if I made you feel that way. I just… I'm not used to this." She squeezed her eyes shut.

For a moment he was speechless. Then a wide grin settled on his face. But when she looked up at him again – hesitating, worrying – she could only see a soft smile.

"I'm too loud, right?" He asked sheepishly.

Kiku shrugged. "More than most."

"So…" He cleared his throat.

"So?" She asked and tilted her head to a side.

"Uh…" He took a deep breath. "What are you doing the day after tomorrow?"

"Eh? Uhm…" She looked at their hands. Her heart was beating like crazy. Was this a date invitation? "I'm working from 5PM."

"So uh… Wanna hang out somewhere before that?" _Urgh, so lame!_ He thought and closed his eyes in hope she'd agree. This was the first time he tried to ask her out like this. Only the two of them…

A wide smile spread on her face. "Yes." She said and her voice sounded unbelievably happy.

His eyes snapped open and after seeing that excited smile and sparkling eyes he fell in love all over again. He nodded with an excited smile too. "I'll pick you up at two then?"

"Okay." It was easy to agree. She was excited, and scared at the same time. It was the first time she was asked out. She wanted to go with him, and she was anxious at the same time. But Aya would tell her to go, she knew. And she wanted to try it.

"Kousuke!" Tada's voice interrupted them. "Come on, we wanna go home!" He shouted at his friend in scolding. Then he noticed Kiku and his frowned changed into grin. "Oh, I see…"

"Shut up!" Wakamatsu jumped to his feet and grabbed his bag. "Come on." He pulled Kiku to her feet.

She stumbled in surprise and bumped into his side.

"You know –" Tada started, but Wakamatsu's palm covered his mouth. – _you could just hug her there if you wanted to._ After seeing his friend's murderous glare he decided not to finish the sentence. Ever. _At least someone's happy._ He thought and headed out.

"Sorry." He apologised to Kiku. "I didn't want to pull you up that hard."

She nodded. "It's fine. But please don't do it too often."

Wakamatsu chuckled. "I'll catch you if you fall."

######

"I'm really sorry, we can't stay longer, but we need to go to catch the plane." Aya looked through the window one last time, partly hoping that Suzume would wave her goodbye with a smile on her face. But the girl was lying still, eerily quiet.

"It's all right, Aya-chan." Saeru patted her shoulder with a forced smile. "I'll call you if something changes, okay?"

"Thank you."

"Where's the cat?" Naoto asked out of nowhere. They were sure he wasn't listening to them, but apparently he was.

"What?" Taiga blinked in surprise. He'd completely forgotten about Dorian in the car – thankfully, Mayu was checking up on the kitty once in a while.

"The cat." Naoto said, his eyes now more focused than before. "You were supposed to bring the cat for Suzume."

"Oh…" Aya nodded. She'd forgotten too. "I considered it inappropriate to bring it up. And well… we can put him in a shelter. You have enough worries as it is."

But Naoto was shaking his head. "We'll take him. In fact, I need to go home and take a shower, we can't close the shop for too long, and there are orders in place and all…" He said his voice breaking. He couldn't help his granddaughter, but he could make sure she still had a warm welcoming home to come back to once she healed.

Saeru was staring at him for a moment. And then she nodded. As if the cat would ensure Suzume's return. "Yes, we'll take him. I'll stay here a bit longer, and then we'll meet at home, okay?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure about the cat?" Aya asked. "I really don't want to add another burden on your shoulders."

"Yes. We're sure." The old man nodded. "We promised her she could have the cat, so she'll have the cat waiting for her at home."

A small smile appeared on Aya's face. She'd probably do the same. "Okay. Come with us then, we'll tell you everything about Dorian."

######

At the airport, while waiting for their plane, Aya received a message quite some time after the match. She hadn't bothered the boys before, and they obviously didn't want to bother her, but she was curious now.

It was from Aomine. That alone made her hesitate, but she opened it.

'We lost 102 to 109. Coach updated the video on cloud.… And… I'm sorry.'

She shook her head but she smiled. _Curt as ever._

'I want to hear it when we meet again, Aomine. Still… I know it was just a stupid misunderstanding. And I'm sorry about the loss.'

Then she opened the group chat and wrote a message for all the boys and Kiku (who'd been added some time ago).

'I heard you did well. I'm sorry about the loss, but... Congratulations on second place! 102 to 109 against Rakuzan, without Aomine playing, is a stellar result. I bet you caused some real confusion among them and I'm proud of you for that. I'll watch the match on the plane. See you in the summer camp.

 **P.S.** : My friend should heal, eventually, and Dorian has a new home. Sorry I couldn't be there with you.'

######

Aomine read both messages thrice, before letting the phone drop on his pillow. He was finally at home. Shiro was lying beside his bed and he was absent-mindedly stroking her soft fur with the tips of his fingers. He hadn't told her he'd played a bit. There was no need to.

She called him Aomine again. In both messages. He didn't like it anymore. She'd started calling him by his name so naturally and it felt so good that it was hard for him to get used to family name basis again. But it had been his initiative to go back, not hers… She was just doing what he'd asked her to.

He sighed. Those few weeks before the training camp would be torture for him. At least he was going to Thailand to visit his grandma in three days.

Still, he couldn't leave it at that. He picked up the phone again and replied to her message.

'You will. I'll make sure of that.'

* * *

 **A/N:** So, that's it for now. Quite a lot happening. I hope Aomine wasn't too OOC, but I think that he cares a lot in his own way and that he could very well realise his mistakes. Also, I'm not sure about the match as it isn't in the canon, so I tried my best to give it some justice - and hey, Aomine got his two minutes; why should the coach obey a student anyways? And on the medical condition of Suzume, I'm no doctor, so I sure as hell don't know if that's okay, but I tried to do some little research while writing it.

And some WakaKiku appeared, as I'm really neglecting the other fic, but I just don't have the time (or the mood) to sit down and write it. This story is kinda my priority now (sorry).

Let me know what you think but remember, reviews are appreciated but never necessary.

S.


	41. Chapter 41: Father

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone who followed, favourited and reviewed! It makes me very happy :)

Not much of Aomine here, but Aya's coming home... I think we've all been expecting that.

Enjoy! :)

* * *

 _Distance makes the heart grow fonder. ―_ _ **Simone Elkeles, Perfect Chemistry**_

 _It's easy to impress me. I don't need a fancy party to be happy. Just good friends, good food, and good laughs. I'm happy. I'm satisfied. I'm content._ – _**Maria Sharapova**_

 _In everybody's life there's a point of no return. And in a very few cases, a point where you can't go forward anymore. And when we reach that point, all we can do is quietly accept the fact. That's how we survive. ―_ _ **Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore**_

 _The shattering of a heart when being broken is the loudest quiet ever._ ― _**Carroll Bryant**_

 _But grief makes a monster out of us sometimes . . . and sometimes you say and do things to the people you love that you can't forgive yourself for._ ― _**Melina Marchetta, On the Jellicoe Road**_

* * *

"So he did play after all!" Taiga exclaimed loudly when they finished watching the Touou vs. Rakuzan match. Honestly, he wasn't sure what to think about the match. It was awesome, yet a bit forced and tensed. Touou was trying to do something out of its character and not that greatly.

Aya blinked at the screen speechless. She had no idea. "Apparently." She breathed out and shook her head. They'd been travelling for over 8 hours already, 5,5 hours on this plane and she was tired, but she couldn't sleep. Her legs were stiff and she was still thinking about Suzume.

"I wonder if something happened… He seemed to try to actually do something for the team…" He muttered.

"Maybe. Or maybe he just wanted to see Akashi's shocked face. Hard to say."

"True enough." He nodded and stretched his long legs into the aisle. "I hate this small cramped economy class…" He muttered in discontent.

"We could've used the business class. It's you who didn't want to."

"We wouldn't be able to sit close to one another!"

"But you'd have enough space for those long legs of yours." She smirked at him.

He stared at her for a moment and then he shrugged. "Nah… I'd rather be cramped here with you."

It made her chuckle and she ruffled his hair. "Of course, you big baby who can't sit alone." She teased.

"Oi! I ain't a baby!" He protested loudly and he earned an angry shush from a lady sitting behind them. He glared back at her and shaking his head in disbelief he pulled Aya against his shoulder and ruffled her hair; completely messing it up.

"Heey!" She protested in a loud whisper and laughed. "Don't do that."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "You are laughing."

"Would you two shut up? I'm trying to sleep here." The lady leaned forward and hissed at them.

Aya rolled her eyes and turned around. "Yeah, you have 7 more hours to keep trying. Or do you want a sleeping pill?" She asked.

The lady backed down at Aya's confrontational attitude. The redhead didn't seem like the usual teenager who would apologise and feel guilty. "Gee' just keep it down."

"We'll try." Aya said and leaned back against her seat. She did feel guilty, but she wasn't in a mood to be polite.

"You sure you don't wanna sleep?" Taiga asked worriedly but he kept his voice to a minimal volume. They didn't need to provoke the lady anymore. "You haven't slept for over two days again."

"Maybe later…" She sighed and rested her head against Taiga's shoulder. "You should sleep too."

"I will, in a minute. We are going to gramps, we won't sleep there much."

"That's true. Adrien won't cut us any slack."

"Adrien? I'm more worried about the little ones. And the horses."

"Definitely the horses." She chuckled, thinking about Spirit. "Ah, right… We'll probably sleep in the stables too."

"I'd prefer sleeping out in the pastures." He sighed contently and rested his head against his seat. He could feel the sweet sleepy haze taking over him.

"Watching stars? That could be fun too."

"Mhm…"

"Good night, Tai." She smiled softly and closed her eyes imagining the vast vineyards and smell of hay and summer. She loved those. It slowly lulled her into the sleep she hadn't expected any time soon. But the last thought she had, was a thought of Daiki approaching her.

* * *

Adrien Chevalier was taking care of horses as usual. He'd just graduated from high school and he had no ambition to study at a university. He liked working here, at his home.

His home was a special place after all. It was a huge self-sufficient farm and vineyard belonging to his grandparents in Alsace, France, close to the town Ribeauvillé. Well, it was closer to the mountains on the west than the town. The closest neighbours were several kilometres away. But no one in his family minded that. The people usually came to them. His grandparents had quite a reputation already. Their home-like half-medieval hotel was renowned with great wine and tasty food. It could only accommodate up to 30 people and it was run solely by the Chevalier family.

Adrien's father, Kou, was the oldest of the five remaining children of his grandparents – one of his three sisters would've been the oldest if she was still alive – but she wasn't and either way, she'd never had any ambition to take over the business; and so it was his responsibility. Adrien had two younger brothers and he never really thought of leaving the place. It was quiet and calm, with mountains just behind their backs. He felt free here.

The vineyard accommodated and provided job for his grandparents, his whole family and another two families of his aunts. There were 19 of them living and working there permanently. The other two uncles and their families decided to live in cities, but they showed up from time to time to enjoy their holiday at home – usually they were drawn into work surrounding such a place.

The two horses he was grooming were called Spirit and Feather. They were extraordinary. However, there was nothing exceptional about their looks. Their bodies were barrel shaped with short sturdy legs and they weren't too big, but Feather was a palm taller than Spirit. Feather was a blue roan mare, while Spirit was a hickory brown male. The fur quality was however, the same – thick and shaggy – if he hadn't taken care of it properly. Usually, no one would be interested in them that much. But they were incredibly intelligent and they had some sort of a special training he'd never learned about. Adrien was assigned to take care of them when their owners weren't around –which was almost all year long. The owners were none other than Aya and Taiga, Adrien's younger cousins. And he was always trying to win the animals' trust, but they'd never let him mount them. Apparently, only the twins could, and it was driving Adrien crazy. He wanted a horse like that too.

" _Aaah… I'll have to ask them what the trick is when they come."_ He sighed and patted Feather's neck handing her an apple – the favourite treat of both horses.

Feather was about to bite into the juicy fruit when a certain scent reached her nostrils. She stopped and raised her head snorting. Spirit did the same. A strange vibration ran through both of their ribcages and then they neighed in unison throwing their heads up and down in excitement.

" _What is it?"_ He asked curiously as if they could answer him. Sometimes he thought they could and did (if he interpreted their reactions, looks and sounds well enough), but he'd never admit it out loud because he didn't want to sound like a crazy man. A crazy, lonely, horseman.

Spirit ignored him and trotted several paces along the fence, sniffing the air and neighing. Feather joined him, forgetting about the apple for now.

In a couple of moments Adrien saw two figures approaching the pen they were in. The red hair of the two visitors were unmistakable.

" _Finally decided to pay us a visit?!"_ He shouted at them and waved to get their attention. Then a broad grin settled on his face.

" _Finally?! We left in March! It's not that long."_ Taiga answered switching to French and waved him back. " _But you should keep the dogs closed up!"_

" _Still afraid of them?!" _Adrien mocked him, but he was happy to see them. " _Hurry up! Or these two will jump over the fence to greet you."_

The closer they got the more excited the horses were. Aya laughed at that, sometimes she thought they were overgrown dogs rather than horses.

" _Yes, yes! We're coming!"_ She started to jog towards the horses, Taiga following in her tow. It didn't matter how tired she was from the long flight and the transits they'd had to make. She was happy to be there, with her family and the animals. This place was a wonderland different from her Japanese oasis at the other grandparents' house. This was the place where her mother had grown up.

" _Hi, love!"_ She exclaimed and fished an apple from a bucket hanging on the fence. Handing it to Spirit, she climbed over the fence. " _Long time no see."_

The horse neighed again and threw his head up and down. He seemed ready to jump up and down and dance around her in excitement. It made her laugh. After all the bad things that had happened in Japan, this was what she needed to find her peace again.

" _Greeting the horse before greeting me…"_ Adrien sighed hurtfully. " _What am I to you, eh?!"_

" _But my dear cousin of course!"_ She chuckled and stood on her tiptoes to kiss Adrien's cheek. " _But he wouldn't take it well if I greeted you first."_

" _I can imagine."_ He rolled his eyes and kissed her on the cheek too. Then he turned to Taiga who was greeting with Feather as well. They shook hands and hugged. " _Did the kids attack you upon arrival?"_ He smirked, knowing how beloved the twins were by the youngsters; two idiots agreeing to any kind of stupid game the kids would suggest (most of the time).

Taiga laughed. " _Yeah, we spent about the past hour and a half shaking them off to be able to get to the horses."_

" _But we do love them anyways."_ Aya smiled and patted Spirit's neck. " _Wanna join us for a ride?"_ She asked with a smile.

" _Yeah, but I need to go to saddle up Storm."_

" _We'll wait."_ Taiga said, rubbing Feather's mane in affection. He had no idea why he feared dogs (a bit less after he'd made a truce with #2) but not horses.

" _You're not saddling up?"_ Adrien's eyebrows shot up in surprise. The twins could be crazy and impulsive, he knew. This shouldn't even surprise him. " _Whatever… I'll be back in 10 minutes. Wait up."_ He jumped over the fence, but then he stopped and turned around. " _And your accent is terrible, Taiga."_

" _Oh, thank you very much! Why don't you try speaking Japanese?"_

Adrien shook his head. " _Gee'. No. You probably wouldn't understand a word."_

" _All the more reason to practise, no?_ " Aya smiled and tilted her head. She placed her hands on Spirit's back in order to mount him, but then she stopped for a moment as the horse looked at her with a strange light in his eyes. She leaned over to the horse's head and whispered something to him. It shouldn't have been necessary, but she wasn't taking any chances. After that she jumped up and threw her leg over Spirit's back. " _Besides,_ " she continued looking down on Adrien, " _knowing Japanese is cool, isn't it? And we won't be here for long, three days at most. Don't miss the chance."_

"So… You're saying…" Adrien switched the language, tasting the words after a couple of months. His grandmother only spoke Japanese to them all, but… She didn't force them to answer her in Japanese and so he rarely did.

" _You speak Japanese, we speak French. To anyone outside the family it'll sound insane, but why not?"_ Taiga added, already mounting Feather – Adrien hadn't noticed whether he too, whispered something to the horse before, or not – and he smiled at his sister.

"Urgh… I can try." He nodded gravely. They were right after all, and it would be embarrassing if his younger cousins knew more languages than him. (He had no idea how many languages they really knew.)

######

In the late evening, they were sitting outside the house with everyone, drinking wine with those who could and talking about life in Japan, school, basketball, food and anything they wanted. The horses were grazing the grass close by and sometimes they lifted their heads to check if the twins were still there. Aya was cradling one of the three months old twin girls of her youngest aunt and listening to Taiga's talk about the little dog named Tetsuya #2 his club had adopted just a few days ago.

Because of #2, Taiga couldn't claim he hated dogs anymore. So he decided (after a long nagging from everyone) to take his chances with six huge dogs that were running around freely most of the time. Three border collies, two rottweilers and a miniature schnauzer. None of the dogs tried to attack him, so he took it as a good thing, though the rottweilers were slightly aloof around him; like saying 'we don't mind you, but we won't wag our tails because of you'. However, the miniature schnauzer, Eddie, seemed to claim Taiga as her personal cushion. He felt really uncomfortable, but he was trying his best to keep the little dog happy.

" _How's your father doing? He hasn't shown his face here in years."_ Grandfather, Cédric, asked, puffing out clouds of smoke from his pipe.

" _Ah."_ Aya glanced at Taiga, not sure what to say. She didn't expect this question. It wasn't that her grandpa didn't like their father, but Haruka had no intention to learn anything about wine, so that determined their relationship. Plus he took his beloved eldest daughter away when they'd married.

" _Quite good. He tends to his business in America, while we decided to go back to Japan to study."_ Taiga shrugged, summing it up.

Cédric's dark eyes pierced him as the silver haired old man was thinking. He stroked his wild beard and hummed to himself, inhaling another lungful of tobacco fumes. " _Maybe he should stop by sometimes. And don't even think of asking Kyou to play him, or I'll kick him out of here for such a trick again."_

" _Huh?"_ Aya and Taiga exchanged confused glances. " _Uncle Kyou tried to trick you into thinking he was Haruka?"_ It wasn't that surprising; the identical twins had used to do that quite often, when they were younger.

" _Yeah. About a year ago."_ Cédric cursed under his nose. " _He managed to pull our leg for two whole days until we noticed."_

" _That could be funny."_ They laughed. " _How did you figure him out?"_

" _It was simple."_ Adrien chuckled. " _He mounted Feather. Haruka wouldn't be able to do it without Feather throwing him off her back."_

" _He what?!"_ Taiga bristled, but of course, it was Kyou who had bought those two horses for them seven years ago. He and Cédric had wanted the twins to have a reason to always return here and take this place as their home too.

"Chill… I've tried too." Adrien laughed. "But those two turn into demons when I do. What's the trick anyways?"

" _Hmmm… It wouldn't be the trick if I told you."_ Aya said mysteriously with her forefinger touching her lips.

"I will figure it out!"

Cédric's chest rumbled with laughter. " _You can try all you want, Adrien, but those horses are not going to listen to anyone else. Be glad you can groom them at least. Justine couldn't do that even if she gave them a full bucket of apples."_

Justine scoffed at that. For some reason she was bad with big animals, but she enjoyed taking care of plants they grew on their farm. "So, are you sleeping in your room or in the stables or outside?" She asked curiously switching into Japanese. She knew her accent was probably thick and terrible, but she didn't care.

"Well, I think we'll stay outside. It's warm enough and besides… We'll sleep in fluffy beds once we get back to L.A.." Aya shrugged and looked at Taiga.

"That could work." He adjusted to the language change just as quickly as Aya.

Justine nodded. "Can I join you then?" She asked with a smile, looking at Aya. There was something bothering the redhead; she had noticed that Aya said they were going to 'L.A.' and not 'home'. She wanted to know what was going on. She was almost two years older, these two were her younger pupils and she wanted to help if she could.

"Sure, why not." Aya smiled and nodded, immediately all of the 5 kids older than five but not yet teenagers, who weren't sleeping yet, started whining and demanding to sleep outside with their older siblings.

"It's cold and damp and some night creature might bite your ear off." Grandmother Ayame tried to scare the kids off. She sensed that the teenagers wanted to spend their time together without having to babysit and tell bedtime stories.

" _But we want toooo…"_

Aya sighed. "Fine then, I'll tell you an awesome story." She said with a chilly grin and Justine could guess the kids wouldn't sleep soundly for the next two weeks at best.

She grinned back at Aya and so it was settled. What were the older siblings for, right?

* * *

"You're still sending him e-mails every week?" Taiga scowled at his sister looking at the laptop screen over her shoulder. "He doesn't read them anyways, does he?"

"Probably not…"

"Why do you even bother?"

"Dunno. He is still our father." She sighed with a shrug. "I believe that he _might_ eventually read them. Maybe he just doesn't respond. Who knows?"

"You know he doesn't read it. And that it's only Lindsay who reads the stuff you write out of pity. I wouldn't bother, Aya."

"I hate the pity, but… You know… I just… I don't want to regret it later on. I don't want to regret not doing things I could've done but found them too bothersome. This way I know I have tried… And if it doesn't work well…"

Taiga shook his head and smiled at her. "You really are unbelievable, sis'."

* * *

Daiki always had a hard time saying goodbye to the dogs. They didn't understand that he'd be back in two weeks and so they were whining and barking when they saw his bag.

This time, his mother took a week of vacation to go to Thailand with him. It'd been some years since Michiko visited her mother and she wanted to go there. To the paradise of Koh Yao Noi she was born at. She kissed Daisuke goodbye and apologised. Her decision to go was impulsive and unplanned and so Daisuke couldn't go with them. He had shifts he couldn't decline planned out already and someone had to stay with the dogs anyways.

They climbed into the taxi they'd called. Daiki had to begrudgingly ask the driver to move the front seat more forward so he could fit his legs into the car. Then he sighed and made himself comfortable while his mother talked with the driver.

"I could've gone on my own." Daiki grumbled when the car sped away; looking at Shiro and Kurome one last time before they disappeared from his sight.

"I know, but I want to visit my mother. Am I not allowed to do that?"

He didn't mean it like that. "Tch."

Michiko frowned at him in thought. "You are unusually prickly these days. I get you lost the last match, but did something happen?"

Loss? It wasn't about that. With him on the bench and playing for only two minutes it'd been inevitable. And he didn't feel anything much about it now. He only regretted that Akashi had kept that supercilious smile on his face the entire time, except that last buzzer beater scored by Wakamatsu. Too bad he couldn't have played the full match, because it would've made the difference. He was prickly because of a certain redhead. He didn't even say goodbye to her when she'd left. How lame! But the dispute with Aya was his own and he wanted to resolve it on his own. He didn't want to discuss this with his parents. The only catch was the time. He'd see the redhead in over three weeks and waiting for that long would probably drive him crazy.

"…nothing."

"You know you can talk to me, right?"

"Yes, but I don't want to. I don't need a pep talk or anythin'." He said a bit harsher than he intended. "Well… but if you have a time machine I'd be nice if you could share it?" He said in a milder tone and half-smiled at his mom. He didn't want to hurt her feelings with his reactions.

She chuckled and shook her head. "I don't have one… But why would you need it?"

He shrugged and decided to answer truthfully. "To talk with Aya properly."

"It's called a phone, my dear, and I do pay you one." She smiled compassionately and ruffled his hair.

"Stop it!" He protested and leaned away from her. "I don't want to talk over the phone. She's on the other side of the planet about now, I doubt the connection would be any good. Besides…"

"There are things you don't want to discuss over the phone."

It wasn't a question. He blushed slightly and looked away. "Yeah… Something like that."

"Then you'll have to wait. Nothing to be done about it. Besides, I believe that grandma and Klahan will distract you quite efficiently."

######

"I don't wanna go…" Aya whined when she looked at her small bag. They needed to catch a flight to London in three hours and the connecting transports, but she really didn't want to leave the calm countryside and their family living there.

"We'll be staying there for one or two nights only and then we're going to LA."

"That's exactly why I don't wanna go." She whined like this only because it was Taiga there with her. They'd managed to avoid talking about their problems or father, or Suzume so far. They didn't want their grandparents to worry and they wanted to enjoy the vineyard and winery without thinking about bad stuff.

Taiga smirked. "You need to practise with Kouta. And I bet the boys are all itchy to try out your improved basketball skills."

She sighed and reached her hand towards Taiga. "All right, all right. Lead me then."

He grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet. "I'll throw you over my shoulder too, if you want." He laughed.

"Urgh, please don't." She groaned, but a cheerful smile settled on her lips. She never hated travelling.

######

Daiki was lying on a beach and enjoying the last evening sun rays of the day. He'd spend most of the time with his mother and grandmother, talking (he really didn't want to talk about those things they'd asked), eating and lazing around the small simple house. But now he was finally lying on the beach close by, feeling the sand. There weren't many tourists on this island, so it was calm and he didn't mind spending time on his own.

" _Daiki! Hey! I heard you've finally arrived! How're you doing?!" _A familiar voice of his friend interrupted his activity of doing nothing.

" _Ah. Klahan. Hey!"_ He rolled onto his side and sat up, facing the boy approaching him. " _I wanted to pay you a visit tomorrow."_

" _Well, the word travels faster than you on this small island."_ The boy was shorter than Daiki, but his skin was darker. He had short silky black hair and black eyes. He was running around shirtless and he carried a basketball. The boys had started playing basketball together so many years ago that Daiki couldn't even remember whose idea it had been anymore. " _But your Thai got rusty, I hear."_

" _There's nothing wrong with it. You can understand me, can't you?"_ Daiki scoffed. " _Besides, I ain't using it every day like someone."_

" _Fair enough. But the boys will tease you, you know. And you didn't come last year. Why?"_

" _Didn't feel like it."_ He shrugged nonchalantly. It'd been a time when he hadn't cared about anything and anyone. And he'd decided that not seeing his friend would've been better than crushing him. Klahan was, after all, cheerful, lively and kind-hearted.

" _Right. Wanna play some?"_ Klahan asked excitedly, rolling the ball in his hands as he crouched down to be on the same eye-level as Daiki.

" _Can't. They say I need a week of complete rest."_ He glared at his knees. " _The last matches were too much, and I bet mom decided to keep an eye on me for the next week."_

" _Can I see those matches somewhere?"_ Klahan's eyes sparkled with interest. He was aware of Daiki's outstanding talent, he just had no idea how much Daiki had improved in those two years they hadn't seen each other.

"Uh… _I s'pose."_

" _What's up with you?!"_ He bumped into Daiki's shoulder with a huge question mark written all over his face. He knew Daiki enough to know that his friend had changed and that something was bothering him.

" _Nothing. But I'd rather be somewhere else now."_ _With someone else…_ Daiki sighed and leaned back to rest on his elbows again. " _I messed something up, and I want to fix it."_

" _Haaah? I'm listening. I bet there's a girl involved."_

" _ **A**_ _girl? She's_ _ **the**_ _girl."_ A small, shy smile appeared on his face when he thought about Aya. She'd probably love this place. " _The most amazing and strong girl I've ever met."_

Klahan sat down and leaned against his bent knees, his interest was piqued. " _Tell me more about the special person."_ He prompted. It was the first time he heard Daiki mention a girl other than Satsuki, and Satsuki had been just a friend.

He sighed. This was something he couldn't avoid. Not with Klahan around. " _I t's just… you wouldn't get it. Kagami Aya is special… It's the way she deals with the world and people. She's fiery and impulsive, she can argue easily, but she avoids arguments if she can. She cares for the others a lot. She is funny and loves to be around people. She's smart and beautiful. And when she dances it's like… I don't even know how to describe it. I've seen it only once, but… And she plays basket, quite well too, her reflexes could rival my own. Too bad she isn't a bit taller. I never thought someone would read me so well from the day one. Until she appeared." _

_Do you realise that you eyes are shining when you talk about her?_ Klahan thought with a content smile. " _You are a pretty simple guy, it's not that hard to read you."_ He teased. " _So what's wrong? I guess you guys are dating, no?"_ But _Kagami Aya_ , he'd swear he'd heard the name somewhere before.

" _No. It's complicated… but I fucked up and ended up calling her a traitor."_ He shook his head. " _It was a misunderstanding, but it doesn't change the fact I insulted her deeply."_

" _Aaaah… That sucks. Didn't you talk it out?"_

" _She left for the summer and well… She knows it was a misunderstanding, but…"_

" _But what? Don't overthink it, Daiki. She'll forgive you."_

" _You can't know that."_

" _I can. You are head over heels in love with her. She'd be stupid if she didn't forgive a mistake of a stupidly honest guy like you."_ Klahan patted his shoulder and chuckled. " _Okay! I'll make it my personal quest to make you think about other things while you're here."_

" _Oh god, please no…"_

" _What? Once your ma allows you to run around we'll play basket, swim and fish and we can go to muai thai gym too. I thought the fighting was something you knew quite well. I want to test that. Oh, and I have some new video games we could play…I'll make sure sis' is contained somewhere…"_

Daiki smirked and shook his head desperately. This guy would hardly let him even think about Aya. " _Since when are you into martial arts, huh? "_ True friends were rare, but once he got them… They were always there. And he thought that maybe Aya was feeling just as incomplete without him as he was without her. He wanted to believe that. It made it easier to wait out those few weeks until he could see her again.

* * *

A week after the Interhigh, the twins finally arrived at their mansion in LA in the late morning. Kouta was beyond himself, he kept asking about the Interhigh and everything. He was excited about the competitions he was attending as Aya's partner. He couldn't wait until they'd start practising. No matter how tired Aya was, he knew she'd practise with him.

"Oi, oi!" A plump greying woman in her sixties walked into the kitchen with her hands full of paper bags. "You were supposed to arrive in two hours!" She complained, but a wide grin appeared on her face as she put the bags on a huge kitchen counter.

Aya and Taiga both rose to their feet with delighted smiles on their faces. " **Gabriela!"** They threw themselves at the woman and hugged her tight. " **We missed you!"** They said as one.

Gabi laughed heartily and hugged the children like they were her own. "I missed you more." She said in Japanese but with a thick accent. Then she pulled away and grabbed Taiga's shoulders to look at him better. "You've grown again!"

He laughed sheepishly. "Maybe a little." He said.

"Oh, damn! You're becoming such a fine young man!" She praised him and then looked at Aya. The girl looked tired, but happy. Aya had always been the one carrying her burden quietly, without complaining. Gabi smiled softly at her and hugged her again. "And you're a fine young woman. I'm proud of you."

Aya blinked in surprise. Tears threatened to prickle her eyes again, but she pushed them back. Everything was getting emotional for her. _I'm starting to cry way too easily…_ She thought and smiled. "Thanks."

"I mean it!" Gabi stuck the finger in Aya's face in a persuasive gesture.

"Hai, hai. I know."

"Anyhow." The old woman rested her palms on her hips. "Have you greeted Ivan?"

"He wasn't anywhere close?" Taiga hesitated, suspicion lacing his voice. Ivan was their live-in gardener, taking care of things too difficult for Gabi _and_ taking care of two guard dogs. Taiga had rarely talked with the man as he usually attended to the German shepherds Bullet and Arrow.

"Ah, right! He took Bullet and Arrow to the vet for their usual check-up today."

"Hence the lack of barking when we arrived." Aya sighed. "Ah well, I'll cuddle with them later on."

"Uhm…" Taiga looked at her expectantly.

"And I'll introduce you to them if you really want."

"What, what, what? You're not scared of dogs anymore?!" Gabi exclaimed loudly and clapped her hands.

"Ah well…" Taiga blushed in embarrassment and looked at his feet. "I'm trying to cope with that. But I'm certainly not a dog lover."

"Yet!" She said and ruffled his hair. "You'll soon get that dogs truly are a man's best friends. Anyhow, what do I cook for dinner? I bet your father would love to dine with you after those long months you've been away." Her eyes sparkled cheerfully as she started unwrapping her purchase. Of course, she knew the twins would return that day, and she'd already bought everything for the dinner she'd already decided on.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Aya muttered, knowing the question was rhetorical.

"Oh, Robin, he does love you! He just doesn't know how to show it anymore." Gabi was trying to be optimistic, though deep down she doubted her own words. As the live-in housekeeper she knew about everything going on inside the house. And what those kids had been through… It wasn't nice. "Maybe he needs to be reminded…"

 _That we exist…_ Both twins made the same sour grimace. "Right."

Kouta cleared his throat, as much as he was curious, the topic made him uncomfortable. "Let's go practise!"

"Good idea… But I call a basketball meeting first!" Taiga jumped in. "I wanna meet the guys and they'd be delighted to see Aya playing."

"We have a competition in two days and a half!" The pink-haired weirdo protested.

"Since when do you care?" Aya pulled at one of his dreadlocks.

A wolfish grin appeared on Kouta's face. "Since _you_ are my partner. I don't get to touch you that often, after all."

"Urgh!" Aya rolled her eyes. "Seriously?"

He shrugged and stared at her for a moment, and then he sighed. His joke wasn't appreciated. "I need to practise with you. Because I'm not that perfect."

She chuckled. "I think you're selling yourself short. But… The first is acro, and we'll see how we match up in the evening. If the acro doesn't work out for the two of us, I'll compete with Taiga. And one day for our Samba routine is more than enough, Kouta."

"Eeeeh? So you're willing to swap me?" Kouta whined.

"WHAT?!" Taiga's eyes almost bulged out. "You've never said anything about this?!"

"I'd swear I have." She thought deeply, but she wasn't sure about it. "Whatever. Only in case I won't match up with Kou. Taiga and I are good at that and we've got several choreographies ready anytime, so what of it?"

"You rely on the fact that I always have your back, don't you?"

"You should rely on me too, you know?!" Kota mingled into the conversation almost accusingly. He'd always made fun of them, but the friendship with them was very important for him.

"I do." She answered to both of them. "Should I stop relying on you then?" She raised an eyebrow in a slight emotional blackmail and smirked. _I'll burn in hell for this… But I'd never force him if he truly hated it…_

"Don't you even dare." The boys said almost in unison.

Taiga shook his head. "You're a stupid idiot, Aya, you know that?" He threw his hands up in the air. "But I do love you anyways!"

"Unfortunately, same here, dear twin. Basketball it is then?"

Taiga sighed gravely and rolled his eyes. "Basketball it is. I'm gonna call the boys. You can come too, of course." He said to Kouta, who stared back at him surprised by the invitation.

"Sure. Go do that." Gabi encouraged them. "Anyhow, we'll make a birthday party for you like every year." She thought it was good if the twins knew. (That way they would come straight home from the stupid rich's party.)

"What?" Kouta asked curiously. He had no knowledge about any party going on for the twins. "Don't you have that stick up the ass party tomorrow? Won't you celebrate there?"

Taiga laughed. "Our birthday? On that freakin' event? No, thank you. We're glad the majority of the people there don't know that it's our birthday."

"And since that stupid party always takes place on the second August..." Gabi looked at Kouta meaningfully, "Ivan and I and some of the basketball guys prepare a small birthday party on the beach in the middle of the night."

It was all Kouta needed to hear. "Eeeeeh?! Why didn't you tell me sooner?! I want to help!" He wanted to prepare some surprise for the twins on his own, but if there were others involved, he'd gladly join forces.

"Urgh! Please, don't let him plan anything, Gabi. I warn you. No strippers!"

Gabi laughed. "I bet some of the guys would enjoy that."

The twins rolled their eyes and Taiga decided to rather deal with the call than comment on this.

######

"Kagami-sama?" Lindsay knocked on the door softly.

"Yes?" He invited her in, using his usual monotone voice.

"Pardon my intrusion," she walked in with her head bowed in respect. "I wanted to inform you that your children should have arrived by now."

He sighed and put down the pen he was holding. Why did his assistant seemed to be so involved with his children? "I know." He looked up at her. "And?"

"Well…" She coughed lightly to clear her throat and fight off the uneasiness she felt. "I thought that, maybe, you'd like to take the rest of the day off…?" She turned her statement into a question, not sure if she wasn't crossing some invisible line with her boldness.

"What for? They'll be there in the evening too. No reason to take a day off. Now go do your work."

 _They might not…_ "…" For a moment she considered protesting, but then she bit her tongue. She needed this job. "Yes. Sorry for bothering you." She muttered and backed away from his office.

His eyes rested on a box Peter Fairchild had brought him earlier in the morning. "Oh, wait."

Lindsay stopped in the doors and turned around to face her boss again. "Yes?"

He picked up the box and handed it to her. "Take it to my house, or have someone do it. It's a dress for Aya, for tomorrow's party."

"You bought it for her?" Her voice softened slightly. The man was cold as a rock, but maybe… just maybe he might've been trying.

"No. Peter brought it earlier today. He wants her to wear it for the party. Anyways, just take it to her."

 _WHAT?!_ A chill ran down her spine. She knew Fairchilds. She hated them, but because of her work, she had to get along with them on some level. And they, all of them, had given her some really lecherous proposals she had always refused. But still… The younger son buying something for Aya, it sounded like an ominous premonition. It took her couple of seconds to compose herself enough to answer.

"Have you seen the dress?" She asked suspiciously but tried to keep her formality.

He scoffed. "Why would I? It's Peter, a good boy. He's taken interest in her despite all the drama, as his possible fiancée. I trust his choice. Now go and stop bothering me with pointless questions."

"I'm sorry, Sir, but you should think it through."

The tone of Lindsay's voice made him hesitate for a moment. She rarely used the warning undertone but once she did, she was usually right on point. And honestly, he had opened the box and all he saw was a black lacy front of a dress with pretty silver embroidery. But he hadn't taken the dress out to examine it closer; he knew he'd be unable to fold them back into the box. Besides, what could be wrong with a black lacy dress? He shook his head to get rid of the chilly feeling he felt for a moment.

"It's none of your business." He said with finality in his voice. "Now, take it and go."

"As you wish." She took the box he shoved into her hands. There was a note he had written attached. _This won't end well, Kagami-sama._ With heavy heart she left to do the assigned task.

######

In less than an hour a group of friends from different cultures and backgrounds met up on a nearby basketball court. Kouta was surprised that eight guys and two girls managed to get there on such a short notice. He didn't know much about the twins' life and friends here in L.A., but he was pleasantly surprised. Those guys weren't from the uptown world. And he wondered how in the world this group had come into existence. They didn't notice them yet. Well…

" _Hi there!"_ Aya ran to the group with a cheerful smile on her face. The group had reduced after her little scandal, but… The members she liked the most had remained. " _I'm_ _ **SO**_ _glad to see you again!"_ And Kouta witnessed the perfect language switch once again. Sometimes he thought it was the whole Aya who changed.

The group turned to them and a wide smile graced every face.

" _Robin! Strayed back home, have y'_?" One of the shortest guys spoke up. Of the shortest… he was still around 180 cm tall. But he seemed to be the oldest; around 23 years old, and he had a spark of something that could only be labelled as natural leadership.

" _Just to see your face, Zack!"_ She outstretched her hands and Zack hugged her tightly, picking her from the ground for a moment. " _And that crazy white shining teeth of yours."_

" _Naturally."_ He laughed, showing off his sparkling teeth. Then he clasped hands with Taiga and hugged him too. " _Glad to see you too Tiger! I hope you're taking good care of your sis'."_

" _Tche, as if you didn't know her."_ He scoffed.

" _Miss 'I can do everything by myself'?"_ Zack chuckled and then he took in Kouta's figure tagging behind the twins and measuring everyone in the group curiously. With those pink dreadlocks he looked like an interesting fellow. " _And our new friend here is…?"_

" _Ah… Shiranui Kouta. Our childhood friend."_ Aya said and stepped aside to stop shielding him.

" _Well, hello there. Welcome. Do you play basket too?"_ He stretched out his hand for a handshake, but Kouta hesitated. He was surprised by the warm welcome, but Zack interpreted it differently. He pulled back his hand and half-smirked, scratching his neck. " _Too black for ya?"_

" _Huh?"_ Kouta blinked at him. True, Zack had the darkest chocolate shade of skin and eyes Kouta had ever seen but he wasn't hesitating because of that. " _No! Sorry! Damn!"_ He shook his head and outstretched his own hand. " _Usually I'm not introduced and welcomed like this! I was just surprised."_

Zack laughed and accepted the handshake without fussing about it. " _Why would you be surprised? Their close friends are our friends as well!"_

Aya laughed and patted Kouta's shoulder. "Be the pervert all you want, but you are quite anxious around strangers!" She said in Japanese, because she didn't want the others to know she was mocking him.

"Shut up, Monkey!"

She just waved her hand at him and Zack pulled him into the group introducing everyone. And for a moment the twins were only observers. Everyone seemed to like the pink dreadlocks, and they saw Kouta blush in embarrassment again. The attention seeker didn't seem to know how to handle the attention he hadn't asked for.

"You feeling okay?" Taiga asked her quietly.

She looked up at him. "What do you mean?"

"You know… Suzume, Aomine… Satsuki…"

"Are you?"

"I don't know." He admitted.

"I don't know either. I was stupid for breaking down that easily… But… We're here. With them." She pointed her chin towards the cheerful group. "We might as well enjoy it."

"True, they don't need to worry."

" _Hey! English please!"_ Scott creeped up on them and hugged them around their shoulders. " _You know we don't understand that secret language of yours!"_

" _It's Japanese, not a secret language, and we were just discussing who we are playing against first!"_ She pushed herself away playfully and jumped several steps backwards.

Aya liked Scott quite a bit, and Taiga did too. He was 193 cm tall and lanky and most of the time a thickhead, but he was kind and caring to everyone. The guy wasn't sneaky and they always knew what he thought. And when it came to basketball, he never put up a half-assed game; though he tended to underestimate his opponents sometimes.

" _Me, of course!"_ He grinned widely. " _But if you wanna play two on two, Dominic would gladly join. Right, Pizzaman?!"_

Dominic rolled his eyes. " _Would you stop with that? I just happen to work as a delivery man."_

" _It's not a bad one."_ Aya smirked at him.

" _Well, everyone thinks I make pizza."_ He complained and then he waved his hand as if getting rid of an annoying mosquito. " _Whatever. So? two on two? Or one on one? Which is it?!" _He prompted them with a grin. " _I'll play with either, I don't care. Let's just do something already."_

She glanced at Taiga. " _What do you say?"_

" _One-on-one."_ He grinned. " _And ladies first. I haven't played against you in weeks. I wanna see if you've improved too."_

" _Okay, boys. I'll take on either of you. Who dares first?"_ She challenged them both.

Aya wasn't sure which one was a worse opponent for her. They were both over 190cm. Scott was a very skilled shooting guard and his defence was holeless. And Dominic was… he was a missile. Like Aomine and Hayama. Fast, instinctive, playful, tricky, strong…

" _I call the first!"_ Dominic shouted before Scott could open his mouth. " _Let's see if you can get past me, Robin."_

In that moment she realised, she wanted to go against Dominic the most. Because his basketball reminded her of Daiki's. And because if Dominic deemed her worthy, he would teach her some tricks. She wanted to prove she'd really gotten better. That all those practices with her team weren't in vain.

After a quick game of rock-paper-scissors it was decided the first ball would be handled by Aya.

She stood under the basket, facing Dominic with a smile. She was excited and anxious at the same time, but she was so looking forward to this. _At least I don't have a stage fright._ She thought, feeling that everyone was watching her.

" _I like that."_ Dominic muttered. " _I really like that."_ He was pleasantly surprised by the redhead. She'd played basketball out of fun, or boredom at times, and while he believed she loved the sport, she'd never devoted herself to it. And so, even though she had everything she could physically need to be really good, she never seemed to utilise it like she could've. But now… Just in that basic stand he saw a huge improvement and confidence she'd always had in dancing. He liked the determination he saw in her eyes.

And then she started dribbling and he realised he couldn't take this easy like the usual. He could feel the danger she now posed.

Dominic's defence was great and he could react to almost anything. But she'd seen those moves so many times, and she'd played against it too. She managed to keep the ball out of Dominic's reach; just barely, but it was enough. She always had an exceptional feeling for others' rhythms and movements. And finally, she felt she might even do this.

She was focusing deeply, but she was relaxed enough to fully see him. It was strange, she was excited and calm. There was nothing unnecessary on her mind. She took a step back to have more space and dribbled the ball to her left hand behind her back. And then crossover to the right, and back to the left. He followed, but then she bounced the ball through between his legs and danced her way around him.

He spun around but she was already there. That move got him, but the ball bounced slightly sideways because of some tiny rock. He managed to tip it with his fingers and a race for the ball started.

This time, he got it. And even thought Aya's defence didn't look that bulletproof, he couldn't shake her off. And so he decided to go for a fade-away. She shouldn't be able to reach it.

Just as he jumped up and backwards, Aya lowered down, almost squatting, and propelled up with all her strength. She should at least touch it!

 _Eh?!_ He blinked in shock when she touched the bottom of the ball with her palm. Not the tip of her fingers, but her palm. The ball bounced off the upper right corner of the board, it didn't even scratch the hoop.

" _And you dare to tell us you can't dunk?!"_ Scott shouted. " _How high do you think you were?!"_

They landed and Dominic blinked at the younger girl. " _Damn, you got me_!" He said with admiration in his voice. " _Who are you practising with?!"_

" _The ace of the generation of miracles."_ She said smugly. " _Well, if he feels like it."_

" _The – what?!"_ Zack mingled in.

Taiga rolled his eyes. " _The guy she likes. He kinda has a title of the best high-school ace in Japan. Maybe even better than just that."_

" _Ahaha! I feel a bitter loss there!"_ Nina, who was standing next to Taiga punched his shoulder and laughed loudly.

" _Oh, shut up."_ He glared down at the girl who once pined after Tatsuya.

" _Again."_ Dominic demanded and picked up the ball. " _I wanna see if you can do it again."_

" _Sure."_

" _Hey! My turn!"_ Taiga and Scott yelled in unison. " _Huh?"_ They looked at each other in surprise and then shrugged.

Aya and Dominic exchanged glances. " _Okay, let's see if Tiger got any better too."_ The boy said and passed the ball to Taiga.

" _You sure you didn't want to test him first?"_ Aya asked him with a raised eyebrow.

" _If, by change, he managed to make me miss or stop me–"_ he put his hand over his heart, "– _it would be a fatal blow for my ego."_

She rolled her eyes and laughed. " _Yeah, like for…what? Five minutes?"_

" _Maybe ten."_ He winked at her and they took Taiga's and Scott's places among the spectators.

" _I did miss y'all."_

" _Aww. We missed you too."_ Nina placed hand around Aya's waist and hugged her. " _The two still not talking?"_

" _With Tatsuya?"_ Aya reassured herself. " _No."_

" _And you and Tatsuya?"_ Dominic pried. He was curious.

" _Friends."_ She shrugged. " _And let's watch the match! I guess Taiga will win."_

" _That's highly possible."_

And she was right. It didn't even take him a long time. He fully stopped one of Scott's quick shots and then dunked the ball himself.

" _Whoah! Tiger learnt to fly!"_ Scott shook his head, surprised by the improvements. _I underestimated him._ " _But you know… Let's do it again and I'll stop you."_

" _No you won't."_ Taiga growled.

" _Oh yes I will."_

" _Bring it on!"_

Aya sighed. The two didn't give anyone chance to disturb them. The second mini match took longer. Scott was focusing more, and he stopped underestimating the 'kid'. Taiga's streetball tricks weren't that top notch yet and his left-handed ball handling wasn't that good either; though the speed was troubling. But if Scott picked the right moment, he could easily steal from Taiga.

And he did. When Taiga faked to the right and passed the ball to his left hand, he made one excessive movement. It was enough for Scott, who had four more years of experience.

" _Can you jump that high again?"_ He asked and went for another three pointer. He hoped for the repeating pattern.

"Tch!" Taiga jumped and caught the ball, trying to dunk again, as quickly as possible.

" _Ah, there it is again."_ Scott caught up and stopped the dunk. " _You're trying to be too fast."_

" _Damn it!"_ He swore. It was like playing against Midorima. " _Again!"_ He demanded.

" _Nah, my turn!"_ Aya called out.

" _Come, come little Robin. Let's see if you can fly again."_

" _How poetic."_

Scott was calmer than Dominic, instinctive too, but he liked to take his time. And he usually managed to force his opponents to adjust to his slower pace. With Aya it was it was a bit tricky, because she had a tendency to influence the others with her rhythm too.

She forced him to run around, because he wasn't glued to her as close as Dominic. And there was that moment when she went one way and he followed, so she hastily pivoted the other way. Scott lost his balance and fell on his knee.

"What –" She blinked at him in disbelief and almost stopped to help him.

" _Just shoot, idiot!"_ Dominic yelled.

And she did. Forced by Dominic's shout she made the shot. The ball scratched the rim, but it went in. She won the mini match.

Scott jumped to his feet. " _Have you really ankle-broke me just now?!"_

" _I have?"_ She asked.

" _Tell me she isn't serious."_ Dominic prayed. " _You really haven't gotten an idea what were you doing there?"_

" _Huh? I just wanted to shake him off. I mean, he was far enough…?"_ Then she turned to Scott. " _You okay, right?"_

" _Robin, dear, I let you do that."_ He said, trying to save his dignity as he was getting up from the ground.

" _Sure you have."_ Nina scoffed sarcastically.

" _Yes! Dammit, you have ankle-broke him just now!"_ Dominic stormed to her and shook her shoulders. " _Why haven't you done that before?"_

Her clueless expression was priceless. " _I didn't know I could?"_

" _Sure you can! That's how you fight the height, Robin! Anyways, can you touch the hoop?"_

She shrugged. " _With a proper run-up… I guess?"_

" _Then you could dunk, right?"_

" _Theoretically… but I can't jump high enough while handling the ball. I mean… it's different than volley, or just acro."_

Dominic looked at Zack. " _Shall we teach her?"_

" _Where's Alex, by the way?"_ Taiga asked.

" _She went to Havana a week ago. Should be back in two weeks."_ Zack explained with a shrug. He'd been surprised when Alex decided to go for a vacation instead of waiting for the twins, but she'd had a lot on her plate too. " _Let's split on half-courts. Dominic, you teach Aya whatever you want, if you think you can. Taiga, c'mere, you'll play with me now."_ He said and the group split. Aya started discussing with Dominic vividly and he smiled at Taiga and approached the boy.

Taiga gulped. Zack was, by all means, the best among them, the scariest. But it excited him. " _Great! Heard you are in the Lakers now."_

Zack shrugged. " _Point guard, for now anyways. But I don't think I'll stay more than one or maybe two seasons."_

" _Why? It's a great thing, isn't it? I'd give anything to get there."_

" _I don't really know. I wanna play basketball because I love it and I want to, not because I'm owned by a club and I have to. The guys are great really, but the boys on streets sometimes have more spirit in them than anyone else."_ He explained. Out of all people, Taiga could understand that doing sport for money could bring more struggle than joy, he knew. But the decision would be solely on Taiga in the future. " _But I knocked up my babe and someone has to take care of 'em. So I thought I could try it out. I do want to see mi kid grow up, you now."_

" _Oh…"_ Taiga blushed at the last sentence and looked away.

Zack laughed heartily. " _Still innocent? Well, never mind that, let's play. Show me what you've got."_

The 'basketball meeting' turned into a whole-afternoon-event. The players rotated and changed. Sometimes they played 1-on-1s, 2-on-2s or 3-on-3s on half courts simultaneously. Sometimes, one half court was used for practise, the other for mini matches. And it dragged for hours. Aya was still far from learning how to dunk (even though it didn't look that difficult), but ankle-breaks seemed almost easy now. With her instincts she should be able to pull that off on almost anyone. Well, maybe anyone except Aomine, but she wanted to try that too. She was still hurt by his words, and angry, but she was starting to miss him too.

At the beginning, Kouta thought he would be bored, but he soon got dragged into the practise and to his surprise, he enjoyed it. When they called it quits, he was sweated-through and dead exhausted, and there was a dancing practise awaiting him after the dinner. With a sigh he sat by the fence and gulped down his entire drink.

Nina sat next to him with her drink and smiled. " _You don't look like the type who'd enjoy basketball."_

" _World is full of surprises, my dear lily."_

" _Urgh, please. I'm a simple girl, don't try to flatter me."_

" _Why wouldn't I? It's rare to find a girl up to my standards."_ He smirked and glanced at her boobs, staring a bit longer than was appropriate. " _I like to flatter them."_

" _Doesn't work here."_ She said coldly, not impressed by it. " _I'm dating Scott, by the way. So don't even try."_

" _Oh… I thought you sat to me, because–"_

" _Certainly not. Gabi sent a message that you'd like to help with the small party for the twins tomorrow, so…"_

" _Oh, that, yes! Of course I want to help. What's the plan?"_

" _Nothing too fancy. Roasting marshmallows, sitting by fire, talking, singing, some alcohol maybe… Just spending time together."_

" _Gifts?"_

" _No. We bake cupcakes for them, but no. They strictly forbade us to buy gifts. Although… We were thinking of making a photo book for them. We just can't make it right. It doesn't look good and so we probably won't do it in the end."_

" _That I can help with. I study arts; I think I should be able to help with that. But you need to find someone who'll print it tomorrow."_

" _Huh."_ She stared at him for a moment and then she smiled. " _You're not as terrible as you present yourself. 'kay, deal. We'll let you know about the baking tomorrow. Give me your number, so I can call you."_

######

"Aya!" Gabi shouted from the kitchen when she heard the front door close, indicating someone had come home.

"Yeah?! We're home!" The redhead shouted back. "Is something the matter?"

"C'mere for a moment!" Gabi called them. She didn't want to shout through the house. On the other hand, she kind of missed it.

Aya, Taiga and Kouta barged into the kitchen, laughing, arguing and still discussing the basketball matches. Gabi waited for them to quiet down with a smile on her face. It was nice and lovely to have all three of them back in the house. And talking together.

"Oh, sorry." Aya chuckled and pushed a loose strand of her hair behind her ear. "We're listening."

Gabi raised an eyebrow and all three decided to avoid the eye contact. "Thank you… Anyhow… Lindsay stopped by a moment ago. Haruka won't make it for the dinner–"

"Why am I not surprised…" Taiga muttered and rolled his eyes which earned him a nasty glare from the old woman. "Ah! Sorry. Please continue." He scratched the back of his head sheepishly. Gabi didn't like when someone interrupted her. And her nasty glare was truly feared by everyone.

"Thank you!" She exclaimed sarcastically again and nodded. "Anyhow, it is not that surprising. He has a dinner with a big client or a partner something like that, I don't really know. But, we'll be eating at seven thirty with Ivan."

"Okay." Aya nodded. Honestly, she felt more comfortable dining with everyone when her father wasn't there. It would be less stiff.

"And there is something he'd sent for you. Lindsay didn't specify it, but Ivan took it to your room. It was a box about this big," she pantomimed a middle sized box, "I guess it might be an early birthday present?" She smiled expectantly. If it was a gift, then the things might change for the better between the two.

Aya blinked at her in surprise and then she laughed at the idea. "He didn't give me a birthday present for seven years, why would he do it now? I'm sure it's something weird… I'll let you know when I open it though."

Gabi sighed, "if it isn't, I'll give him a piece of my mind."

"You'd rather not. We don't want some stranger coming in in your stead."

"Not that you're currently living here..." She muttered, but when she noticed Aya's ' _seriously?'_ look, she shook her head. "Yes, yes. I know… Now go check out that box! I want to know what's in it!" She urged her. Maybe she could be strict with them, but she was also a loving caretaker, the closest thing to a mother they now had.

"Comin' too?" She glanced at Taiga, who sighed and with a nod he joined her.

He was curious about the 'gift' too.

The box was placed in the middle of Aya's huge bed. It was a white paper box tied up by a simple black ribbon. Aya approached it carefully, as if it could bite her. A small note was stuck under the ribbon. She took it and turned her in her fingers to read it.

" _For the tomorrow's party_ , it says." She read it out loud and looked at Taiga. "No one signed it. But it is father's handwriting."

"Now, that's new. Since when does he think you can't choose what to wear?"

"Since he thinks I'm a whore?" She shrugged. "Whatever, let's see what it is."

She pulled the ribbon and opened the box with a mixture of feelings, not sure if she should be glad, thankful or terrified. The dress was neatly folded. From what she could see it was black, sleeveless dress richly embroidered with silver thread. At the first glance it looked nice. Until she pulled the dress out of the box and held them up.

"What is that?" Taiga was genuinely stunned. He didn't know how to name what he was seeing, but he sure as hell wouldn't call it 'a dress'.

"…" Aya stared at it with her mouth opened for a moment, and then she looked at Taiga with the same level of shock and wonder. "Seems like a whole swimsuit with…a see-through black pareo? Uhm… I thought he'd want me to wear some monk robes and not _**this**_. I can't imagine him shopping for this."

"Try it on?" He suggested, because he couldn't even imagine that piece of something on a living person. "Can it even hold on you?"

"I doubt that… Let's try it out." She took the dress and disappeared in a bathroom which was attached to her room.

Aya took a shower first, but after a moment of swearing and fighting with the zip, she returned to the room. The dress was skin tight, and it indeed looked like a whole black, silver-embroidered swimsuit. Her shoulders and upper back were completely bare. The 'dress' even had a cut-outs on both sides of her waist. It seemed like the 'dress' were holding on her boobs by a sheer willpower. The pareo-like part, soft and light as a spider web, spread down from her hips and it reached her knees, but it was made from a black see-through material and it only covered Aya's back side, so she really looked like wearing a swimsuit; a high cut swimsuit – her hipbones were visible too – with bare back and waist.

It covered none of her scars.

"You're not wearing that." Taiga said, processing the horrendous dress his sister was wearing. "Not to the Fairchild's house and not anywhere else, but especially not there."

She gave him an uneasy look. "Trust me; I don't want to go like this anywhere. I wouldn't even wear it for a competition... And to Fairchild's?! He's lost his mind. I can't go there like this." She pointed at the thing she was wearing."It feels like wearing a neon sign screaming 'whore'! I mean… what's his bloody point?!" She threw her hands in the air angrily and the front of her dress slipped down.

"Shit!" She quickly caught it and covered her boobs again. "Sorry, Tai!" She said, feeling a bit mortified, but oh whatever.

"Nothing I haven't seen yet." He shook his head, not even blushing; it was his stupid sister after all. "But it's certainly an invitation for those perverts. You think you could change father's mind about this?" Taiga couldn't get their father's reasoning behind the dress either. It just felt weird. There was no logical explanation. Something didn't bode well…

And Aya picked it up as well, he could tell. She was frowning deeply.

"I'll have to try. And even if I don't, I'm wearing the emerald dress." It was a simple A-cut off the shoulders dress that reached slightly below her knees. There was nothing excessive about them, but they fit her perfectly. And bonus, they hid her scars.

"Yeah. They are nice. The colour works well with your hair." He said absent-mindedly.

"What would I do without my fashion advisor?" She chuckled. "Okay, time to show off to Gabi and Kouta?"

"Don't forget to throw your hands up to please the idiot."

"Before you call him 'idiot' to his face, remember, he's the prankster." She teased and walked out of the room, holding the dress in place with her hand.

"What on earth is that atrocity?!" Kouta shouted angrily.

"Don't say you don't appreciate the sight." Taiga teased him, but he only earned a slap on the back of his head from Gabi.

"Not funny, Taiga. She can't wear that anywhere."

"It kinda was." Kouta chuckled. "I mean… It does please my eyes, and more–" this time it was him who got hit by Gabi. "Sorry, sorry. But you must admit she does have a perfect figure, dear Gabriela."

The old woman sighed. "Unfortunately, you're right. That's exactly why she can't wear that." The dress didn't seem like something Haruka would choose. The man was too much into appearances. It just didn't make sense for her either.

"Can I send a picture to Hikaru? I swear it'll sour his day." He grinned and pulled out his phone.

"You're a terrible brother." Aya shook her head but allowed him to take a picture. "Only Hikaru. If it comes back biting me, I'll kill you in your sleep."

"Hai, hai, don't worry, lil' Monkey." _I don't promise Hikaru won't show it though…_

######

"Oh, FUCK!" Hikaru threw his phone against a pile of clothes. "What the fuck is that atrocity?!" It was way too early in the morning (in Japan) for him to witness such a horrible taste in fashion. That dress was so not fit for his lil' sister.

"Huh?" Kise looked up at his stylist with puppy eyes. "What are you talking about?" He yawned and stretched. Even though it was summer holiday, he had to get up early for morning practises – he was still forbidden to play, but he had started secretly running again.

"Come on! Just look at it?!" He picked up the phone and shoved it into Kise's face. "I've never seen a worse dress on her than those! It doesn't even hold up on her breasts properly. I mean. What amateur made it?!"

"Whoah…" The blonde blinked at the phone. It showed too much. "Is that Ayacchi? Where would she wear it?"

"Nowhere, of course! She can't show up at Fairchilds' wearing _**that**_." He spat out.

"She is wearing it now."

Hikaru rolled his eyes. "She's at home, stupid." He frowned when he finally read the message. "Of course… She'd never choose something like that willingly. It's her father's choice…?" He made a grimace, not really understanding.

"What?!" Kise's voice jumped higher at the absurdity of the situation. "If my father could choose clothing for my sisters, they'd wear monk robes and bulletproof vests all day long."

"And they're going to a Fairchilds' for that stupid garden party… tomorrow." Hikaru muttered and swore under his breath. He was frowning.

"Is that bad?"

"Oh, you can't imagine. The bunch should've been locked up in a jail for mistreating women long time ago… if you know what I mean." He looked at Kise meaningfully.

Suddenly, he felt worried for his friend. "Oh… Shit."

"You said it right. Shit. I just hope she won't obey Haruka-san in this, or they'll break her for real this time."

"It's Ayacchi." He chuckled. "I'm sure she'll be fine."

Hikaru raised an eyebrow and sighed. _I doubt that…_

Kise quieted down and looked at Hikaru. "Right?"

"Let's go, you can't let Reina-chan waiting too long."

"What? Reina is here today?!"

Hikaru stared at the blonde for a moment. He'd never seen him to freak out because of a girl. "Since when do you fuss about your co-workers? And since when exactly is she Reina and not _Reicchi_?" He saw the way Kise looked at the girl, but he never expected the blonde to stop using the ridiculous nicknames when someone asked him to.

"…"

"What did you do?"

Kise bit his lip guiltily. "I might've stood her up… But I swear it was not my fault! Kasamacchi forced me to clean up the locker room since I can't practise. They took my phone and locked me in! When I got out there she was already gone, and she's not talking with me."

Those two were unbelievable. "Did you explain yourself to her?"

"I've been trying but she either won't listen to me or won't believe me! And she isn't picking up her phone!"

Hikaru sighed heavily. "Whatever, stop whining, you need to do your job." He pulled the blonde out of the changing room by his ear. "Ask your team to back up your excuse, dumbass. Reina-chan isn't stupid."

######

"Come on!" Aya shouted at Kouta when he let go of her for the fifth time. "You can do it. I'm not that heavy."

He bent forward catching his breath. "You're not, but I might be too weak. Can't we change this part of the choreography? Or make it faster?"

"It won't have the same feel to it if you do it faster." Taiga pointed out and got up. Those two were struggling with the choreography for hours. They didn't seem to have the right chemistry for this particular song and choreography. But he wouldn't really say it. At least Kouta never let her fall to the ground, end even if she accidentally kicked him or hit him; he made sure she got down safely. Taiga admired that much. "It's about how you set your entire body. She is helping you as much as she can, you know? But you can't only use your arms."

"How am I supposed to stand then? I mean… I lift her up while she does her thing and I have to turn around and walk almost immediately. It's not just that dirty dancing lift up!"

Taiga shrugged. "It's a bit harder. But you need to use your legs and the entire body, not just your arms." He grabbed Kouta's calf and pulled his leg to a place he saw fit. Then he did the same with the other. "If you stand like that, you should be able to lift me. And I'm about 20 kilos heavier."

"Huh." Kouta looked him up and down with _that_ look in his eyes again and Taiga cursed at his stupid remark.

"Don't look at me like that."

"Like what?"

"Like you wanna grope him." Aya filled in and put her hands on her hips.

"But I do."

"Urgh, gross. So? Willing to try again?"

Kouta sighed. "Yeah, but could you take off that terribly plain old t-shirt?" He complained.

Aya looked at her clothes and then at him. "What's wrong with it? It's my favourite practise t-shirt!"

"I'd be more motivated if you only had your sports bra accompanying your panties."

"Those are shorts, not panties!" She exclaimed reproachfully.

"It barely covers your ass, so panties for me."

"Can I kill him?" Taiga asked with a raised eyebrow.

Aya tapped her lip in deep thought. "Not yet. He might actually learn this."

"Hmmm… Senri did learn it. It would be a shame if the perv couldn't. Isn't he supposed to be better than his brother?" He asked in provocation, but he acted as if Kouta wasn't there with them.

 _Oh…_ Aya understood the play and turned her back to Kouta to hide her smile. "Maybe we gave him more credit than he deserves. Tcs, tcs, tcs… And it's just a lift up…"

Kouta narrowed his eyes at them. They seemed to be forgetting who was the no.1 prankster.

Taiga had to bite his cheek to hide a grin which threatened to break on his face. "That's what he gets for practising with a 40 kilo girl."

"…or guy."

"She was 53 kilos!" Kouta burst out. "Don't underestimate me!"

Aya suddenly spun on her heel and ran up towards him. "Then catch." She said and leaped up.

Thankfully Kouta hadn't moved from the position Taiga had set him into. "Urgh!" He groaned as he grabbed Aya's hips and pushed her high above his head. She spread her hands backwards like wings and stretched up one of her legs up in a perfect figure.

Kouta was supposed to turn around on his back leg and start walking all the while bringing Aya down to sit on his shoulder. But instead, he set her back on the ground.

"You had it! What went wrong?"

"If I moved my leg you'd come crashing down." He admitted. "Can I watch you two do it again?"

She looked at Taiga questioningly.

"Sure, come on."

######

"Gabriela." Haruka peeked into the kitchen where Gabriela was solving a crossword. He waited until the old woman raised her head to acknowledge his presence, though this evening it took much longer than usual.

The only reason he respected the housekeeper was because she'd been chosen by Keiko long years ago and she was in the age of his mother, maybe a bit younger, but still… He respected the age and the woman's background. And she made his meals…

"Yes?" She asked emotionlessly. Even her expression was blank. And he'd swear it had something to do with his children. They must've told her something.

"I don't know what they told you, but they probably made it up." He said, not sure why he felt the need to make excuses in front of her.

She simply raised an eyebrow at him. _They don't need to make anything up…_ "What do you need at this late night hour?" She asked glancing at the clock. It was well past 10 PM.

He sighed, knowing he wouldn't get any explanation of the sudden cold behaviour. "I need to speak with my daughter."

"I'm sure you do." She said and pushed herself from the table. The chair made a terrible screeching sound on the tile floor, but it didn't seem to bother her. "Shall I call her to your room?"

"No. Living room is good enough. I need a drink."

Gabi decided not to comment on that, or she'd probably say something she'd regret later. "It might take some time. She is practising in the gym."

"Prompt her then." He said and walked away.

######

Aya took a deep breath and walked towards the living room. To be called for a 'talk' by her father was usually not a good thing. _You need to talk with him anyways… It's gonna be alright._ She told herself and pushed the door open.

She hated the room. It had changed a lot after her mother had passed. It'd become too sterile; white walls with no pictures, white carpet, knee-high conference table made out of clear glass, two creamy leather sofas and armchairs, an unused fire place. The room was huge, but it was empty, cold and impersonal, and so different from their huge vivid living room in Japan. She withheld a sigh and approached her father.

Haruka was sitting in his armchair like a king on a throne with his hands crossed over his chest. He had two glasses of whisky on the conference table, one empty and one full, and his expression implied that he'd been waiting Aya for some time. And she wasn't sure if it was a good or a bad thing. It was past ten in the evening but he was still wearing his Armani suit. If he was still in his business clothes, Aya suspected this conversation would be about business too. She hardly remembered when she'd last seen him in casual clothes.

"Good evening, father." She greeted him with a respectful bow of her head and kept her expression blank. "You've asked to see me." The sentence was carefully worded. She had no idea what was going through her father's head, but she didn't like this heavy atmosphere. She wanted to talk to him too, but this…

He didn't react to her formality. His daughter was known for her fiery and bold behaviour, but Haruka couldn't see it anymore. When he looked at her, all he could see was impenetrable, emotionless mask which didn't match her practise clothes. He could feel she was being careful how she would speak to him. But he still watched her carefully.

 _Good. She still knows her place._ He thought. "I want to discuss the party we are attending tomorrow."

Aya nodded, waiting for him to continue.

"I asked Lindsay to deliver a dress to you. I believe Gabriela-san," in the past few years he started to call the housekeeper that, and he refused to use the less formal Gabi – like everyone else did, "gave it to you. Have you seen it?"

"Yes."

"Have you tried it?"

"I have…" There was 'but' hanging in the air.

He raised an eyebrow as a sign for her to speak.

"I can't wear them tomorrow. They are too revealing. I'd prefer something with more cloth, less cleavage and a covered torso." She admitted, looking at him, and yet, looking past him at the same time.

There was the chill he felt when talking with Lindsay earlier. "You will wear the dress." He said firmly, there was no way he'd show he had no idea what the dress actually looked like. Aya was probably exaggerating anyways. "After all, you are used to wearing revealing clothes and showing off. No reason to act timid and decent now." He said in a rather cold voice, staring at her from his throne.

Aya winced inwardly. His comment served like good aimed slap. _So he really thinks I'm a whore… Not that you didn't know, Aya._ "Father, please." Her poker face didn't slip, but it was tearing her heart to plead her father for something as stupid as a permission to wear a dress according to her own tastes. "Let me choose a dress myself. I promise you, you won't be disappointed."

"You've disappointed me enough, Aya. I'm not letting you do it again."

"I won't. But _please_ let me choose my dress."

"No. You'll wear the one that was delivered."

 _I may as well go naked!_ She was feeling too wronged and had been away too long to notice his wording. He never once mentioned the dress had been _his_ choice.

She should lower her gaze and look at her feet to indicate she understood, but it was against her nature. She decided not to answer him. And she remained stubbornly staring at him. There was something else he wanted to discuss; otherwise he'd send her away. And much more than just a dress. "Is there anything else?" She asked.

"Fairchild gave me a proposition." He said, scratched his chin and leaned forward to take the full glass of whisky into his hand. For him it was a great idea, but he wasn't sure how his daughter would react. He expected some opposition, but he hoped she would see his reasoning and all the privileges that would come with it.

Upon hearing the name her blood froze in her veins. She feared what he was about to say next. "What kind of _proposition_?" She asked carefully.

Haruka noticed fear that flashed in her eyes. No it wasn't fear, it was dread. It appeared for only a split second, but because she didn't avert her eyes, he noticed. It satisfied him. He believed his daughter needed her wings cut, so she wouldn't cause any more problems.

Though she had behaved the entire time she had spent in Japan, according to what he'd heard, Haruka didn't believe that she'd turned into an angel all of a sudden. The receptionists were probably covering for her, and she probably had several boyfriends there. He didn't know only because he considered it unimportant. His idea was right and fair.

"The youngest son, Peter, has shown a great interest in you. They asked me for your hand. They want you as Peter's fiancée. And I think it is indeed a good proposition."

Aya's eyes widened and blood was drained from her face. "No." She said, but her voice was not louder than a whisper. She shook her head. For a moment she felt like a fish out of the water, gasping for air but unable to breathe. The party at Fairchild's was planned for tomorrow. Her father had already made some sort of a deal with them. If he hadn't told her now, she would've found out in the worst possible way tomorrow. "No." She repeated a bit louder.

Haruka heard, but he acted as if he didn't. "What do you think about it?" He asked, but he didn't want to hear her genuine opinion, he was more or less decided to accept, he just felt that she should know before he would announce it at tomorrow's party. "In my opinion it is a very generous proposal, Aya. After your incident, and your… affairs… I'm surprised that someone of their status wants of you. Accepting it will help you to finally clean up the mess you've made with _**that**_ boy, and joining our wealth with theirs will benefit the company. Not to mention connections we will acquire. It's beneficial for everyone." He said, proud about his reasoning. But all he could see was terror and hurt in Aya's face. And something else. Anger. White hot anger bubbling just beneath the surface.

" _Beneficial for_ _ **you**_ _, you mean?!"_ She muttered in French so he wouldn't hear, not caring about keeping her mask up. She was shocked, and hurt. Her father had a talent for hurting her deeply ever since the photo of her and Tatsuya making out on the beach had been published in a local press and even before. She knew he saw her as a worthless whore, who brought a bad light on them, but she would never think he would do this! He must have lost his mind! And there she was, throwing him so many olive branches. Bile rose to her throat. This engagement or whatever wasn't going to happen. Over her dead body. _This will turn ugly very quickly._

"No. I refuse the proposal." She said out loud, with her chin stuck out. "I'm not getting engaged with _**any**_ Fairchild. I don't want to have anything to do with them. Least of all Peter. I hate him." She was restraining her voice to sound as calm as she possibly could. But she wanted to shout.

"Aya, you have to understand. He is the best company for you. The best partner for you. I've decided to agree, Aya."

 _You decided, huh?!_ She thought, but decided to listen to this crap till the end.

"Love is, after all, a choice. It's learnt. And you will learn to like Peter too. He is a charming young man, who is willing to look past your improper sexual relationships."

That did it.

"PAST **WHAT**?!" She spat out. "My _**improper**_ _sexual relationships_?! Are you even _**listening**_ to yourself?! I am still a virgin, father! **VIRGIN**!" She shouted, too angry to be embarrassed. "Which you can't say about any of the Fairchilds! They are monsters! Peter assaulted me once! I was twelve! I don't want to have anything to do with them!"

Haruka raised an eyebrow. "I don't know anything about Peter assaulting you–"

"Because you don't listen! You NEVER listen!" She interrupted him mid sentence, not realising her mistake.

"DON'T yell at me!" He thundered.

Aya shut up, but her reddish eyes were burning with rage. This was her life. Her fuckin' life! She had obeyed enough, she had done enough. She wouldn't obey in this. Not in this.

Normally she would take a step back at her father's voice. But she remained stubbornly standing at her spot, glaring at him. The glare was something Haruka hadn't yet seen. It reminded him of Keiko, whenever she'd been protecting her children from anyone who dared talking bad about them. It reminded him of Seth, who had punched him, when he'd first called Aya a 'whore' – of course he had fired that insolent driver. Now, it was Aya herself who was glaring at him like that; like she was ready to fight him, to tear him apart if necessary. And for a moment, he felt a chill ran down his spine again.

"Then tell me. Why do you think they are monsters? I'm listening." He stuck out his chin as well, downing half the whisky from his glass. He put it back on the table and crossed his arms.

She blinked. Was he willing to listen? She didn't feel like explaining, but she forced herself to calm down enough. Maybe… "Have you ever wondered why their girlfriends are ending up in a hospital almost every other week? They like to beat women, tie them up, hurt them!" She noticed how he looked at her… "Oh, don't give me that look! I knew some of them. They were running away the moment they could, never pressing charges because their mouths were glued shut with money."

"Do you want me to believe that wild story of yours?"

Aya had to take a deep breath or she'd break something. "Why would a woman run away from a rich guy, who 'loves' her, and whom she loves back?"

"I've never expected you to badmouth anyone."

"I'm not! It's the truth!" Aya wasn't a liar. She knew her way with words, but now she was so hurt and furious, she didn't care anymore, and she wasn't careful how she told her story. But it was the truth. It wasn't only that she knew some girls, Taiga and she had seen them beating one up, and to top it, they had tried to do the same to her, if Seth hadn't been there… But exactly because she had no real proof, she couldn't do anything, except keeping her distance.

"No one pressed charges." He raised an eyebrow and waved his hand, this was not worth any more of his time.

 _URGH! But I've said it!_ _ **No. One. Pressed. Charges…**_ "Well then… Soon there will be charges. Against me. For a murder. I'm not getting engaged with the Fairchild." She said, rage bubbling in her voice, but she didn't shout. "And that's my final word."

"You are _**my**_ daughter." His voice rose and with that he rose from his armchair. He felt like she was looking down on him, and he couldn't stand it. He couldn't stand her glare. "You _**will**_ do as _**I**_ say!"

"I've been trying to do as _**you**_ say long enough." Her voice was bitter and sad, but unbelievably cold. "I won't obey in this. You don't own me."

After Keiko had been killed, he gradually started to hate whenever people disagreed with him, or disobeyed him so openly. "I don't care. I'll announce it tomorrow, and then you can say goodbye to your little boyfriend in Japan, because back here you'll come."

Aomine's face flashed in her mind. She was angry at him too, yes, but she loved him too. He was her own choice. And she couldn't possibly disappear on him without a proper discussion. She didn't want to. Oh, how she wanted him to be with her at the moment and at the same time, she was glad he wasn't. If he witnessed this… what would he think?

"So you _do_ have a boyfriend." He explained her moment of hesitation. "Ha! I knew it. You just can't be without a man. What a disgraceful woman you have become!" He was shaking his head in disappointment.

Something in Aya broke in that moment. This was pointless. Haruka would do whatever he wanted to. And she could either destroy her image now, or end up in jail for murdering Peter Fairchild, worse even, tainting Taiga because she knew he'd help her. She would never become Peter's fiancée. And she doubted she'd look good in orange.

" _ **Enough!**_ I'm _**your**_ daughter! The one you danced with years ago! And I _**refuse**_ to get engaged with the Fairchild!" She yelled at him. "You are my father! You should be the first one protecting me! Believing me! Believing _**in**_ me! Having my back!" Tears shone in her furious eyes and her voice cracked with all the bottled up emotions. "But what do you do?! WHAT?! You don't listen! You give me loads of work I can't always handle – but I do in the end. You insult me! Distrust me! And now you want to do _**THIS**_ to me?! Sell me off?! What did they offer you? WHAT IS THIS," she jabbed a thumb in the middle of her chest angrily, "THIS WHORE'S PRICE?! Huh? I wanna now."

He blinked at her in disbelief. He couldn't comprehend that his daughter was running her mouth like that. And yet, there was so much hurt and blame in those words it felt like thousands of frosty icicles were piercing through his chest and heart at once. And all he could do to cope with it was to get angry.

When he didn't answer in five seconds, she snorted. "Open your grieving eyes already. If you hate me that much just disinherit me and erase my name from your family tree! It'll be easier for both of us. That way you can forget you ever had a daughter. The one your wife protected with her li–"

 **SLAP!**

The slap was so strong and so unexpected, that Aya fell on the ground. She flew through the cold glass of the conference table onto the white carpet. The shards stuck into her thigh and hip. Her upper body hit hard against a couch. The whisky spilled on her and both glasses shattered like the table they were set on.

Because of the shock, she didn't feel the pain of sharp glass cutting her flesh yet or the pain when she bit into the inside of her cheek. She didn't feel the blood dripping from the corner of her mouth.

All she felt was betrayal and deep hurt. _I'm done. I'm so done with this shit._

She looked up at her father who for once had a shocked expression on his face. His red eyes were wide, as if he couldn't comprehend what he had just done. He saw his daughter bleeding in the pool of glass shards and his whisky, and he couldn't believe it was him who'd put her there.

The look she had in her eyes, shattered his already broken heart even more. He could read those words clearly written all over her face.

' **I'm done.'**

Tears were shining in her eyes, but they weren't flowing down. She was way too proud to cry in front of him.

He couldn't remember when the last time he had seen her cry was.

 _What was I thinking?_ She remained quiet. There was nothing else to say.

And Haruka realised that that silence, was much worse than everything she had told him, anything she could've told him. He lost her for good.

"Aya!" The door was almost ripped out of its hinges, as Taiga barged in. He knew Aya went to talk with their father, he knew the yelling was inevitable, but the sudden silence was… _Oh god!_ His face twisted in worry and rage when his eyes laid on Aya and then on the broken table and smudged blood on the snowy white carpet. "What have you done?!" He yelled at their father and pointed at Aya. "She sure didn't jump through that table alone!"

At that moment, Taiga appeared bigger. He _was_ bigger, wider. Not bigger than his father yet, just much bigger than Haruka had remembered him to be.

He had no idea when Taiga had grown so much. He was just standing there, looking at his son, as if he wasn't there. As if he was watching the scene from an outside of his body. His palm was still stinging from the slap he had given.

"Taiga." Aya said firmly, stopping him from punching their father like Seth had done. She was so glad to see him there, because she had no idea what to do. But Taiga's barge in snapped her back from her self-pity and shock. "Don't. It's not worth it."

He turned his head to look at her. He immediately jumped to her and tried to think of a good way to get her out of there without causing any further cuts. His sister had four too many scars for his tastes.

But instead…

She took a deep breath and pushed herself to her feet. The blood trickled down her leg and some shards fell off of her leg. The whisky was stinging in the wounds, hurting like hell. One shard was bigger and it was apparently stuck much deeper than the others. She knew she shouldn't pull it out, despite the urge to do so.

Quietly, she took off her t-shirt and tore it into two pieces. It was an old t-shirt she liked to practise in, the fabric was barely holding together anymore, now it would serve like a good sponge. She wiped her foot and calf and loosely tied one piece under the wounds, so she wouldn't leave bloody footprints around the house, and the other above the wound to limit the blood flowing into her leg.

"What are you doing?" Taiga asked after a moment. Still too shocked.

"Come on, the carpet's white. No need to ruin it further." She joked and smiled at him.

Taiga sighed, she was fighting with tears and herself, and all he could do was watch and patch her up afterwards. He hated it.

"Oh, right. The white carpet is what you care about the most now? And what about that piece of glass stuck in your leg, huh? Lemme guess, it's _nothing_." He said sarcastically.

"Well yeah! Compared to a heart attack Gabi might get if I leave bloody footprints around."

Taiga raised an eyebrow. "She is a doctor, she walked through wars; she ain't scared of little blood, but… It's you. She will get one either way…"

"She will patch me up here, I hope." Aya sighed, but she knew that a hospital was probably inevitable. "I've had enough of hospitals for the next few weeks…"

"Me too, but you'll go. If anything, you need a medical record."

"What?" She blinked at him, not understanding.

Taiga shrugged and glared at their father, they'd been ignoring so far. "Leverage. You can't punch yourself like that."

Haruka took a soulless step back under that glare.

Aya tilted her head and stared at him. "Huh… And they say that _**I**_ am the crafty one. Fine. Go get Kouta, he'll drive."

Taiga nodded. "Sure, meet us in the garage. I'll get Gabi on the way."

"'kay. Thank you."

When she was sure he was gone, she turned back to Haruka. "We're done. But don't worry, I'll go to that stupid party, where you will call off the engagement. Otherwise, I will destroy the company." She hated doing this. "And believe me, Taiga will have my back." She said coldly and left the room.

Haruka was left alone with his thoughts. He slumped to his knees and covered his face, staring at the blood on the carpet and shattered table through his fingers. _What have I done?_

######

It took ten stitches to patch up the biggest cut and some others for the rest. Aya was struggling to not have a panic attack when they were stitching her up in a hospital and it was Gabi doing all the talking.

Aya didn't really care. All she could hear was a distorted mishmash of sounds surrounding her. Replaying the conversation with her father wasn't helping it.

For the first time in her life she saw no more reasons to try getting along with him. She even hated him and she hated herself for feeling that way. She didn't want to hate her father; it wasn't the right feeling to have about one's family.

Maybe that's how Suzu felt about her mother all along… She could finally understand what a terrible feeling it was.

She felt bad for Taiga, because she could see the struggle going on within him. He wanted to protect her, he felt he had to choose a side, he didn't want to hate their father either, but what she didn't know was that he'd chosen a side long time ago and that it was her.

He squeezed her hand and smiled at her. "We'll get out of here soon enough."

She nodded, but she couldn't return the smile.

* * *

 **A/N:** That's it for now. We got to quickly meet Aya's family - I didn't write more because I considered it unnecessary for the chapter. Then oh, hi Aomine, enjoy your vacation. And some basketball improvements. And we met the father...

Let me know what you think and remember, reviews are appreciated, but never necessary.

S.


	42. Chapter 42: 2nd August

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone who followed, favourited and reviewed! It makes me very happy :)

This chapter was a huge struggle for me, I rewrote it at least 5 times until I was satisfied. There's quite a lot of OCs and everything, but I hope it's still enjoyable...

Anyways... Enjoy!

* * *

 _The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other's life. Rarely do members of one family grow up under the same roof. ―_ _**Richard Bach, Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah**_

 _And apologies, once postponed, become harder and harder to make, and finally impossible. ―_ _ **Margaret Mitchell, Gone with the Wind**_

 _The past is a place of reference, not a place of residence; the past is a place of learning, not a place of living. ―_ _ **Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart**_

 _Having children makes you no more a parent than having a piano makes you a pianist. ―_ _ **Michael Levine**_

 _Loving someone and having them love you back is the most precious thing in the world. ―_ _ **Nicholas Sparks, The Rescue**_

* * *

" _Daiki, wait."_

He stopped at the door and turned around to his grandma. She was a small tanned woman, not at all that old. She might've been around 55, he never really knew and never asked; the woman could be very short-tempered when someone dared to guess her age. But he knew she'd had his mother very young and the same thing applied to his mother and him too.

" _Yeah?"_ He asked and yawned. The damn Klahan kept him up until early morning and he had to sneak back home through a window. At least his grandma didn't bother to check on him and his mother kept her occupied. And then, after sleeping for not even half an hour he was woken up by grandma preparing to leave. He knew the house would be quiet and empty afterwards, but he couldn't sleep there very well anyways, so he decided to go find some cozy spot and take a nap somewhere at the beach.

" _Michiko is leaving in two days."_

" _I know, I'll finally be able to move around, so? " _Honestly, he already could. It'd already been a week after the Interhigh. But Michiko made sure Klahan kept him in check until she left. The boy gladly complied and despite Daiki's protests he couldn't do much.

" _If you're be able to move around, you'll be able to help around too." _She said and pointed her chin in a direction of her small diner providing lunches and dinners for locals as well as some tourists who visited the island. " _One of my waitresses cracked her ankle two days ago. I need someone to deliver food to the tables. I didn't want to bother you but..."_

Daiki shrugged. " _Fine."_ It meant he'd be able to escape Klahan for at least some period of time. That and he liked the diner. Bedises, he was eating there almost everyday.

His memories from the time he'd spent here as a little kid were blurred and almost forgotten, but the nostalgic feelings remained. Feelings of vague happiness and great longing, he didn't quite understand. He shook the thoughts like a wet dog. There was no need to be bothered by it.

" _Huh…"_ She looked him up and down. _That went way too easy._ " _I'll pay you the same amount I'd give to her, so you can earn something. I bet half your schoolmates are working part-time during the break."_

" _No need to. I have the scholarship."_ He didn't want to take any money from his grandma. Her small house was simple as was her life and it was made up of hard work. And most of the money she made, she invested into her diner, to make it better. After his grandpa died it'd become her love and life and it was the best diner on the island.

" _I'll still pay you. "_ She insisted.

" _You can try."_ He chuckled. He wouldn't take anything from her. " _So? In two days?"_

" _I'll wake you up at four in the morning."_

" _Urgh."_

######

Late in the afternoon, Satsuki was sitting on a bench after practise. There were far less boys attending summer practises. Imayoshi and Susa had gone to visit their families for two weeks and Aomine was at his grandmother's too. She was all alone in the gym now. She thought it would be easy to be with the boys and act like nothing happened, but Naito seemed to know and he was giving her a hard time.

What she'd done was wrong and selfish and stupid, and she knew that now. And she felt so alone. Kiku-chan stopped by once, but the girl wasn't really there because of her.

Today was Aya-chan's birthday and she was thinking about sending her a message, or calling her, the whole day. But she wasn't sure what she'd write or say. The 16 hour time difference gave her a lot more time to reconsider.

She sighed.

"What's the matter, Momoi-san?" The coach's voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Oh… uh…" She cleared her throat. "Nothing." This was another person she was ashamed to face.

He sighed too and approached the girl. She'd been troubled long enough. Teenagers made mistakes, they did stupid stuff,, but he was an adult, he should be able to act like one. He sat down beside her. "Is this about pulling Aomine out of that match? Or are you angry that I let him play in the end?"

"I'm not angry… I… well… I guess I'm sorry. But there's no one to apologise to."

"I'm here. And I accept." He smiled a little, feeling he so didn't know how to handle kids.

Satsuki smiled too. "They won't accept that easily." She sighed again. "Especially Aomine-kun. I shouldn't have done that."

"You shouldn't but you did." He leaned forward and rested his elbows against his knees. "And you can either genuinely apologise and see what happens or overthink it and distance yourself even more."

"Aomine-kun probably doesn't know yet…"

"He didn't lash out at you yet?"

The pinkette glared at him. "He is in Thailand, and no, I haven't told him…. yet…"

 _And you probably won't unless he figures it out… which he probably doesn't want to…_ "Well then, I hope you know what you're doing. Those two are quite complicated and unpredictable when hurt." He said and walked away.

######

"Mornin'." Taiga's voice woke her up from her intermittent sleep at dawn. She was having bad dreams again, not nightmares, but the whole argument with father had been replaying in her head.

"Mhmmm…" Aya mumbled, and rolled onto her right side, just to be shock-awoken by a sharp pain in her freshly stitched thigh. "Fuck." She rolled back to her previous position and pressed the back of her hand against her eyes.

"So it finally _does_ hurt, huh?" He asked compassionately and sat on the edge of her bed.

"Unfortunately." She sighed, sat up and rested her head against Taiga's shoulder. "I've had worse though."

"True, but… you sure about the competition tomorrow?" He'd ask about the party too, but it was an inevitable event. There was no point in trying to avoid it, or talking about how much they didn't want to go.

"I've competed with broken toes, trust me, a few stitches won't stop me."

He sighed, if there was anyone willing to go to such lengths, it was definitely his sister. He patted her head and then he gently grabbed chin and pulled her head away from his shoulder to look at her. Before, her hair covered her face like a curtain, but he pushed them behind her ear to see her left cheek.

"Dammit." He growled angrily. Her cheek was purple, still reddish and turning into a darker bruise. Father must've slapped her really hard.

"That bad?" She asked with a raised eyebrow and a crooked smile appeared on her face but her eyes weren't smiling.

"You'll need to do a miracle with make-up to cover it up… Anyways… Uhmm…" He wanted to ask, but he had no idea if he should.

She nudged him gently. "Shoot. I won't bite your head off."

He chuckled. "I know that, I just… I don't think it's appropriate…"

"Since when does Kagami Taiga care about being _appropriate_?"

Instead of commenting on that he leaned back purposefully.

"Ouch, shit!" Aya protested loudly when he leaned against her hurt thigh, contently resting his back against her. "What the hell?" She tried to childishly push him away, but he was heavy.

"You're being mean." He accused and made himself comfortable. "And you said it's not that bad."

"Urgh…" She groaned and gave up. She threw herself back on the bed.

Soon after, Taiga slid lower so he wouldn't pressure any of the bigger cuts and folded his hands on his chest resting against her knees.

"So?" She asked again. "What's up?"

A sigh escaped him. "… How're you feeling? Really feeling?"

"Don't you know?"

"Crappy? But… no, not really. I'm not sure what are my feelings and what I think might be yours… Urgh, to hell with the connection."

"Honestly? … I don't know either. I'm hurt, humiliated, worried, I feel like I've lost something very important, or that I want to break something but… I also feel free?"

"Free?"

"I mean… I'm done. I don't need to care anymore. I don't need to try and please him. He made it perfectly clear he doesn't care about me and that he doesn't respect me and my choices one bit, unless there's some benefit in it for him. So… There's no point in trying. I hate giving up, but I know when I'm turning self-destructive."

"And Aomine and Satsuki and Suzume to make it all better…" He muttered.

"You know? Compared to this… That squabble with Aomine is actually minor. He was furious; you can say stupid stuff when you're furious too… I've never held a grudge against you and, well, it wasn't really his fault. He apologised."

"Through a text… Still, he should've known you better."

"Should've, just like I should've been back there on time! He had every right to get angry at me for that, but he didn't. He doesn't know it was Satsuki… but he was furious because she went behind his back and he was forced to sit out. Just like you were furious in that match and almost took it out on Riko." She sighed. "I'm not really angry with him anymore. And hey, if I was worried about him too, I wouldn't be functioning normally. I need to function normally. I need to go to that party and act… well… strong and untouchable. Well… Maybe he'll find someone else during the break, who knows… But… The thought of seeing Daiki in a couple of weeks, making up, is giving me the strength to do that."

"Or making _out_..." He teased her.

Her eyebrows went up in played annoyance. "Seriously?" She groaned. But Taiga's remark was on point, she had to admit that.

"No, honestly… I doubt there'll be another girl willing to find a way to get close to the idiot besides you. But… I'm sorry too."

"Hah? What for?"

"That I wasn't there yesterday… that I couldn't do a damn thing to protect you!"

"You're my brother Tai, it's not your job to protect me. And besides, there are lines you should never cross. Punching your father, a parent, is one of them. I'm glad you didn't do it. I wouldn't either."

For a moment they went quiet. There was something about what Aya had just said that was fundamentally true. He couldn't argue against it. But maybe there was something he could do… It wouldn't matter much, but he'd feel better.

"Can I be your partner for the acro thing?"

Aya raised herself from the pillow and rested on her elbows to look at him. "Huh? You want to?"

He shrugged. "Why not? I'd like to do the ' _Way down we go'_ choreography. Kouta won't learn that in a few hours and you said you wanted to break something… I feel that way too. Sooo… why not do that? It's violent enough, I think..."

"You'd usually play basket, but that sounds like a plan."

"Though we need to make a little adjustment, so you won't fall on that injured leg."

She frowned. "No, let's keep it as it is. You're not used to competing in dancing and the stress and all… the last minute changes usually don't end well. I'll handle it like it is."

"You sure?"

"Hundred percent, Tai. But… We're aiming to win; I hope you're aware of that."

"I wouldn't expect anything less from your first acro competition."

A soft knocking echoed in the room. The door creaked open and Gabi peeked inside. " _I knew you were already awake._ " She hummed under her breath in Spanish and pushed the door wide open so she could comfortably walk into the room carrying a huge tray piled with food. "Good morning, my birthday twins!" She greeted them with a wide smile.

They both sat up to stare at their caretaker. " **What is that?"** They asked in unison.

"My first gift for you. Light breakfast, so you can run on the energy the whole day." She said and placed the tray on the bed between them.

"Haven't you always said we can't eat in bed?" Aya raised an eyebrow at her.

"Or a couch?" Taiga joined his sister.

Gabi frowned at them. "Today is a special day! We can make an exception."

"Hmmm…" They eyed the rich breakfast prepared solely for them and smiled. " **We could get used to this."**

######

Haruka was sitting on the edge of his bed. He didn't feel like going to work just yet or at all for that matter. Usually he was the first at the office, but today… He could use the upcoming party as an excuse and he was the CEO, he could very well take a day off whenever he wanted.

He was thinking about the argument with Aya over and over again. And the more he replayed it in his head, the worse he felt. What the hell had he done? That look in Aya's eyes when he'd slapped her… He never thought… It never had been his intention to become so distant with his children. Only now he was realising that he didn't know them anymore. That he had no idea what they were thinking. Since when had his children become so independent? He had no idea. A vague feeling of regret, one he thought he'd never feel again, filled his heart.

A knock on the door of his room broke his train of thoughts. He frowned, trying to guess who could that be, because it sure as hell couldn't be his children.

"Yes?"

Gabriela opened the door and strolled inside carrying a little box in one hand and some clothing in the other. She didn't wish him 'good morning'.

"Here." She threw the black cloth he vaguely recognised on the bed next to him.

"What is it?" He glanced at it, not daring to touch it. Under the housekeeper's steely eyes he felt like a little boy. He didn't like that, but it was Gabriela, for some reason he tolerated her.

She clicked her tongue and muttered something in Spanish. He didn't understand Spanish, he wasn't even sure if his children did. But Gabriela switched to Japanese quickly enough. "So you don't know?" She raised an eyebrow at him. "I thought so. Pick it up and take a really good look."

He stared at her for a moment, but then the curiosity won and he did as she said. He picked up the black cloth with rich silver embroidery and stretched his hands to look at it. It was… a dress? Or… a very weird and terrible swimming suit with an absurd something that was probably supposed to be a skirt? "What is this thing?" He asked more of himself then Gabriela.

" _ **This thing**_ ," she started and her voice sounded almost hostile, "is supposed to be the dress _**you**_ wanted Aya to wear for today's party."

He blinked at her in disbelief. This couldn't be true. But… He did recognise the embroidery…

"Right… Anyhow, I got a feeling you hadn't picked that up and you hadn't looked at it at all. I'm not letting her leave the house in that. I'm throwing it in the trash. I just thought you should know what you tried to force her into wearing."

"I'm not letting her leave the house in that either…" He said; his frown deepening. So this was Peter's taste?

"Glad to hear that." She said and Haruka wasn't sure if it was sarcasm or not. "And this," she threw him the small box wrapped in dark blue paper wrapping, "is what they bought for you, or wanted to give you for your birthday, I think. I fished it out from the garbage. Maybe you'll throw it out again, but you should know… anyhow… they cared." She said, yanked the dress from his grasp and turned on her heel to leave. "In past tense. Happy birthday, Haruka _-sama_." She added venomously.

Haruka stared at the gift but he couldn't find the courage to open it. Now, when he thought about it, it was his children's birthday too and he didn't have anything for them. He hadn't given them anything for the past few years to be precise. Yet, he had always received a birthday gift from them. With all the money he didn't find it important to spend his time buying gifts for them; they could buy whatever they needed and wanted. He'd believed they did just that. But… he wasn't so sure about it anymore… He was starting to doubt himself and that wasn't good before the stupid party.

With a sigh he got up and forced himself to dress up and leave.

The gift stayed on his night table.

He would open it in when he'd return later at night.

######

Lindsay was surprised that Haruka hadn't come to work at his usual time. She wondered what could've happened. Thankfully, there were no appointments planned for the day, otherwise she'd be the one dealing with some very annoyed partners or clients.

His absence meant she felt more comfortable doing her work without the pressure knowing that the big boss is sitting right next door and might call her anytime. Then, the usual Tuesday mail from Aya-chan was delivered.

And as usual Lindsay opened it to read it. It was the shortest mail Aya'd sent so far.

' _I'm done trying. Sorry and thank you for everything.'_

Lindsay could feel the bitterness and sadness hidden in those few words. Especially after she'd read all the previous e-mails Aya had sent. _Now you've lost them…_ She thought. _Serves you right._

######

Haruka arrived at work late and he was most certainly emitting 'don't approach me' aura, because no one dared to talk to him, not even look his way for longer than a glance.

"Good day." Lindsay greeted him looking up from her desk.

He grumbled something in response and disappeared in his office.

"…and your necktie is crooked…" She muttered under her breath and continued with writing an e-mail.

In three minutes, he was back in her office. Well, to get in and out of his office he had to pass through hers, but he certainly wanted something else than to go to restrooms.

"Make me a coffee." He demanded, but his voice sounded less bossy than usual. And Lindsay would say he looked tired. She wondered what could've happened to cause both: Aya-chan's e-mail and Haruka's strange behaviour that day.

"Sure." She got up immediately and headed to a coffee machine in a corner of the office.

Haruka coughed to get her attention.

She had to smile lightly. Thankfully, she had her back to him and he couldn't see. For a big boss, who could be unbearable and had no problem giving orders, it was very difficult for him to show his feelings, or ask something personal, or be personal. _Or act as a human in general…_

"Yes? Is there something else I can do for you?" She asked politely.

"It's Tuesday…" He mentioned almost casually.

Lindsay's eyebrow arched up and she turned around to look at him. The only sounds in the room were the whirring of the machine and pouring of the coffee. His comment didn't make sense. Yet, it made a perfect sense to her. The delicious scent of freshly poured coffee filled the room. She wasn't going to make it easy for him, she wasn't even sure she had the right idea in her head.

"Yes it is." She nodded and turned back to take the cup and bring it to his desk.

"… Is there some new mail?" He asked hesitantly.

"There are dozens of new mails. Do you mean one in particular?"

"From my daughter. Did she send an e-mail today too?"

Lindsay passed by him into his office and settled the cup on top of his desk. "I don't know why you'd ask. Aren't those mails a bother to you?"

He frowned. It was one of those times when Lindsay wasn't trying to be overly polite or respectful. She was saying what was really on her mind, and by the tone of her voice, he could say she was disapproving his behaviour.

"Well, I don't know what happened, but I've told you to read them all before. I've read them all. Your daughter is strong and kind and amazing young woman I'd love to meet. She bears an awful lot of responsibility, badmouthing, judgement, envy and all the shit you throw at her. And you know what? Even a camel's back breaks. I think you won't be bothered by her e-mails anymore. But isn't that what you've always wanted? To be left alone? Without responsibility for your 'insufferable' children, whom you didn't want to deal with?" She shot the words at him like well aimed bullets. And her eyes were cold and sharp as a knife. "I think you just got what you wished for." She added and sat back onto her chair.

She felt lighter. Maybe she'd lose the job after this, but damn, it felt good to finally give him a piece of her mind.

"I did indeed." He muttered and retreated into his office.

He slumped into his chair and closed his eyes. It'd been some time since he'd felt so shitty. Why were both women behaving like they knew what was right? Or what he had done wrong? Or what he should've done differently? They had no freaking idea what he'd been through or how he'd felt all these years. Being left alone with two small kids!

His world had been pitch black ever since that day. Nothing could get to him; nothing could save him from drowning. And every time he looked at his daughter, he remembered his beloved. He remembered how he hadn't been there to shield her. How they'd argued that very morning. Unknowingly, Aya made him remember every single thing he'd done wrong. And the girl had been the first one to smile and laugh, to compete and win. She hadn't mourned long enough in his opinion. Every time she'd smiled so soon after the funeral had been like a punch into his stomach. He couldn't stand it, yet he didn't want to let it show. It wasn't her fault, but emotions weren't logical. He didn't hate his daughter per se, but he couldn't understand. And he was too preoccupied with his own feelings to see hers.

And now she was threatening to destroy everything he'd build. Everything that mattered. Calling off the engagement wouldn't be easy. But losing one contract was nothing compared to losing the entire company. Aya had the leverage he should never have given her; he wondered why or when he had. He shushed those thoughts quickly, because if he didn't, he'd have to admit that he actually trusted Aya's instincts, capabilities and decisions enough to delegate a huge amount of tasks to her. Tasks he didn't want to delegate to a random employee even if he could and should. And he didn't want to admit that.

He rather didn't read Aya's e-mail before the party.

######

"What's this?" Gabriela wondered when she saw a van driving onto their property.

Ivan pushed a button to close the gate behind it and shrugged. "Young lady said they'd come to replace the carpet and the table she'd destroyed the other day."

"Huh?" She blinked at him in disbelief. "She should've left it as it was! Is she doing it just so he wouldn't feel that guilty?!"

"Like mother, like daughter." Ivan said simply. He held a great deal of respect for Keiko.

He was an older balding Russian man no one had wanted to employ back then. He'd gambled and lost everything. Even the house his family had been living in. For them, he'd been dead. He knew he hadn't deserved any better. Then somehow, by a struck of luck he'd ended up here. And he'd gotten his second chance. A chance to make things right again. That'd happened nine years ago. Now, he could visit his ex-wife and daughters again from time to time. He could see his grandchildren growing up.

Gabi rolled her eyes. "I'm not sure if that's a curse or a blessing. But Haruka sure messed up for good." They commonly discussed in Japanese or English, because Gabi didn't understand Russian and Ivan didn't understand Spanish. But since they'd both learned Japanese due to their work, they preferentially used that.

"Or he might finally find a reason to change…"

"Don't play saint with me."

"I'm not… Sometimes you have to fuck up everything to realise how messed up and stupid you were. You can't make things right unless you admit that." He shrugged. "Worked for me."

"Yeah, that and incredible luck. Otherwise you'd have drowned your self-pity in alcohol and drank yourself to death." She commented matter-of-factly. But the truth was that Ivan hadn't really touched alcohol (except occasional parties) or any slot machine for years. And the only gambling games he'd indulged in were poker or other games with her and the twins.

"Yeah, yeah…" He grumbled with an insulted expression, but he wasn't really insulted. Gabi was right.

"Still," she sighed, "I'm not sure he'll admit anything." She said gravely. "He's become too consumed and blinded by his pointless self-pity and longing."

"He wasn't always this unbearable and self-centred idiot. But I guess if he won't do anything after this, then there's no reason for us to try and help anymore."

"Guess so… You think we should get hold of Seth?"

"Nah, he's the father's competition. Always been, even if Haruka wouldn't admit it… He'd only make it worse. Haruka should realise Seth's importance on his own."

"True."

The van stopped right in front of them, three men in their thirties jumped out and approached the two servants to greet them and introduce themselves. Ivan looked them up and down, then he ignored them and shuffled away to tend to the dogs. He liked keeping an image of an unapproachable, weird and grumbling old man. Gabriela chuckled and greeted the delivery guys. She showed them to the living room and decided to overlook everything they did.

######

Aya was finally finished doing her modest make-up. She looked at herself in a mirror and smiled. Taiga did fairy-like wonders with her hair; she'd never be able to style it like that on her own. The hair, the make-up, the emerald semi-long dress with silver accessories and black stilettos… She looked amazing. Though the idea of going to Fairchild's mansion still made her skin crawl, but at least she felt comfortable in the dress she chose.

"Ready?" Taiga walked into the room wearing a fitting dark grey three piece suit with a white shirt, emerald necktie and handkerchief to match her dress. He looked very handsome. Except… His hair was neatly combed backwards.

"Yeah, come 'ere, handsome." She teased him, but he truly looked good and very different in the suit.

"What?" He frowned when she pulled at his suit so he'd bent forward a little.

"The hair just looks weird on you. You're not old enough to look _that_ serious." She smiled and ruffled his hair a bit.

"Hey!" He protested and tried to pull away, but she held him firmly.

"Let me do it." She parted it on his left side and combed through it with her fingers, ruffling it up just enough to look awesome. "See?" She turned him towards the mirror. "Much better. "

He sighed, his sister was right. "You look stunning. Like usual, of course."

"Thank you!" She smirked. "I'd expect an insult from my brother."

Taiga rolled his eyes. "Today's not the time for our petty fights."

"True enough." She reached her hand out and Taiga automatically offered his arm to her. "Let's go then."

They walked past the kitchen and Gabriela who was eating mango: her usual afternoon snack. She smiled at them and gave them the thumbs up. " _You look amazing! Keep an eye on her, all the guys there are gonna be all over her."_ She said in Spanish with her mouth full.

" _Of course we do. We need to look presentable enough!"_ Aya accustomed to the language change immediately. Afternoon snack times were usually reserved for Spanish after all.

" _It's for the business after all."_ Taiga grumbled distastefully, but judging by Gabi's approving nod he got the accent right (or at least right according to the Mexican older lady). He rarely used Spanish. He understood very well, but speaking was more Aya's thing.

" _Isn't it always?"_ She smiled. " _Well, your father just went outside. He should be waiting by a car – no idea which one he chose for today. But be nice, the driver was hired just two months ago. His name's Derek, a sweet guy. Don't freak him out."_

The twins exchanged glances. " _ **We would never."**_ They said in unison and even got the language right.

Gabi shook her head and chuckled. " _You two never change. Have some fun at least. But if you don't we'll have a party ready for you afterwards."_

" _Thanks. But we can't let him wait."_ Aya pulled at Taiga's arm. " _Bye for now, Gabi."_

" _See you later."_ She waved them goodbye.

Haruka and another surprisingly young man were waiting for them by the car. Their father was tapping his foot against the ground and had his arms crossed over his chest. He sure didn't like waiting for anyone.

His children walked towards them with grace. And they looked very representative, older than sixteen, and he didn't have to feel ashamed about them. He appreciated that Aya hid her legs and there was no trace of the slap on her face. _Thank god, it didn't leave a bruise_. He thought and nodded in approval.

Aya looked him straight in the eyes and smiled, but it was a scornful smile and her eyes were frosty. It was clear she didn't want to be anywhere near him. "I hope my dress is suitable, father." She turned it into a question at the end.

Without waiting for his answer she turned towards the driver who was shorter and leaner than Taiga. It was the first time they met. He could be in his early-twenties. He had a pleasant face with a square jaw, grey-blue eyes and short-cut dirty blond hair. He was dressed in a suit too. It was something their driver was obliged to wear most of the time (there had been some 'casual days' for Seth though).

" _Hello. I'm Kagami Aya. You must be Derek. Gabi told me about you."_ She greeted the man in English with a genuine smile and outstretched her hand towards him. " _Nice to meet you."_

For an awkward moment he had no idea how to react. He'd expected the 'princess' to ignore him. But she didn't. And truth be told, Kagami Aya in the flesh was a much more stunning girl then he'd imagined. Of course, he knew her reputation, but it didn't quite bode with the first impression he got. Haruka had informed him about it once and he'd never mentioned his children since. Then his eyes roamed Taiga and a chill ran down his spine. The sixteen year old boy was taller, wider and all-in-all stronger and fiercer than him; not as intimidating as the father yet, but he was definitely on a good path there. He looked back at Aya and her hand not sure if it was okay to accept it.

She sighed and when the driver didn't respond after a few more seconds, she withdrew her offered hand. " _Sorry, my mistake."_ She said coldly and shrugged. The good mood she was trying to force on herself was slowly crumbling away. She was prepared to be judged by the guy, but she didn't expect him to ignore her in this manner.

" _We should go."_ Taiga nodded and opened the back door for her; something that should've been done by Derek. He didn't bother with introductions like Aya. " _I suppose he's not allowed to interact with us."_ He muttered under his breath, but loud enough for Haruka and Derek to hear.

" _I bet it's a part of his pay check."_ Aya agreed and climbed into the car. "Thanks, Tai."

Derek was standing next to the passenger's door like a salt statue. He was feeling so ashamed by his behaviour.

" _There's a lot for you to learn."_ Haruka shook his head. " _Don't disappoint me at the party."_ He said, but the whole situation was most likely his fault not Derek's. And Aya had instinctively chosen English to interact with Derek, it surprised him. All of their personal servants knew or had to learn Japanese; it was Haruka's condition. Derek was just learning, but he knew barely anything. She couldn't have known that.

It forced Derek out of his little brooding moment. " _Ah, yes, sir. Sorry, sir."_

" _Open the damn door already."_

" _Sorry, sir."_ He blushed in embarrassment and did as he was told. _Well, this was a big ass fail…_ He thought bitterly.

The drive was silent and tense. Haruka didn't know what he should talk about with them and the twins were ignoring him.

Aya's phone chimed and she immediately fished it out. It couldn't be a birthday wish, because the team, Kiku and Katsunori had already written her a message; due to the time difference it arrived either day sooner or in the middle of the night. And more than anything, she was expecting some news about Suzume; hoping that the girl would wake up soon.

"What's up?" Taiga asked and craned his neck to see what the message was about. He was thinking in the same lines as Aya.

Instead of answering, she tilted her phone so he could see. It was from Satsuki.

'Happy birthday, Aya-chan. Pass my congrats to Taiga-kun too, please.

See you at the camp.'

His eyebrow arched up. "Just that? No 'sorry, I didn't mean it'? Besides, isn't it the 3rd August in there already?"

She sighed. Honestly, she wasn't that surprised; she'd noticed Satsuki had a hard time admitting her mistakes. "Does it matter? I didn't think she'd write a message at all. And definitely not an apology."

Taiga snorted. " _Aho_ mine has more sense in him than Satsuki. And that it hurt my mouth." He added with a disgusted grimace.

Aya laughed at that. "Not necessarily."

"What do you reply?"

She shrugged and typed her curt message: 'Thanks.'

"I'd ignore her."

"You can."

They remained silent until they arrived at the Fairchild's mansion. There were lots of people swarming at the entrance. The party was supposed to start at two PM, but in was an unwritten rule that everyone came later than that. In the Kagamis case it was an hour delay.

Derek opened the door for all of them this time, starting with Haruka, then Aya and last was Taiga. Afterwards he was navigated towards where he could park the car and where he would wait with the other drivers. There was a catering prepared for them as well, but they weren't welcomed among the guests. It was Derek's first time on such a party and he was glad he didn't have to be with all the rich guests who'd been invited for the party.

Aya caught Taiga's arm again and she let him lead her towards the entrance. The mansion was huge and white. Columns by the entrance and the doorway were all decorated with flowers emanating heavy intoxicating fragrance. She doubted the scent was all natural. It irritated her nose and lungs and she was trying to breathe as little as possible.

With Haruka in lead, they climbed six marble steps and stopped in front of an usher. It was a slim girl with pretty round face, shorter than Aya. She was wearing a butler's uniform with white gloves. There were two huge guards standing behind the girl in case any trouble occurred. She lifted her big timorous eyes to look at the trio.

" _Your name, sir?"_ She asked out of obligation. She already knew who they were.

" _Kagami Haruka and my children."_

The girl nodded. " _You are eagerly expected."_ She moved aside and let them pass.

"I bet we are…" Aya muttered under her breath and stared at the girl as they passed her by.

Under the intense stare of her reddish eyes the girl took a step back and turned her head to a side. By doing that, she unconsciously uncovered a bruise on the side of her neck which was covered by the higher collar of her shirt. _I thought so. No wonder she looks so jumpy._

They needed to greet the hosts first and so Haruka headed towards the Fairchilds first. All six of them were standing in a circle with some two business men Aya didn't know. Four sons, the father in his late sixties and the mother with cold jade eyes and unbelievable dignity. Aya gritted her teeth. The only one she could tolerate was the mother. Don't get it wrong, Aya didn't like the ice-cold old lawyer, who represented the worst of the worst, but at least she wasn't trying to act all sweet and nice and she had some common sense in her too.

Peter noticed them the first and he turned their way with a bright smile, which quickly turned sour and then fake as he took in Aya's outfit. In her stilettos she was the same height as him, if not a centimetre taller. And he was considerate enough to wear a silver necktie and handkerchief. He did all that and she decided to match up with her brother instead and wear – what he considered atrocious – an emerald dress. He decided he had to catch her up alone at some point. No one played with him like this.

Aya noticed the dangerous light flash in Peter's eyes. And she wasn't sure what to think about it. The guy seemed to adore her and hate her at the same time; to the point when she was actually terrified of him. He wasn't big, or threatening in build, but there was something unpredictable and unstable in his small dark eyes. Something that made her feel uneasy. However, she'd learned to cope with it somehow. _Don't let it show. He doesn't affect you._

"Don't leave my side, please. I swear I just saw a murderous light in his eyes." She muttered to Taiga.

"I noticed too. No worries. I'm not going anywhere." He ensured her.

"Don't go whispering around our partners, it's rude." Haruka hissed at them, without looking at them. "And use English."

Taiga fought an eye roll and squeezed Aya's hand encouragingly. He knew he couldn't offer her the same feeling of safety as Seth could, but he would certainly try.

The greetings went smoothly. All four brothers complimented on Aya's dress and make-up. They were acting like perfect sons they were supposed to be. The twins weren't left in the dust either. Aya was smiling brightly, though it never reached her eyes.

" _I was thinking you'd definitely wear something silver."_ Peter said with his usual wicked smile everyone considered unbelievably attractive – everyone except Aya.

" _Silver is not really my colour."_ She set her voice slightly higher and forced a casual tone. She sounded spoiled and self-conceited, but not too much, just enough to fit Kagami's wealth and success in dancing. " _And the dress was a birthday gift from my father. I couldn't possibly stick it in my closet and not wear it."_

Haruka had to bite his tongue to keep his blank expression. He sure hadn't expected Aya to play a happy family. Then again, it was the norm around here. You didn't show people your sore spots. And if there was anything true about what she'd yelled at him at the top of her lungs, maybe he should give her the benefit of the doubt and see (or hear) everything for himself. Where else would he learn things if not at the party full of backstabbing idiots.

" _Oh, of course not!"_ The old Gerard laughed and glanced at Haruka in surprise. He had no idea the man would give his children something. He had the impression that Kagami's were a dysfunctional family for a long time, though they were trying to play it. " _Father's gifts must be appreciated and treasured. You look fantastic, Aya."_ He hugged her around shoulders and pulled her away from Taiga's side. " _The more you hide under the fabric the more interesting you appear, fairy-girl._ "

Aya smiled and tried to wiggle her way away from the man. His hand was touching her scar through the fabric and his fingers brushed her boobs slightly. She found it disgusting. Yet, she couldn't just push him away.

" _Ah, Seijuurou's here."_ Taiga said and pointed towards the entrance where Akashi appeared with his father and another man, probably Akashi's father's right hand.

" _Ohooo!"_ Gerard whistled and clasped his hands, letting Aya go. " _You know the Akashis?"_ He asked curiously and turned his eyes towards Haruka.

" _Ah, that's not really important. The children used to know each other well for some time, but I haven't met the parents. I think the friendship withered at some point, right?"_ He glanced at Taiga looking for approval.

" _Yes. Now we are rivals."_ Taiga nodded.

 _I thought so._ " _So, why are they here? Are they expanding to America?"_ He asked Gerard. Something about this entire situation was fishy. He knew about all the guests, except the Akashis. But why would Gerard withhold it?

" _On the contrary, my friend."_ Gerard smiled and patted his shoulder. He lowered his voice, this shouldn't be heard by masses. " _We are expanding to Japan. And when our families unite, we might be able to take them over. We just need to be patient and earn their trust."_

 _Uniting families?!_ " _What?!"_ The words left Taiga's mouth before he could swallow them. Thankfully, it was about the time when Seijuurou and his father, Masaomi, walked towards the group.

" _Good day."_ Masaomi bowed in greeting. " _I'm thankful for your invitation today, mister Fairchild. This is my son Seijuurou and my representative, Tate Ichirou."_ Both introduced bowed too.

" _Oh, please. We're in America, just call me Gerard."_ The old man laughed and outstretched his hand in a friendly gesture.

Aya nodded to Seijuurou in greeting. He ignored her with his typical supercilious stare. Although he was pleasantly surprised to see them dressed formally. Especially Taiga. He thought the wild guy, so similar to Daiki, would never ever wear a suit.

The three CEOs started discussing business; the four Fairchild sons were soon mingling with the guests, chatting with everyone. It was their duty as the hosts. Aya remained close to Taiga and they went to get champagne. She kept a good eye on the one who poured them and waited until someone else who got the drink from the same bottle sipped from it first. When nothing happened after ten minutes, she dared to test the champagne herself.

"He really changed." Taiga muttered looking around to make sure Seijuurou wasn't within a hearing distance. "That cold stare gave me chills."

"And you haven't talked with him yet…"

"I don't think I will. He seems to be too good to stop by us." He snorted.

"He did tell me to stay out of his way here. And I'm not planning to ruin my the day more than it already is."

######

" _So what do you think Haruka?"_ Gerard asked him and looked at all the people that flooded his garden. He didn't know half of them and he didn't care.

" _The contract is good. I would go for it."_

" _Yes, yes. I know that."_ The old man waved his hand at it. " _I was talking about the proposal. You've agreed already, but I insisted you gave me your final answer today. So what will it be?"_

Haruka raised a glass of whiskey to his lips and looked at his children talking with other teenagers. He took his time in answering this one.

The long silence put a worm of doubt in Gerard's mind. He didn't like long silence. It meant his opponent (he liked to think like that about everyone) was thinking something through. And when they were, it usually turned unfavourable for him. This matter had been already decided, so why stall?

" _It's the best choice for her!"_ He filled the silence himself. Haruka merely looked at him, which prompted him to deepen his answer. " _With her slate no one would want her and she's tainting your family name. She isn't even dancing anymore. She's become a dead weight of your family. Without her shadow, you could make much better contracts. Come on, Haruka. Child or not, once they cause damage, you need to cut them out like a tumour. We both know that Aya is… difficult to handle and you need her out of the picture. You are a benevolent father, that's why she grew over your head. But once she joins my family, she'll have to bend to some rules. And my sons and I will make sure she will."_ He blabbered out coldly not noticing the warning in Haruka's eyes.

 _Dead weight, huh?_ Haruka narrowed his eyes. _Without her successes and influence the company wouldn't be where it is now._ One thing was him, blaming her and thinking lowly of her. But when someone else was looking down on _his_ family, _his_ blood, _his_ name, anger bubbled in his veins.

" _And how exactly do you plan to bend her?"_ He asked neutrally.

" _You don't need to know all the details. We have our way of teaching wild women their place in the men's world."_ He said with a sick twinkle in his small pig eyes. That was the only thing Gerard couldn't hide. Once he started thinking about young, innocent women and what they would do with them...

" _I'm sure of that."_ Haruka downed his whiskey and placed his glass on the railing in front of them. After this, he was eager to believe Aya's words. After all, she'd always been good at judging character, and even Seth had warned him about the Fairchilds several times. Now he remembered. He'd always hushed them both down. " _But as her father, I decided to decline the proposal."_ He finally answered Gerard's initial question.

Gerard went silent for a moment; he was shocked. Then he shook it off and continued. " _Don't be silly, Haruka. You don't want to lose that contract I offered. I'm offering you a third of my company. The girl is a failure. But you can at least make a higher profit thanks to her."_

How could he be so blind? Yes, Aya had made mistakes. She'd gotten her share of downfalls, she'd disappointed him in the past, but he never called her a 'failure' in front of anyone. And truth be told, he wasn't sure what he'd been so disappointed about anyways. " _By selling her to you, you mean?"_

Gerard laughed, but sweat glistered on his forehead. " _I wouldn't word it like that, my friend. It's just a friendly deal."_

" _Then I'm calling that friendly deal off. My daughter doesn't wish to be part of it and I decided to respect that wish. That's all."_

" _You can't do it!"_ He protested. There was more at stake than one third of the company. He needed Aya. He needed to connect more closely with a business that had a completely clean slate. To divert attention. And at least one of his sons needed to settle down before the gossips would start. Peter was the most problematic one, he needed to punish him too, but he was too meek and he decided to please his son by giving him a splendid toy named Kagami Aya. She was considered a failure, but she was a great asset, the old man knew. " _You've already agreed."_

Haruka knew this was rather a delicate situation. He could guess that something was wrong and this whole engagement was most likely to serve as a sensation for crowds. All of his warning lights were now flaring in alarm and he knew he'd have to shield his back damn well, because the Fairchilds wouldn't stop that easily. His decline was very well a declaration of war. More than ever he'd need to find a really good leverage too.

But Haruka seemed decided and his steely look gave Gerard chills. Those burning red eyes were unbearable; like they saw right into his head. Gerard never thought he'd be intimidated by another man. Kagami Haruka wasn't to be trifled with.

" _You look almost desperate, my friend. As if you needed the engagement more than my daughter. But I haven't agreed to anything yet. I simply took your offer into consideration. And this is my final word. The engagement is through. She is off limits. Oh… And one more thing. Don't ever call Kagami a failure." _He announced calmly and walked away. There were other partners and people he needed to chat with.

As he was passing by a flock of women, Haruka overheard bits of their conversation. They were vividly discussing Aya and her dress, her hairstyle, her figure, her make-up. They were contradicting themselves at times and none of it was true.

" _Her make-up is too thick, don't you think?"_

" _Yeah. She's trying to play adult. How pitiful. And those boobs, I bet they're fake."_

" _I heard she has a disgusting scar on her shoulder."_

" _Urgh, why doesn't she have it removed? It's not that difficult. Or expensive…"_

" _She just wants to be interesting. Maybe the scar isn't real. It's like in the movies, I saw some videos how you can make an artificial scars and wounds and they look real."_

" _And she definitely goes to some pro stylist."_

" _Well, she doesn't have a mother to guide her anymore. Poor thing."_

" _Yeah, she's just seeking popularity, like all lonely teeny girls here."_

" _Poor little teenagers, desperately preying on our men to teach them things."_

" _Hush, her father's coming."_ One of them shushed the group, avoiding Haruka's gaze and thinking they weren't heard.

His eyes were slowly opening to the world around him. And he didn't like what he saw.

Then he noticed Aya standing just a few paces from the group of the women, half hidden by a column. She was taking some food and Taiga was close by, chatting with some other boy. The women couldn't have seen them, but the kids must've heard everything.

Aya turned around with a professional smile and walked away. Not saying one word to the women, but they noticed her; and none of them dared to look her way.

######

* * *

Aomine's phone buzzed and it was only a coincidence he noticed.

It was lunch time and he was finally allowed to run around and so he spent most of his day playing basketball with Klahan. His friend didn't match up to him, but he figured out he could enjoy it, especially because Klahan wasn't giving up no matter what. And if they'd had enough basketball, they could always go running or play video games – which were Klahan specialty. He had no time thinking about anything else. The next day he'd start at his grandma's diner as staff, he believed it wasn't that difficult to carry food to the tables.

"What?" He barked at Kise, whose number appeared on the screen.

" _Don't_ _ **what**_ _me, Aominecchi! I miss you!"_ He whined.

"If you don't have to say anything, I'm hanging up."

" _Who's that?"_ Klahan asked curiously and leaned over to hear the person on the other end.

Aomine pushed his head away and frowned at him. " _Kise… The idiotic model I've told you about."_

" _And your best friend."_ Klahan added with a smile and leaned against the fence which encircled the basketball court they were on.

" _Why do I feel you've just insulted me?"_

Aomine could imagine Kise's sulking face that went with the tone the blonde had just used. "Because I have. So?"

" _So… I'm curious. You called Ayacchi, right? It was her birthday yesterday."_ Kise's voice turned serious, or at least less whiny and less overly-cheerful.

"…" _Fuck…_

" _Figured you'd forget…"_

"Couldn't you call me yesterday, dammit?! You know I'm bad with dates!" He bristled at the blonde, though he knew it was his fault. He should've remembered or put a reminder into his calendar or something…

" _Not only birthday dates, I guess…"_ Kise teased. " _I forgot to call you. But I really wanted to, please believe me."_

"Go die somewhere already." Aomine grumbled and was ready to hang up.

" _Wait, wait, wait. Don't hang up on me just yet, Aominecchi."_

"…"

" _Sorry, I won't make fun of you anymore. But I had to… Anyways…Ayacchi's in the L.A., right?"_

His curiosity was piqued now. "Yeah, what are you getting at?"

" _Time zones."_

"What?"

" _It's still yesterday there. Late at night, but still the 2nd_ _August – Ayacchi's birthday."_

He narrowed his eyes. He didn't like being played like this. "You did this on purpose, didn't you?"

" _Maybe. You have about one or two hours. I thought Ayacchi had a lot going on with some party Shiracchi mentioned, so she probably wouldn't have picked up and you'd feel ignored, but now… Girls don't really hate it when you think about them late at night."_

 _Of course he had it planned out…_ "It's lunch time here, genius."

"… _and the middle of the night where Ayacchi is. I don't think she'll be in the mood to consider the little time zone detail. I bet she'll be delighted to hear that husky voice of yours over the phone. Who knows, maybe she'll have a niiiice dream 'bout you after that."_

Aomine's cheeks heated at Kise's suggestion. "You're the worst, you know?"

" _Pretty much, but you love me anyways."_

"Urgh, I hate you."

" _Bye-bye, Aominecchi~"_ He hung up, feeling so smug about himself.

" _I really hate that smug bastard._ " Aomine muttered and rested his arm against his bent knee. He was flipping the phone in his fingers, deciding if he truly should bother Aya, when it was so late there. Maybe it'd be better if he'd only send a message or something…

" _Huh? What's up?"_ Klahan asked inquiringly. " _You seem to forget that I don't understand Japanese."_

With a sigh he quickly translated the dialogue for Klahan.

The boy's eyes widened. " _But of course you have to call her! Don't be a pussy; it's the birthday of the girl you love! Come on! The call is the least you can do. I mean, she should be getting flowers or something…"_

Aomine frowned; he was terrified of the idea of calling her. What reaction should he expect from the redhead? Would she pick up? Did she want to talk with him? He had no idea and it scared him. But deep down he really wanted to hear her voice too. " _We still haven't talked or made up. If she sends me to hell it's on you."_

" _Or made out…_ " He muttered and pushed himself off the ground before he'd be tackled for the comment. " _I'll go eat lunch. Meet you at the grandma's!"_

" _Yeah… Meet you there."_ He muttered under his breath as he watched his friend leaving.

Then he looked up Aya's phone number. For a moment he stared at it indecisively, then he tapped on it and prayed; not sure if he wanted her to pick up or not.

######

"You okay?" Taiga peeked into her room in the evening.

Aya was sprawled on her bed staring at the ceiling. She didn't feel like moving. Or doing anything at all. The emerald dress was all wrinkled as she hadn't bothered to change. But she didn't care.

The Fairchild's party had been crappy like usual. Maybe even crappier than usual. Taiga had managed to stay with her the whole time, but when he'd learnt about the refused engagement (Aya'd known why she'd left out the little detail and why she'd hoped he wouldn't find out) he'd had to go and give Peter a piece of his mind, actually punching him in the middle of the crowd, because his fuse was way shorter than Aya's. And Peter, idiotic as he was, dragged all the attention to them, whining about how terribly refused he'd been and how cruelly they'd treated him. Of course he hadn't left out that despite his generosity to propose to a 'disgustingly scarred whore' (although he had no valid knowledge of her having any scars - he'd only heard some rumours) the said 'whore' hadn't licked his shoes in gratitude like she should've done. Honestly, the whole situation had left Aya speechless, angry, hateful and ashamed. Actually, no one had known what to do. And then to everyone's surprise it'd been Peter's mother, who had stormed to her son and splashed her champagne on his face, infuriated by his scene. She'd sent him to his room like he was a 10 year old kid and not a 24 year adult. Peter hadn't dared to protest and at end, it'd been him who'd become a laughing stock, not Aya.

However, the words cut deep, and her father's passivity all the more. They'd left immediately after, but he hadn't spoken a word to her since. And she didn't want him to.

She turned her head and looked at him. "Not really."

"I didn't think so." He muttered and slipped into the room, closing the door behind him. "But we should go. The party starts in an hour."

"We're at the beach in ten minutes… I still have 50 more to feel like shit."

"No can do, because I feel like shit too." He shook his head and his back hit the bed at her feet, making her jump upwards.

"So? What are we gonna do about it?"

"Weeeeeeellll….." He started and stuck his hand into his pocket searching for something.

She gasped. "Oh, no. Tell me you didn't."

"Don't kill me, but I broke the promise for this once." A wide, victorious grin settled on his face when he finally touched a small object hidden in his pocket. "It's nothing, really…"

She sprang up glaring at him, "Damn you, Kagami Taiga!" But a small smile ghosted her lips. "What is it?"

"Ah, I don't remember… You'll have to open it up…" The expression he had could be described as 'I didn't do it, it was someone else'. Of course he remembered what he'd gotten her.

For a moment, she hesitated. She wasn't used to receiving gifts from Taiga and despite everything, it made her happy. She took the small package from him and carefully unwrapped it. The wrapping must've been done by Gabi, or some shop's clerk, because Taiga wasn't good with things like these. She took her time, enjoying Taiga's impatience and anticipation. He was cute, feeling almost happier than her. That was one of the many reasons she loved him.

In the wrapping, there was a small box. By now she knew it was some jewellery and she couldn't believe Taiga would go in that direction when it came to gifts. But she was curious. She opened the box. A small silver hanging bead in the shape of a dragon with red stone embedded in its chest was waiting for her. The dragon was small and cute. It was a piece she could add onto her bracelet. Two words were carved on the rim of the bead.

" _Dragon heart?"_ She read it out loud.

" _I can't imagine anyone else wearing that one."_ He nodded with a soft smile. "Then again!" He proudly stuck out his left wrist where he was wearing a black leather bracelet with a similar, more robust, more boyish looking, dragon bead with the same red stone and same text. "Since I knew you'd feel bad for not having anything, I got myself a matching piece."

Aya had to laugh at that silly childish happiness he expressed. She ruffled his hair and he didn't protest. "True, except those rings which come in three pieces, the two of us… we don't have anything matching."

"Now we do."

"Yeah… Now we do." She took the bead and flipped it in her fingers looking at it lovingly. It was indeed a beautiful piece she'd proudly wear. "Thank you, Tai."

"We only have to survive the party." He sighed.

She was trying to be positive. "We have the dragons. We will."

######

The birthday party prepared for the twins was fun. They were roasting marshmallows on a beach, talking, singing, dancing even. There was also alcohol, but Aya didn't feel like drinking that much.

A birthday was supposed to be a fun day, something to look forward to. But the twins didn't really like the day. It was connected with the Fairchild's parties and their father had been born on the same date as them. In the past it'd been a very cheerful and happy day, but with passing years it'd become more of a burden. So they were a year older, what about it?

But if their friends and Gabi and Ivan who were more their family than their father took the effort to prepare it, they'd honor it. Someone was thinking about them, going out of their way to make them happy. Even if everyone realised the twins had never really asked for it, at the end of the day, they were able to relax and forget about everything bad connected with the day.

This year, however, Aya was quieter than usual. She was trying to put up a cheerful front, because she loved her friends, because the gift - a photo album - was beautiful, thoughtful and perfect and the whole party was well planned out, but…

After the days' events she would rather crawl into her bed and stay there for a couple of hours. Alone. Or maybe she'd tolerate Taiga's presence. She was exhausted; both physically and mentally. Her leg hurt more than in the morning. She'd had taken an hour long nap and it'd cleared her mind a bit. But she still felt like being alone and not with everyone. She missed Daiki. She missed Suzume's silly congratulation e-mail she used to get. She missed all of her new friends. But these were also her friends. Friends she'd missed in Japan. They were there with her. Taiga was here with her. He even thought of getting them a gift. The day might get connected with something good once again. So slowly, but surely her mood was getting better. _It's all about the mind set._

" _Aya, come oooon! At least one shot! The tequila is perfect!"_ Dominic sat next to her, juggling two glasses of silver tequila, two slices of lime and salt cellar in his hands. She wondered how he managed to do that without spilling anything. He wasn't drunk per se, but he was already in the mood. So were Nina and some others.

" _The Mexican revenge? I don't think so. But if you'll get golden for me… I might as well give in."_

He laughed and pushed the shot into her hand. " _Mexican revenge? Where did you get that from?"_

" _Ever gotten wasted on tequila, sweetie?"_ Gabi asked over the bonfire.

" _Oh… No."_

" _Then you won't understand."_ She laughed. " _But don't get them too drunk, they're still underaged."_

" _Yep, that's true."_ Aya agreed and tried to return the shot, only to end up holding the lime slice he brought for her. " _Pizzaman!"_

" _Oh, don't call me that!"_ He protested, but then he grinned at her. It was a knowing smile of someone who saw through her. " _You're not feeling as happy as you're trying to display, my dear. We know you don't want us to worry, and we're not pressuring you to explain yourself. But… Come on, let out some steam! With whom else would you be breaking rules and getting drunk if not with your friends? And hey! Gabi and Ivan are here!"_

She glanced at Taiga, asking if it was really obvious she didn't want to be there, but Taiga shrugged. He was acting as much as her, and he'd say they were doing a great job so far. Apparently, partly drunk people could somehow sense their dishonesty, or maybe their friends knew them better than they liked to believe.

" _Urgh, fine."_ She took the salt from him and applied it on the back of her hand. " _But only if Taiga drinks too."_

" _I've been waiting for the approval, sis'."_ He smirked and took a shot from Nina. Punching Peter would've been the best event of the day, if the idiot hadn't caused a scene. Taiga couldn't stand him, and he missed his sister's self control. Once Peter had started whining and spouting nonsense, Taiga had been pulled back into the crowd and couldn't get to him to truly break his nose for those insults he'd spouted towards his sister. And when he'd tried to say something, it got cut, twisted and shot back… Taiga truly hated those people. So… a couple of shots should calm him down and make him feel a bit better, or forget about it for a short while. But he wouldn't drink without Aya.

" _Now, everyone's ready?"_ Nina asked and raised her glass. " _To the most amazing twins we've ever known!"_

"Kampai!"

Aya chuckled at that. So they did learn something in Japanese.

They all licked the salt from their hands, downed their tequilas and ate their limes.

Only Gabriela slowly sipped the liquid from her glass and shook her head at the treacherous way her young pupils were drinking the alcohol. " _Ah, youth… They can't savour a good drink yet."_ She hummed in Spanish. Then Aya's phone vibrated in a big pocket of her denim waist apron. " _Robin, you're wanted."_ She called out to her.

" _By who?_ " She asked curiously. The party was a no-phone event and Gabi had collected everybody's phones to watch over them. She was surprised that someone would call her this late.

" _Can't read the kanji dear, you know that."_

Taiga leaned over Gabi's shoulder and read out loud. "Aomine." Then he took the phone from Gabi's hands and threw it over the bonfire to Aya.

"Dammit! Be careful with that!" She shouted; she barely caught the phone. She blinked at the vibrating device with mixed feelings. _Huh? What?_

" _Just pick it up and deal with him until he is still ringing!"_

 _Right…_ She thought and got up. She couldn't think about it, or she wouldn't answer. "Yes?" She picked up, walking away from the loud group of half-drunk basketball idiots. She didn't need them shouting anything stupid. Both dogs which were contently lying next to Ivan got up and trotted after her.

" _Hey."_ Aomine said and she got goosebumps after hearing his husky voice. " _I didn't wake you up, right?"_

"…No, I wasn't sleeping." She replied, not sure what to tell him. There was so much, but she couldn't decide. She left Japan with a bad aftertaste and now she felt awkward talking with him. And over the phone.

For a moment they were both silent.

" _Uhm…"_ He started, not sure what to say anymore. He didn't even know if she was actually listening. " _I just wanted to… Uhm… wish you a… happy birthday…?"_ He said almost shyly and his voice cracked slightly.

So he hadn't forgotten; she thought he definitely would… That simple congratulation was the best she'd received that day. The best she could've asked for. Aomine wasn't one to remember such things and she wouldn't hold it against him if he hadn't called, but… He did. And despite their misunderstanding and all, he did call her.

"…Thank you." She smiled and bit her lip to keep her emotions in check, because Aomine had a talent to get under her skin by the simplest things he said or did. All she wanted to do now was hide in his arms and cry her soul out for all the unfairness and hurt she felt. But she was also happy he remembered and she didn't want him to worry about her, especially when he was so far away.

" _I… well…"_ He gulped. " _I'm sorry for blaming you back then. Uhm…"_

"I'm not angry with you anymore." She said quickly. "It was just a misunderstanding, so… Apology accepted, and I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have been late. It shouldn't have happened. None of it…" She added quietly, and she didn't mean their misunderstanding only.

"… _or you should've punched me."_

She chuckled. "I doubt that would make you listen."

With that, he could only agree. He chuckled too. " _How are you doing?"_

"…Our friends prepared a little late night beach party for us so… Sweet sixteen, yay!"

" _You're having fun..."_ He said, but there was a slight question mark hidden in his tone. Her hesitation to answer and the answer itself made him think there had to be some real shit going on around her. He was almost certain about it. And all he wanted was to be there for her, even if he was on the other side of the planet.

She was never good at playing form in front of him. She didn't want him to worry, but… "Not really. Some things happened and well…" She admitted. "I love them… My friends, the basketball idiots, I do, but… But I miss you here. Ah… Sorry. Anyways! That's for another time. How are you? I bet you're enjoying sun rays all day long!"

 _And there goes the quicksilver…_ He thought but she didn't convince him she was okay. Still, he decided to play along. Maybe she needed a distraction and... she missed him! " _Y' bet. Klahan, a friend, won't let me off the hook all days long. I finally allowed to play again and now I'm forced to play with him over and over and over again, even though he'll keep losing. What's wrong with you people, really?"_

"Nothing? It's fun playing against you. We learn a lot and our instincts get better. Oh, yes! I learnt some new tricks from Dominic. You'll have to play with me at the camp."

Now the excitement in her voice was genuine and he could hear her cheerful smile. Yes, she needed a distraction, something to look forward to. But… Who the hell was Dominic? "… _I'll gladly test your new skills."_ He said honestly. " _Aya, I –"_

She blushed, he rarely used her name and damn, his voice was so hot even over the phone. "Looking forward to that, Daiki. I can call you that again, right?" She asked teasingly. "Though if you don't want me to–"

" _Yes."_ He said abruptly. He so regretted telling her to call him by his family name again. And he had no idea how to ask her to not do that anymore, that once she asked it herself, he was way too eager to allow her. Then he realised his fervent reaction." _Ah… Uhm… Yeah… Sure…"_

Aya chuckled. "Glad to hear that."

" _Ayaaa! Another tequila round, come oooon! I got you golden!" _Dominic went to fetch her.

" _Urgh, it's important!"_ She protested. " _I'll be back when I'm done."_

" _Over the phone sex, Robin?!"_

" _Oh, burn in hell you –"_ She looked at the dogs. " _Keep him company, will ya? Go get him!"_ She urged them and Bullet and Arrow shot after Dominic who was stumbling in the dark towards them, carrying tequila again.

" _They are searching for you?"_ He understood what it was about, but he barely heard what Dominic had said.

"Yeah… Dominic apparently wants me to be his drinking buddy tonight. Two more shots and he'll get all whiny about his failed past relationships. Thankfully, the phones are stored at a safe place and he won't be able to pester his exes with regretful drunk texts." She rolled her eyes, feeling better all of a sudden. _Aomine effect…_ At least one thing in her life seemed to be steady and normal. Like her lighthouse. Yeah, Aomine Daiki was her lighthouse.

" _I wouldn't mind your regretful drunk texts."_

"Why regretful? You're not an ex."

"…" He rather didn't want to poke that topic over the phone. " _Go."_

"Mhm. Thank you for calling. I guess it was the second best birthday gift I got today."

" _What was the first?"_ He asked curiously.

"My brother broke the no-gifts tradition we had going on, sooo…"

Daiki chuckled, but it reminded him of a very difficult task awaiting him. " _Good for you. So… See you later?"_

"Definitely. Have a nice afternoon, Daiki." She hung up, feeling much lighter and ran after the dogs. She really hoped they hadn't really bitten Dominic.

* * *

 **A/N:** That's that for now. I hope no one was OOC and the chapter was good and I promise that with the next one we'll get back on track with the canon (at least a bit).

Let me know what you think and remember, reviews are appreciated but never necessary.

S.


	43. Chapter 43: Brothers

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone who followed and favourited and reviewed! It makes me very happy.

Here's another chapter, I hope it won't feel like a filler one.

Enjoy!

* * *

 _I hold you in the safest place I keep. Somewhere between memories and scars._ ― _**Nicole Lyons**_

 _If I have left a wound inside you, it is not just your wound but mine as well._ ― _**Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood**_

 _Dance music is an emotional journey. It's how well you can make people feel something that they haven't felt._ – _**Steve Aoki**_

 _Dance is the timeless interpretation of life._ ― _**Shah Asad Rizvi**_

 _My passion and fire run deep through my veins, my blood, there's no doubt about that._ – _**Carolyn Aronson**_

 _When someone won't let you in, eventually you stop knocking. ―_ _**Ransom Riggs, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children**_

 _Once a brother, always a brother; no matter the distance, no matter the difference and no matter the issue._ – _**Byron Pulsifer**_

 _When a friendship crumbles, there are only really two things that can bring it back: a shitload of time, or a sincere apology._ ― _**Dahlia Adler, Just Visiting**_

 _Discipline is the refining fire by which talent becomes ability._ – _**Roy L. Smith**_

* * *

Haruka couldn't sleep. He was rolling on his bed but sleep wouldn't come to him. He'd had no idea Taiga would actually go as far as punching Peter and he surely hadn't expected the latter to act like a disgustedly spoiled overgrown kid; he'd been shocked to the point he couldn't have reacted. And Helena's intervention, the scolding she'd given her son in front of everyone… They'd left immediately. But he wasn't sure if he'd done it for Aya's sake, or for his own.

Now he finally understood, finally saw, why his kids hated the Fairchilds.

He hadn't seen that face of his long business partners and it disturbed him. What's more, Seth had warned him before, he just hadn't listened, hadn't wanted to see it. Then, did it make him any better than they were? He chose to shut out his own children over the business. Aya was right, he'd never listened.

He sat up and rubbed his eyes. It was pointless to squeeze them hoping for sleep to come. He walked towards his workroom which was connected to his bedroom and poured himself a glass of whiskey. The room was illuminated by the moon and he didn't bother to turn the lights on. He slumped into his chair and rested his legs on top of his huge desk.

For a few minutes he remained sitting there, sipping his whiskey in the darkness. He had no idea what to think anymore. He didn't want to admit his mistakes, after all, he'd only done what he'd thought was the right thing to do. His children were well educated and they didn't know material scarcity. Maybe he had no idea about their friends, fears, joys or hobbies, but he wasn't that terrible. Or was he?

Then his eyes rested on the wrapped gift the twins had thrown away and he felt another surge of regrets hit him like a wave. Reinforced by the whiskey, he took the small package into his hands and turned on a small table light. He was both, curious and scared.

Slowly, he tore off the wrapping paper. He hesitated for a moment and then opened the box. A small, folded card was covering the actual gift.

He took it in his fingers and opened it under the light.

' _We found it in a book when cleaning the study room. We think you should have it back._

 _-Aya and Taiga'_

The handwriting on the note was neat and delicate, and he suspected it was Aya's, but he wasn't sure. He frowned and looked at the gift itself.

It was his silver medallion with a thick chain. He gasped and covered his mouth, picking it up with a shaky hand. The medallion had meant so much to him. It was something he and Keiko'd had made right after the twins were born. Matching silver medallions. On the front side there was a depiction of a basketball and pointes. They'd sure been a strange couple; a pro basketball player and a pro ballet dancer… On the back there were a date – 2nd August and words Keiko had chosen to describe their family. At the time she hadn't known how right her choice had been. She'd simply come to love the quote.

Haruka turned the medallion and read the words he'd already forgotten.

' _Love conquers all.'_

"Eh?" He blinked, realising that tears were slowly streaming down his cheeks. He'd come to think he was incapable of crying.

A desperate chuckle escaped his lungs and he almost choked on it.

" _Why was I trying this hard to forget you?"_ He whispered to the medallion as if it was Keiko herself in French – the language he'd forbidden his kids to use in the house – but the one he'd never forgotten. " _When all I needed to do was remember… I'm sorry."_

He put it down on the desk and rubbed his face, squeezing his eyes. Everything he was trying so hard to push away was suddenly, crashing down on him like a huge violent wave. All the mistakes he'd done…

Keiko's medallion was hidden somewhere, he had no idea where anymore. Probably somewhere at his parent's place. He remembered putting the medallion away after Keiko had died. He hadn't wanted it. He hadn't wanted any of it… The heartbreak, the hurt, the bonds with the family… But now… He felt a strong need to get it all back.

######

Aya woke up with a headache. She hadn't been drunk exactly, but she slightly overdid it. She sat up, realising that Taiga was lightly snoring next to her and she was in his room, not hers as she'd thought. They were both still dressed and grains of sand which fell off of their clothes dirtied the bed sheets.

She rubbed her eyes, realising she hadn't removed her make-up and glanced at the clock. It was well past nine in the morning – too late for her as she was used to getting up around five AM.

"You alive?" She nudged Taiga with her foot.

At first he didn't answer, so she nudged him again.

He groaned and rolled on his side turning his back on her.

"Taigaaaaa." She whispered eerily and kicked his foot.

"Wh…. Mmmm?!" He blabbered sleepily.

"Rise and shine! We need to practise."

"Mhm… 10 mor' min's."

With a sigh she gave up. She shuffled to the bathroom, took a quick cold shower and treated her wounds like Gabi had told her to. It was too hot outside to do anything, but they needed to practise. The first competition was tomorrow. Her leg hurt but she was determined to win it. She changed into her practise clothes; short shorts, a sports bra and a loose sleeveless t-shirt.

The bruise on her cheek looked scary, but she wasn't planning to leave the house. No need wasting time to cover it up. She left her thigh without bandages too. She wanted the stitched wound to breathe in this hot weather. At least for the time being.

She brought Taiga a glass of water and a painkiller from her room; she suspected he might need one too. After trying to wake him up again (unsuccessfully) she headed down to the kitchen to fetch some breakfast.

"Monkey! Wait for meee!" Kouta's voice and thumping feet stopped her on the staircase. He barely managed to halt on the edge. "Whoah, you look like an Onryou." He shivered. In Japanese folklore, Onryo were one of the most dreaded types of ghost; a vengeful, wrathful and very powerful spirit showing the wounds which caused their death. And Aya with her dark purple cheek, dark circles under her eyes and bruised thigh full of stitched cuts and scratches looked quite scary.

She rolled her eyes. "And I'm here to haunt you till the day you die." She said eerily and walked down the stairs.

"Are you limping?" He asked curiously.

"No! Dammit! What is it with the two of you saying I'm limping?" She flared up. First Taiga, now him… _Urgh!_ "I'm not! I'm just taking it easy because it hurts!"

"In other words, you're limping." He said smugly, provoking her further.

"Oh, fuck you."

"Who will? You?" His voice was cheerful and he was obviously in a good mood. And even if Aya glared at him, he raised his arms in defensive gesture. "Sheesh, I'm joking. Someone sure woke up on the wrong side of the bed."

"Obviously. My whole being hurts and I'm hungry, so if you don't want me to bite your head off, leave me alone. ...at least until I've eaten."

"All right, Monkey!" He saluted and laughed; happily hopping down the stairs like a big puppy. He'd been drinking too, but not as much and he was kind of used to it, so it didn't affect him.

Aya entered the kitchen and her original scowl deepened. Haruka was sitting at the table reading news on his tablet. Apparently he decided for a home office, or a vacation. She couldn't care less. However, what pleased her was Gabriela standing by the stove, stirring oatmeal. She decided to act as if Haruka didn't exist in the space of the kitchen.

" _Morning Gabi, is that for me?"_ Aya sniffed the air and glanced at the food expectantly. To underline her curious gaze her stomach rumbled.

Gabi laughed. She wasn't surprised by Aya's use of Spanish when Haruka was sitting there and she gladly accustomed to it; especially when she saw the big frown settling on Haruka's face. " _I'm surprised you want to eat after yesterday. You were cute stumbling up the stairs."_

" _I wasn't that drunk, Gabi, I remember everything."_ She grumbled and her nose wrinkled cutely when she frowned. " _And I'm starving."_

" _I don't doubt that."_ She turned off the stove; the oatmeal was just about done. " _Maple syrup, pecans and cinnamon?"_ She asked.

" _Yes please!"_ Aya sat at the bar table they had, ignoring Haruka sitting at the dining table. " _How'd you know I was awake?"_

" _I heard the water running and I thought you'd enjoy a good breakfast."_

" _You're amazing! I love you."_

Gabriela smiled softly at the girl. She wasn't blessed with a child and so she was really happy when these two ran to her as if she was their mom; though she could probably be their grandmother. " _Love you too, Robin."_

"The bruise…" Haruka was staring on Aya's cheek with wide eyes. The medallion he actually wore on his neck, hidden under the linen shirt, felt heavy.

Aya turned her head to him and her smile disappeared. "Huh?"

"The bruise," he repeated, realising she had it thanks to him; regretting the incident even more than before. He wanted to apologise. But… the only words coming out of his mouth were: "you should cover it up."

Kouta and Gabi froze, waiting for Aya's reaction.

 _Shit…_ He thought immediately after the words left his mouth and he saw Aya's expression turning bitter and scornful.

"…" She took a deep breath and snorted. Why would she expect anything else? "…Right…" She got up, took her bowl of oatmeal and headed outside through a big glassy door connecting the kitchen with the garden. " _I'll eat outside with Ivan and the dogs."_ She told Gabi and left.

Kouta followed after her with his fruit yoghurt. He didn't want to be in one room with the man.

"Smooth." Gabi said witheringly. "You realise you're the one who gave her the bruise. Is it really that difficult to just apologise? Not that the words would mean much to her."

"Tch." He got up and left too.

######

Derek just finished tending to cars. He was supposed to drive Haruka to work in the morning, but instead, he was told to clean the cars. It was 4 cars – quite a lot of work. It took him the whole day. But there was one more he couldn't touch and he was lovingly staring at a very well kept Ford Mustang 1966 fastback he'd love to try driving but it was off limits. The keys were nowhere near the others and he had no idea who drove it; because Haruka didn't seem to be driving it either.

It was evening already and he should head home. He wondered if he'd ever have the privilege to live in the huge mansion like the previous two drivers he'd known about. He liked his job and he wanted to be as helpful as possible. The other two servants were very nice to him and the paycheck was very generous too…

He sighed. " _Maybe one day…"_ He said to the beautiful pitch black car in front of him.

" _Wanna take her for a ride?"_ Aya's voice interrupted his moment and he abruptly turned around.

" _Uhm… I…"_ He stuttered. " _Sorry for yesterday miss!"_ He blurted out bowing deeply. " _I didn't want to… I'm sorry!"_

Aya blinked at him in surprise. She didn't expect him to do that. She was just passing by the huge, wide open garage after a day-long practise with Taiga and noticed him dreamily staring at their car. That and she impulsively decided to give him a second chance, because his reaction the other day might've been caused by Haruka's presence and she wasn't exactly nice to Derek either.

" _That's fine. I know what's being said about me."_

" _That's not... you're not… I just didn't know how to react! I'm sorry. Damn, I'm an idiot."_ He blushed and rubbed his face. It was almost cute. Then he peeked at her through his fingers and his hands came down in shock. For the first time he'd noticed the bruise on her face and bandaged thigh. She was sweaty, some of the loose strands of her hair were stuck to her neck and face, her sleeveless top was drenched and her cheeks were still heated. The dogs standing by her left leg were lazily wagging their tails and looking at him.

" _What? You're a part of the house now; don't expect me to walk around here in that party dress all the time. You're not exactly wearing a suit either."_ She said with a grin, measuring his grey t-shirt and loose shorts stained from oil and water. He was barefoot and his hair was a mess. But now she noticed he was surprisingly well build and muscled. Although Taiga was taller and wider, the guy certainly wasn't weak and lanky.

" _Ah… Sorry."_ He looked away. She was younger than him, but not that much, and she was damn hot; he shouldn't have been noticing that.

" _Back to my original question. Do you wanna take her for a ride?"_

" _Her?"_ He blinked at the car.

" _We call her_ Karasu _, Crow. She's Taiga's and mine. And we need to go and deal with all the paperwork regarding our driving licences. So… We can take_ Karasu _and you'll give us a ride."_

" _Really?!"_ He asked, his eyes glowing like a little kid under a Christmas tree. He realised how idiotic he must've looked and added: " _Ehm…Oh… Will anyone be in the office now? It's too late."_

She shrugged. " _I know who to call to deal with things when I need. I'll go get ready, I'll fetch Taiga and the keys and we'll meet here in half an hour. You don't need to wear a suit per se, just change into something clean, please."_

" _Understood."_ He was so excited he saluted at an attention position.

Aya raised an eyebrow at him. " _Military high school?_ " She asked. " _Or a very strict father?"_

He laughed nervously and scratched his cheek in embarrassment. " _California military Institute… I never knew my father."_

" _Oh... Sorry."_

" _It's fine."_ He shrugged nonchalantly. " _He never cared and neither have I."_

" _You're smarter than me then." _She smiled and turned to leave. She wondered if her father made the choice based on Seth's previous occupation. Because as far as she knew, the driver before Derek was some former taxi driver who had gotten fired after Haruka had caught him stealing stuff. Maybe Haruka thought that a guy with military school was more prone to listen and less prone to do shady things. " _See you in half an hour." _She added over her shoulder.

" _Yeah…"_ He nodded, mystified by the young woman.

* * *

Daiki was feeling dead tired after his first shift at his grandma's diner. He had no idea it could be so tiring to run back and forth with food the whole day. And that he'd have to remember all the orders. He'd messed up a few times and grandma'd been scolding him the whole day too. He was supposed to smile, to hell with that. He wasn't someone to wear a professional smile no. 5. His job was to take orders and carry the food and drinks. That was it. She should know it.

He was lying on Klahan's bed staring at the ceiling and waiting for his friend to come back with drinks and snacks so they could start with another video game Klahan had bought. He didn't want to come, but Klahan dragged him here after his shift.

" _You look like death."_ Klahan pointed out when he walked into the room with a tray.

" _Yeah? Now you agree?"_

" _Oh, come on, it's holiday, when else would you stay up late?"_

" _I'd really like to go home and sleep."_

" _Who're you kidding? You wouldn't sleep anyways. You're still not used to your old room."_

" _And why do you think that is?"_ He raised an eyebrow, trying to make Klahan feel guilty for always forcing him to stay up late and play basket and go swimming, and basically all the activities they did.

" _I have no idea."_ Klahan smiled innocently and started setting the game and two consoles.

With a sigh, Daiki slid onto the ground and seated himself, resting his back against the bed comfortably.

Suddenly a high pitched squeal of Klahan's little sister, Malee, shook the entire house. The whole neighbourhood must've heard her.

" _YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO SLEEP!"_ Klahan's mother shouted across the house annoyed by the girl's indiscipline. The girl was barely nine and she had a curfew at ten. It was already past that.

But Malee wasn't bothered by that, she stormed into Klahan's room like a tornado, holding their shared tabled, squealing and jumping in excitement. She even ignored Daiki whom she still considered scary and grumpy.

" _Hey, hey, what's up?"_ Klahan asked with his hands up in a pacifying gesture and ready in case he needed to protect the consoles and games that were already set on the ground from the little stomping and squealing hurricane.

She continued to jump around and squeal for a couple more moments until she calmed down enough to speak. She sat down with her cheeks flushed and her eyes were shining with excitement.

" _She has a new video! She has a new video!"_ Malee rambled. " _And with someone new! And those moves… And those… Urgh! So violent, like they are fighting, but dancing… but… but… No one really wins… It is amazing! They got the highest score! Klahan… I wanna do it too! I want to be like her!"_ She blurted out. It didn't really make sense to them. " _And if you saw that..."_

" _What is she talking about?"_ Aomine asked perplexed and wondered if he'd ever looked so fiery about his basketball idols when he was a kid. And if so, he wanted everybody to forget about it. But Malee looked like she was talking about her living breathing superheroes she'd never met. It was almost cute.

Klahan shrugged. " _She loves dancing, but there are no clubs around here up to her tastes. And around Christmas she discovered this youtube channel with videos of several dancers. It's called… 'pink dreads' or something stupid like that. Profile picture is some weird dreadlock hairdo without a face, but the videos there are solid. Some even commented in English or Japanese with five different subtitles available, not that she understands either of them, but she's been trying to learn dancing from the videos… She has a favourite pair there… uhm…"_ He didn't really remember the names as he was totally disinterest in his little sister's obsession. " _Well… There were no new videos with them since Malee's discovered the channel."_

Daiki narrowed his eyes. Dreadlocks and pink… That reminded him of someone very memorable he'd met before. Comments in Japanese and English…

" _What?"_ Klahan asked, staring at his friend. " _Don't tell me_ _ **you**_ _know what she's blabbering about."_ Daiki certainly wasn't someone who'd know what the word 'dance' means, let alone being aware of some particular pair or channel.

" _Huh? Heck no…"_ He denied immediately.

Klahan narrowed his eyes. " _But you have a suspicion."_

" _Nah, there was this guy with pink dreadlocks, who showed up at one practise looking for Aya, but… It'd be a crazy coincidence if it was his channel..."_ His voice trailed off.

" _Malee?"_ He interrupted his sister, who was still blabbering about the difficulty and impossibility of the choreography.

" _What?"_ She turned at Klahan.

" _Can we actually see the video, or are you gonna blabber the whole night? We have no idea what you're trying to describe."_

She puffed her cheeks, offended by their lack of knowledge and shoved the tablet into his hands. Klahan shook his head and hit the play button. The video had a short commentary at the beginning. He wanted to skip it, when he realised it was in Japanese and there was a guy in the room who could very well translate for them.

" _What's he saying?"_ He asked curiously.

Malee blinked at Daiki, sudden realisation dawning on her. The big grumpy guy spoke Japanese. Her fears were suddenly forgotten and she launched herself on Daiki's back, her head popping between the guys so she could see the video again.

" _Translate for us!"_ She demanded loudly.

" _Huh?!"_ Daiki growled displeased by the little baggage hanging on his back and shouting in his ear. " _Get off you little leech."_

" _Am not! You overgrown oaf."_

A vein popped on his forehead. " _Hah?!"_

" _Now, now… Malee, you don't call him an oaf and ask politely. Or he won't help out."_

She rolled her eyes. " _Pleaaase!"_

Daiki grumbled something incoherent and shook his head, but he didn't try to throw the little annoying girl off his back. He returned the video back to start so he'd finally hear what the commentary was about.

 _What a softie…_ Klahan thought and laughed quietly at his friend with Malee comfortably hanging on his back.

"Hello, hello! It's been a long time since my last posting, maybe a few weeks! But! Here's a video of a great pair, my fellow twins entering the acro competition for the first time and dancing together like this for the first time too! Can they win?" The voice announced cheerfully and the video showed a relatively big crowd of people around a small stage. "If you've watched my other videos you might know who I'm talking about!" Now the camera turned, showing two redheads dressed in tight but comfortable costumes. Taiga's was pitch black and Aya's wine red. "No one else than the most awesome Kagami Aya and her brother Taiga!" The camera took them in properly from heads to their taped bare feet.

Hearing the name Klahan looked at his friend, whose mouth were hanging open as he stared at the stunning girl on the screen. Then he turned his eyes back to the screen too.

" **Would you stop?** " Taiga grumbled, obviously anxious and even Aya seemed to be shifting on her feet nervously, flexing her fingers. She was ignoring Kouta walking around them with his phone. "Oh, nervous, are we, little tiger?" Kouta provoked and quickly took a step back under Taiga's glare. The image went black, but the voice continued. "Well, well. Phew… That was intense. Now let's see their first arco performance. The video was taken by the competition's cameramen; I was just allowed to use it on my channel. If you like it, remember to like and subscribe! I love you guys!"

Malee paused the video and stared at Daiki expecting him to translate. And he did. Of course it wasn't a literal translation and he didn't use Kouta's cheesy antics.

Then he hit the play button himself. He was way too curious to let Malee do it.

The song started slowly. And so did the dance. But it escalated and he couldn't tear his eyes off the screen. It was so… The energy of that dance – even through the screen – was raw violence and aggression and bitterness. It looked like they were fighting yet no one got really hit. And the ease with which Taiga was lifting her, catching her, as if she weighted nothing… No, Daiki couldn't believe the big oaf could do _**that**_. Aya, he could imagine, yeah, but Taiga… And the obviously deep trust between them was unbelievable; some crazy things (like Aya jumping around his shoulder and neck from behind, without Taiga looking her way, or Taiga doing a handstand flip and landing his feet on the sides of her head) wouldn't have been possible without it. He wondered how long they had practised it.

Daiki's English wasn't that good yet, but he vaguely understood the lyrics.

The twins pictured the story presented by the song perfectly. Without saying anything, they made it perfectly clear that you don't win a fight, because you both end up on the ground dragging each other down in the end. And the bitter and angry look they exchanged at the end…

When the video ended the boys speechlessly stared at the black screen until Malee broke the stunned silence.

" _Told ya! They're amazing!"_ She grabbed the tablet and ran to her room before mom would lose her nerve and come fetch her.

" _The Kagami Aya?"_ Klahan asked, finally remembering where he'd heard the name before.

" _None other…"_ Daiki nodded gravely.

" _Wow… I'd never guess… The dancer… Well… I wouldn't have the courage."_

" _ **You**_ _don't have to."_

That night Daiki binge watched all the idiot's videos regarding Aya. And there were quite a lot of them. She didn't mind that videos from her competitions were widely available and many of them were not filmed by Kouta himself, just taken from somewhere else and slightly edited.

Couple of days later, he received a simple message from Aya:

'Both competitions won. \\(^ヮ^)/ See you in two weeks.'

* * *

"Aya?" Taiga softly rapped on her door the evening before their flight to the dancing training camp.

"Mhm?" She raised her head from her luggage she was neatly packing.

"Can we talk?"

"Should I worry?"

He shrugged and walked in. He sat on the ground next to her and crossed his legs. He sighed. "…Would you… would you be very angry if I didn't go with you to the UK?" He asked slowly, not meeting her eyes.

"You don't want to go?" She tilted her head to a side curiously. It surprised her, but she couldn't blame him.

"Well…" He scratched the back of his neck. "Suzu is not gonna be there. You're dancing with Kouta and… I thought I'd be more of use back in Japan, practising with my team? I want to win in the winter."

She was quiet for a moment, processing the news. She was already set that he was coming with her, she wanted him there. But he had a point. If he wanted to win in the winter he needed to practise basketball, not dancing, which was his main focus during the past few days.

"All right. Re-book your plane tickets then."

"Eh?" He blinked at her. "You're okay with it?"

She shook her head and laughed. "What? You thought I'd make a scene?"

"…Kinda? I promised you…"

"Nah, it's fine. You've got a point. And I do want you to win in the winter."

"You don't want Ahomine to lose though..."

"Don't call him that." She punched his shoulder in protest but then she shrugged. "I still think he should. You know, just to remember the feeling."

"And you say you love him."

"I do. But I want to know him better too. There's so much I don't know…"

"Like what?"

"Like… How would he cope with a loss? How good is he in fighting? What kind of person is this Klahan? Or his grandma? Why exactly did he grow up in Thailand? Does he even remember it? What relationship did he have with his former team? What scares him? I can only guess, based on Kuroko's and Satsuki's stories, but… He doesn't really talk much about himself."

"I'd be surprised if he did. And there I thought you knew everything you could."

"I don't. I might get how he thinks, or I like to believe it, buuut…"

"Wait… didn't you read Satuski's file on him? You said she had one... I thought she definitely gave it to you."

"She did. But I only read his measures, basketball stats and stuff I needed to make a picture of his skills. Then I returned it to her."

"Why?"

"Feels different when I can figure things out on my own."

"You're weird."

"We both are." She said gravely. "So… I'll see you again in over three weeks?"

"Seems like it."

"Call me once in a while, 'kay? Make sure I haven't throttled Kouta, or anyone else."

 _I wouldn't mind if you strangled Kouta…_ "Ray?"

She shook her head. "He isn't coming. And I'm surprised he didn't show up at that Samba competition yesterday. I was 100% sure he would."

"He was on the list, right?"

"Yeah. He was. Maybe the princess got cold feet?"

"Cowards." He snorted. "She knows she can't win so she won't participate. Kinda twisted, eh?"

"She's always been like that. And she's too old to put pins in my shoes now. Maybe it's for the best. Though I'd like to see if Ray improved or not. I think she's pulling him down."

"Do you actually miss him? You argued about everything."

"Except dancing." She nodded with a sigh and leaned against her bed. "Well, I do miss his skill set. Ray was extraordinary. Kouta's great, instinctive, talented… He can hear the rhythm but… I don't know. Ray was the best fit for me."

"Do you want to compete again?"

"…" She wondered. Did she? Sure, she'd just reminded herself what it felt like, but she didn't have a dancing partner and Kouta was studying in L.A. "Definitely not on the world level again... But… Some local competitions… Maybe… Nah, I don't have a partner anyways, so it doesn't matter."

"Heh… I knew you wouldn't stay out of it for too long. Finding a partner is a matter of a day for you."

"I'm used to a certain standard, so no, it's not a matter of a day. And I'm too curious about your Winter cup to have my attention divided two ways. I don't do things half-assed."

* * *

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!" Haruka's voice thundered through the closed door on the Monday morning. "LINDSAY! COME HERE!"

"Yes?" She peeped as she poked her head into his office, staying half hidden behind the door. He wasn't violent or anything, but given his current mood, she wouldn't be surprised if he threw something against the wall. She just wanted to be sure she was out of the shot.

"Why is this signed?!" He was staring at Aya's leaving form. There was his signature approving it, but he didn't remember she'd talked with him about it. Truth to be told, she wasn't talking with him at all. "I didn't allow her to leave the company?!" She was still a part owner, and was getting part of the profits but she'd decided she wouldn't work there as a 'part-timer' anymore.

"Uhm… Because you signed it?" Lindsay reminded him. "She probably put it on the pile of papers on your desk. You don't always read everything… Especially if it's from HR."

"You're supposed to go through it before me!"

"And I did. I put the checked file with my sticky notes on your desk on the Friday evening." She defended herself. "It's not my fault she has keys from everywhere." _But she's a clever girl…_

Haruka took the paper and intended to tear it apart.

"Stop." Her voice halted him. "Are you sure you want to wage a war with her? She has a right to leave the job if she wants."

"I can't lose someone who does the perfect job!" He blurted out. Then he blinked, surprised by his own words. It was something he hadn't realised before.

"Why don't you try talking with her about it? Like a father? Or maybe like a boss, if you can't do it any other way?"

He snorted. "She's completely ignoring me." He admitted with a sigh and slumped into his chair, all of his anger dissipating. He couldn't really blame her for doing this. He had no idea how to make things right. It was too fucked up to just apologise; he didn't know how to and she probably wouldn't listen anyways. He had no idea what to do. "And they left on Saturday."

"Where to?" Lindsay asked. She walked into the office and closed the door behind her.

"I have no idea." He said and rubbed his thick stubble. He hadn't shaven since the party at Fairchilds; he could barely sleep and it was starting to take its toll.

Lindsay sighed and decided for honesty. She still had her job after all. "That's sad." She said and sat opposite him. "You know, I don't keep in contact with my father. In fact, I hate him for all the wrongs he did. He is a bad person who only ever cared for himself, who used us, stole from us, never cared… We lived in a trailer. I tried, I really tried to see some good in him, but I was only disappointed. So I closed the door." She went quiet for a moment, staring right at him. She wasn't ashamed about her past anymore.

He looked at his assistant with renewed interest. He didn't know. When he was hiring her, he was only interested in her education, abilities, language skills and representative looks. He needed a loyal assistant he could trust and depend on.

"But you're not a bad person. You just got drowned in self-pity and gave up on them while they were trying to reach out to you, Kagami Haruka-san." She continued. "Still, I think Aya-chan hasn't fully closed the door. I think she tried to slam it, but it bounced back and is left ajar. I think she's more disappointed and angered by your passivity than anything else. And so is, I believe, Taiga-kun. Saddened, hurt, angered and disappointed. I'm not saying they'll ever rely on you like they did before. They've learnt how to live without you. But if those two are all you have left of your own family… Isn't it worth trying? Isn't it time for you to try and throw them an olive branch? If you read the e-mails, you'll see how many of those branches they threw to you."

"Not like it'll be easy." He grumbled, unconsciously touching the medallion hidden under his shirt.

Lindsay frowned at him. "You can't bring back eight years with one word, or any word for that matter."

It was his turn to frown. "You know awfully lot."

"Gabriela-san called me last week…" She said. "For some reason, she thought you might listen to me."

Haruka stared at the young woman for a few seconds and she calmly withstood his stare. Then he waved with the papers he was still holding in his hand. "Get me some coffee."

"Right away."

* * *

" _So you're going home earlier?"_ Klahan was sad to hear the news. Daiki'd been there for barely three weeks, and he was leaving again. " _Maaan… the time just flew by…"_

" _Yeah… But we have a training camp starting in five days. I want to be with the dogs a bit too. And I want to finally sleep."_ He yawned and rubbed his face.

" _You'd better. I can't believe you caught the burning hot frying pan with your bare hand, because you were tired."_

" _It seemed easier than catching the idiot who pulled it off the stove… what was her name again?"_

" _Oh come on! It's Kim! Three letters! The second most beautiful girl in the neighbourhood who works in your grandma's diner and you don't even remember her name?!"_

Daiki picked in his ear with his pinkie and yawned again. " _First of all, her boobs are way too nonexistent… Second… She isn't bad looking, but she ain't_ _ **that**_ _pretty."_

Klahan rolled his eyes; he was having a crush on Kim for quite some time. And there was Daiki, who'd worked in the diner for a few days and won Kim's heart by saving her from the scorching frying pan, without caring about it or realising it. Daiki simply didn't care about anyone else besides Aya and he probably hadn't noticed Kim's secret stares and useless attempts to start a conversation. _What an idiot…_ " _Burn in hell."_

" _What? Why? I haven't even talked with her."_

" _Whatever man… I hope you'll finally get to kiss your girl, because you're unbelievable. I wonder what she sees in such a thickhead."_

Daiki shook his head, smartly deciding to keep his mouth shut.

" _Alright then,"_ Klahan shrugged and hugged Daiki quickly, " _bring her with you next time. I wanna meet her and Malee would be beside herself if she met her living breathing superhero."_

" _Maybe… I won't be back till next summer though. Try to get better."_

" _I'll beat your ass next time. I promise."_

" _Good to hear that."_ He smirked. For some reason he took Klahan as a serious opponent, even though the boy was far from his level. But he hoped Klahan could really get better, after all he'd gotten better in those few days they'd played basket together, so maybe… " _Well, see you later."_

He boarded a longtail boat which would get him from Koh Yao Noi to Phuket, from where he could take a flight home.

" _See ya!"_

* * *

"Damn! How can she do it?!" Taiga swore. He seemed to be unable to learn how to properly use chopsticks with his left hand. Unlike his sister, he was originally right handed and he'd never had the need to become ambidextrous. Aya had been too hyped and too eager to know everything back then. Now, he kind of regretted it. He should've taken up on her challenge.

"What are you even doing?" Kuroko asked him with a raised eyebrow. The half of all guests in the restaurant was staring at Taiga's pitiful tries to eat with his left hand, dropping his food and making a mess around his plate.

He was just trying to put a piece of broccoli into his mouth when he looked at Kuroko. And the treacherous green vegetable slipped from his chopsticks and fell onto the ground. "Aaargh! Shit! I've had enough!" He shouted and leaned down to pick up the food.

"Seriously, what's wrong with you man?" Kawahara asked him curiously.

"He said he needed to train his left hand…" Furihata explained with a shrug. He didn't really understand the wild redhead.

"…and my legs to endure continuous high jumps. Yeah, I need to get better in aerial battles." Taiga added, when his head appeared above the table again munching on the broccoli he picked up. "What?! Three second rule." He said innocently when Kuroko gave him one of his emotionless but slightly disgusted looks. Taiga wondered when he'd learned to distinguish those blank expressions...

"Urgh." One of the guys voiced his disgust but then shook his head. "What are you doing this weekend?"

"Oh, yeah, it's our rare free day."

"I usually just sleep in."

"I've got an idea!" Furihata said cheerfully. "What about this?" He fished out a poster from his bag and presented it to everyone. A streetball event, 5-on-5 matches in a park. He wanted to go.

"Huh? Streetball competition? On our precious day free of basketball?"

"Where is it even? Can we still enroll?"

"It's about 30 minutes by train and it says we can enroll on the same day too." Furihata explained. "And besides…" He looked at Taiga and Kuroko, sitting opposite him. "You two are regulars, but we don't get to play in matches. We want to compete too."

"Okay." Taiga shrugged, he was now eating with his hand, completely giving up on chopsticks. "Let's go then."

"Didn't you say you needed to get better in using your left hand?" Kuroko asked him perplexed.

"Urgh… I'll ask Aya for advice later on." He muttered grumpily.

"Where is she even? I'm surprised she hasn't come to check up on us yet."

"I've returned alone. Aya's in the UK, in her training camp. She should be back in 5 – 6 days? And she'll head straight to Touou's summer camp."

"Oh… too bad. I thought she'd be watching the competition." Furihata looked at the poster with dejected expression. Aya-san was too cheerful and energetic for him to feel comfortable around, but she was a nice person. And the senpais seemed to be fond of her as well.

Taiga shrugged. "I should've been with her you know… Nothing to be done about it."

* * *

"Daikiii!" Michiko shouted at him from the laundry room, sounding pissed off.

With a deep sigh he shuffled to her. If he yelled back, she'd get angry for real. "What?" He asked and leaned against the door frame.

"Could you go through your pockets before you throw your stuff to the laundry?" She huffed with a frown, throwing him a small roll of money.

He caught it with a frown. "My pockets were empty. And I surely wouldn't forget _this_ there. What is it even?" He zoomed on the money, unrolled the stock and started counting the bahts. "Shit… I told her I didn't want any money."

"Language! Grandma gave it to you?"

"I guess." He shrugged. "I helped around the diner. And what's with that?" He took out a small note from his grandma saying ' _You earnestly deserved it – use wisely. From Grandma ^.^'_. He read it out loud.

And Michiko's jaw almost hit the ground. "Since when can you read the script?!"

"Aaah…" He scratched the back of his neck with a slight blush. "Klahan forced me to… So we could exchange e-mails, or something like that."

She laughed. "It was about time you learned. Well, isn't it good? If mama gave you that much, you must've really outdone yourself. I'm proud of you."

"Yeah…" He grumbled and looked away. There was the usual sadness that flashed in her eyes he couldn't understand at all.

Michiko quickly shook off the sudden wave of longing and smiled cheerfully. "Maybe you could buy a birthday gift for Aya-chan with that, eh? It's the first money you earned by yourself."

"Hey! I earned my scholarships by myself too." He protested.

"But it is different!"

He sighed. "Maybe later. I'll take Shiro and Kurome out." He said, slipping the money into his pocket, he should go and exchange it for yens soon.

"Didn't you want to go to that streetball event? It's close by…"

"Nah, it's no challenge. And watching those pathetic guys thinking they know streetball… I'll pass…"

She frowned. Daiki didn't usually talk with her about basketball, but his point of view worried her. For a moment he sounded so arrogant. "You sure no one interesting might show up there?"

He shrugged. "Maybe I'll give it a look for a bit. But I should rather stop by our gym… Satsuki will complain I haven't shown my face there at all…"

"Oh, yes. You definitely should go."

######

"Ho, the tournament's grander in scale than I thought." Fukuda commented when they entered the park, with Taiga, Kuroko and #2 in the lead.

Taiga didn't seem to be affected by the atmosphere and anticipation which was all too obvious among the crowd that was slowly gathering here. The feeling he got was more nostalgic than exciting. But there was something, or someone ticking him off. He narrowed his eyes at Kiyoshi who was tagging along; the only senpai in the group.

"Why are you here?"

"Mm?" Kiyoshi raised his eyebrows and smiled goofily. "Why not?"

"I don't mean that… Where's Kawahara?"

"He's down with the flu." Fukuda explained with a shrug.

"Hah…" Kuroko sighed. He was just as surprised by Kiyoshi's presence. He couldn't really guess what the senpai was thinking and it disturbed him.

Kiyoshi laughed. "Just relax and enjoy! I've come to back you up!"

"Yes." Kuroko muttered and they headed towards the booth to sign up for the competition.

… _Feels like the states…_ Taiga thought and unconsciously played with the ring on his necklace. It really brought back memories.

They met the Seihou team by the booth. Both teams were shocked by the encounter, but they ended up eating snacks together and discussing their practises.

"What?" Taiga blinked at them, when he learned that Seihou's third years had already retired and Seihou wouldn't participate in the Winter cup.

"You're clueless about that?" Seihou's PG sighed and decided to explain. "The two teams representing our prefecture are chosen out of the top eight teams from the Interhigh."

He sighed, he kinda hoped for a rematch and another win. "So we won't compete against you again?"

"The teams from our block competing in winter are just Seirin and Shuutoku." The captain joined the explanations.

"So after we lost to you in the heats, we bade our club farewell. We're studying for university entrance exams now and doing basketball for fun." The PG said and got up. He was sad about leaving the club, but he wasn't regretting it. They all knew the clubs were only temporary and they had joined mainly for fun. Plus, they could still play in these kinds of events if they so wanted.

Captain Iwamura looked at Kiyoshi with obvious challenge in his smile. "If we're lucky, we'll finally settle the match that never happened last summer." He referred to the match right after Kiyoshi had gotten his injury.

"Ahaha…" Kiyoshi laughed. "Please don't be hard on me." He pleaded. He knew Iwamura as a fellow player for quite some time and he respected him.

"People don't forget grievances easily. Whatever bad blood there is, we hope we'll fully settle it." The PG smiled foxily. The rest of his team nodded and got up to leave as well. "We don't have all of our regulars here, but today, help us clear all debts and leave at peace so we can study."

"Well that was unexpected…" Taiga said and his hand reached for the necklace again. At least on the holiday he didn't need to hide it beneath his clothes. His thoughts drifted off and he didn't listen to what his teammates were discussing. He was looking around, observing people in the crowd as if he was looking for someone familiar.

Kuroko was observing his light carefully. There was something different about Taiga ever since he'd returned. "What are you thinking, Kagami-kun?"

"UH, WHOA!" He shuddered, letting go of the ring. Kuroko's voice coming from behind startled him. "Nothing much, it just brings back memories. The tournament's air feels the same here."

"Does it have something to do with the ring?" He asked curiously.

"Huh, why?"

"You've been fiddling with it. This ring, I've noticed that you keep it with you at all times." The ghostly boy said and everyone was suddenly looking at Taiga, expecting some back story.

Taiga sighed. Kuroko sure was very observant. Maybe he could try and explain… "This ring was a gift from someone I played basketball with. A very important gift to me."

"…You two must be close."

"Aaah… three of us, actually. Aya has the same one too." He touched the ring again. It helped him sort out his thoughts. "How can I describe before anyone misunderstands... The guy's not dead. Perhaps you could say we're close, but we just happen to have very different temperaments. He taught us basketball and sometimes we taught him as well. He's someone… someone whom I want to play against one more time and never again."

Kuroko stared at the redhead, who suddenly didn't look like someone wild and impulsive. A side of Taiga they didn't really know just popped up.

"Argh." The redhead shook his head. "Let's go, or we'll be late."

When they finally reached the court there was a huge commotion. It was the first match, Seihou's match. And the team that gave Seirin such a hard time in the Interhigh lost by full 19 points. Even Tsugawa, who was probably the best in defence, couldn't defend against one guy on the opposing team. He was devastated.

"How can that be?" "Who's that?" "How come he's so good?" The questions were repeated among the shocked spectators. Seiho was known as one of the kings, it was strange they were losing in a random unofficial match.

"What? Someone managed to defeat Seiho by a wide margin?"

To all those questions Taiga added one more. "…and why is _he_ here?" He asked with wide eyes, knowing the unbeatable player very well. "Why the hell is _**he**_ here?!" He repeated.

"…?!" Kuroko stared at him in surprise.

 _Iwamura and his team are no pushovers, and yet?! … If that bag is his… a player from Yosen?_ Kiyoshi thought, staring at the guy with pitch black hair covering half of his face.

"Tatsuya?!" Taiga pushed his way onto the court, his team mindlessly following after the impulsive redhead. There was a break after each match, so no one really cared. " _What are you doing here?!"_ He switched to English immediately, surprising his whole team.

 _Tatsuya?_ They'd heard the name somewhere before. Kuroko was certain of it, he just couldn't remember where.

" _Taiga?"_ Tatsuya smiled at him. " _I've never expected to see you here. What a surprise."_

Taiga snorted. " _Huh… You don't look surprised at all. Still wearing that poker face of yours..."_

" _I'm not hiding my feelings though."_ Tatsuya said calmly. " _I'm just expressing them in my own way. If you paid attention, you'd know. Just like Robin."_

" _Leave Aya out of it."_ He bristled. He hated when Tatsuya got his sister involved in their arguments. She had nothing to do with that stupid match and rivalry. It was their dispute, not hers. And every time Tatsuya unconsciously pulled her in, she was the one getting hurt the most.

" _Oh… protective much?"_

Taiga took a deep breath. " _Why are you trying to provoke me?"_ He asked. It wasn't like Tatsuya at all. Hadn't Aya said they made up somehow, that they were still friends? Taiga didn't get it.

" _Provoke you, little brother? Aren't you the one who ran away like a coward?"_

" _Tch… and what's the point of beating an injured idiot?!"_

"Your friend?" Kiyoshi asked, feeling the atmosphere was getting tense between the two although he only vaguely understood the context. They were speaking too quickly and with an accent he wasn't used to. "Uhm… _Is it …Tatsuya-kun, Kagami's friend?_ " He tried to use English too.

"Ah, sorry. I'm Himuro Tatsuya." Tatsuya apologised. "It's okay, speak in Japanese. We're just used to English… Wouldn't you agree, Taiga?"

Taiga huffed and looked away. He really didn't want to meet _him_ out of all people. _Maybe I somehow invoked him…_

"Thank god." Kiyoshi sighed in relief. "That helps a lot."

"I'm not really his friend. If you must define it, I'd say I'm his big brother." Tatsuya answered the previous question. "Their... perhaps." He sighed.

Taiga scoffed. "Yeah…"

Taiga's team was staring at him expectantly.

"Okay," the redhead groaned, "we met by chance seven years ago. I was bad at making friends and I only ever hung out with Aya. But she had her competitions, her practises. My English wasn't all that good then and I used to drag my feet home every day after school. I wondered if I was just uninteresting, I wasn't special in anything. And one day… This guy popped up, chasing after a stray basketball. He invited me to try it out – they were missing a player."

Tatsuya chuckled. "Yeah, that's how our friendship began. Soon after he brought Aya to the court. Their father was a former professional player; despite that, they were pathetic back then. But they learned quickly and Aya could draw him out. You wouldn't believe it, but he used to be quite shy and closed up around strangers; especially after their mother's death."

"Oi!" Taiga frowned at him.

"What?" Kiyoshi asked blinking at Taiga. "You didn't tell us."

Taiga, still glaring at Tatsuya, shrugged. "You didn't ask."

"You don't go asking people around if their parents are alive… And you told us she was gone, we didn't think…" Kuroko muttered, looking at his big friend with curious eyes. There was so much more they didn't know about their ace.

"Oho? So it's not just Aya, who's keeping things to herself."

"Why are you such a dick?" Taiga asked. "I don't go around talking about your 'dirty laundry'."

"Sorry, sorry…" He shook his head. "I was certain they knew. Anyways…"

"At some point Tatsuya became our 'older brother'. We've never had an older sibling and somehow… Tatsuya felt like one. So he was drawn into the family. He bought the rings for us from some street stall selling cheap jewellery. And then we bought the chains, because it was inconvenient to play basketball while wearing a ring."

"Then I moved further away, so we met only once in a while…" Tatsuya continued smoothly. "And Taiga was getting better and better at basketball without my realisation."

"Then we figured out we joined opposing teams, which played a match each week for the right to use the court. And we started competing. That day was the first time I won against Tatsuya."

"Yeah, that felt really bad." Tatsuya hummed. "I was defeated by my little brother, who was getting taller than me. But our skills weren't that far apart and I won the next game. We played like that every week, losing and winning. The competitions continued for… give or take two years… Sometime during that I got closer with Aya…" He glanced at Taiga, asking for permission.

Instead, he decided to be the one saying it. "To the point of dating her. I had no clue, so it caused some arguments and disputes among us… Anyways we got to the point where there were 49 wins and 49 losses for each. Then another match he decided that if I won, he wouldn't be my older brother anymore."

"How could I call myself his older brother if I kept losing? It would be a shame. That's how I felt then and that's how I still feel."

"But his shoulder was hurt. I noticed he was acting strange, that his plays were off. And in the last deciding seconds when I should've and could've stopped him. I didn't."

"I missed that shot. But it wasn't just that, was it?" Tatsuya asked, observing the redhead. It was strange they managed to retell the story together. Nostalgia filled his veins and he actually missed the big loud gluttonous boy. Still, he believed he was in the right and Taiga had cowardly run away. "Not only that… They got the last attack. And Taiga purposefully missed the shot he could've made. Just so I wouldn't lose. He failed his team, because he didn't want to become my truthful rival. He looked down on me that day."

"There was no point in winning against an injured idiot! You couldn't give it your all, so why should I? We fought about it afterwards and you tore the necklace." Taiga said staring at Tatsuya's chain. "I'm surprised you still have it."

"It'd be pointless to bet on it and then throw it away, wouldn't it? Didn't Robin tell you?"

"Yeah…"

"Well," Tatsuya cleared his throat "I decided to treat the match as a draw and bet on our rings. If Taiga loses the next match we'll act as if the rings have never existed, if he wins, I won't be the older brother anymore… But there were other matters and they left L.A. soon after..."

"Other matters? Don't you remember what happened? You two broke up. You hurt her too. And you had the nerve to involve her in our fight. Like there wasn't enough on her plate. Older brother or not… I can't forgive you for that yet, even if she did." He said bitterly.

His team was watching both guys speechlessly. They were giving off rivalry, but also a deep bond that had once existed. Neither of them thought they were in the wrong.

Kiyoshi couldn't help but think that Tatsuya actually took advantage of Taiga. He knew Taiga only for a short period of time, but despite his wild looks, Taiga was a good guy who deeply cared about his friends and family and team. And in this 'bet' there was no way for Taiga to win. He'd either have to act like the rings had never existed, or he'd lose a brother. There was no win and Tatsuya didn't let him to have any word in it. It was shady and Kiyoshi wasn't surprised about how big the dispute had gotten. He felt that Taiga was deeply hurt by his best friend, his brother, and he wouldn't be surprised if this argument added to the break up either. He somehow admired how calm the redhead managed to be while telling the story. _So he is similar to his sister after all… Maybe I should keep a better eye on him._

"Very good then." Tatsuya nodded with an unreadable smile. "We might settle it out right now, don't you think? I hoped we'd face off there, but there's never a day too early."

Kuroko was frowning. He was thinking something very similar to Kiyoshi senpai. He considered this dispute more serious than the drift which had opened between his former teammates. They didn't have bonds that close and they unanimously decided they wanted to compete and see who was the strongest. But Taiga didn't have such an ambition when it came to Tatsuya; he probably just wanted to mend the broken bond… But…

"Isn't today the best time to fulfil our promise?" Tatsuya asked.

"Tatsuya…"

"Yes?" He looked at Taiga who had a really troubled expression on his face.

"I, um… Despite all… You…"

Kuroko's had enough. He picked up #2 and the dog stuck his paw in Taiga's face as if punching him. Taiga jumped backwards and swore. He didn't mind #2 anymore, but he didn't like to have the dog's paws in his face. God only knew where those paws had walked…

"Ouch! What was that for?!" He glared at Kuroko.

"You're annoying when you're indecisive."

"Huh?!"

"I think I get what's between the two of you. But listen… No matter what you felt, it's wrong for a sportsman to lose on purpose."

"But you know what's going to happen if I win!" Taiga protested.

"Yeah," Kuroko looked at Tatsuya in scolding. "You'll never call him your big brother and you think it's wrong to call that match the final one when the other party wasn't even fit enough to play." Tatsuya averted his eyes from Kuroko's unwavering stare. "But isn't basketball something you're both supposed to love? No one can walk away satisfied when your greatest rival, your best friend gave the game away on purpose. And so what if he isn't your 'big brother' anymore? Won't you still be important to each other?"

 _If only it was this simple…_ "I guess I like basket because I can face a lot of strong opponents... Well… I haven't thought about it that way. Thanks." Then he turned to Tatsuya again. "I'll face you as an opponent, Tatsuya. So if we meet in the match, face me like the strongest player."

"You bet!" He smiled and his eye shone in determination. Taiga was a big softie, but he could be really strong too. "But before that… You…" He looked down at Kuroko. "Excuse me, but do I know you?"

"I'm Kuroko Tetsuya. Nice to meet you."

 _Kuroko Tetsuya, huh?..._ "I see… You've found yourself an interesting partner, Taiga!"

"Huh? ... Oh, right…" Taiga remembered who else was on the Yosen's team. He'd never met Murasakibara, but Aya had told him about the Yosen's team. Tatsuya must've heard about Kuroko from him then.

The other matches taken quite some time, and finally it was the time for the last match between the best teams. It was Tatsuya's team and Taiga's team.

They took their stand facing each other. Tatsuya stretched his shoulder; it was fully healed and didn't hurt at all. Still, he wondered if his team could win. He'd joined an unknown team that was short one player. So far it was him winning the matches. And Taiga's team seemed to have a solid team play with their roles long settled in. Still… He didn't feel like he'd lose in one-on-one.

Kuroko narrowed his eyes observing Tatsuya as he'd been doing the whole time. "Kagami-kun? There's something I was thinking about when you mentioned your past… The two of you were on par in middle school, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Please, listen calmly – I mean no insult –"

"What?!" Taiga cut him off after hearing that.

Kuroko sighed. "Shall I say – this guy gives me a feeling like those of the generation of miracles, at his present state, there's no way he'll lose to you one-on-one."

Taiga snorted. "Is that all, idiot? I thought you'd have some scary revelation, not that… Don't worry, I've noticed." _He feels like a different person…_

A referee whistled and threw the ball up.

And it was stopped.

Someone put an Umaibo on top of the ball as it reached its pinnacle and then plucked the ball from the air, leaving everyone dumbfounded.

Taiga couldn't believe there was a guy so much taller than him in Japan. And he was most likely just a teenager like them. _He's over two meters… But what's with the purple hair?_

"Sorry, did I make you wait?" The newcomer drawled.

Tatsuya sighed. "You're late again, Atsushi."

"Yeeeah, my bad. I got lost again."

"It's been a while, Murasakibara-kun." Kuroko greeted his old teammate.

"Oh, if it isn't Kuro-chin." Atsushi looked down on Kuroko. "You look dead serious as always… So serious… makes me want to crush it." He said in almost a bullying tone and patted Kuroko's head with his huge hand. Then he squatted to be on Kuroko's eye level and a silly smile settled on his face. "Nah ~ Just kiddin'!"

A vein popped on Kuroko's forehead and he slapped Atsushi's hand away. "Please stop that now."

"What, you angry? Soooorryyy~ I said."

"I thought you weren't coming." Tatsuya walked towards the center with his hands stuck in his pockets.

"You're bad… Changing the meeting spot all of a sudden! We've come here because you said you wanted to go sightseeing, and there you are playing basketball!" He complained with a pout.

"Oh, really. Sorry! But it looked like something interesting was up, so I came here to check it out."

The referee whistled, scolding Atsushi for interrupting the game while not being a part of any team.

"Aaaah, you can't play, Muro-chin…" He said, cutting the referee off rudely. "Yosen doesn't allow us to participate in non-school-related competitions. I stopped you just now because of that."

"Huh?" Tatsuya blinked at him. "Do we have such a rule?" He wondered, but Atsushi probably knew better.

"Mhm. No choice." The huge boy nodded, spun Tatsuya around and started pushing him off the court. "Now, let's go."

But Taiga didn't let it slide. He had to go and taunt Atsushi into playing, thankfully, Atsushi was childish enough to take the provocation seriously. After some more bargaining with the other team and the referee, Atsushi was given a t-shirt and allowed to play. The t-shirt was tight, but he didn't seem to care about it. And there was that weird senpai who claimed to know the giant. Maybe he was a bit curious too.

The tip off was stolen by Taiga, which really surprised Atsushi as he'd never lost a tip off before. And even the first points were scored by Kiyoshi.

The crowd cheered.

"Nothing to be done if you forgotten about me." Kiyoshi said with a sigh, he'd never though Atsushi would forget him, but whatever... "except making you remember with my basketball…"

"Huh…" Atsushi looked at the other center properly. "No... It's alright. Sorry, but I think I remember you now. Kiyoshi Teppei. You make me want to defeat you. Later, you'll wish I'd just forgotten about you."

Tatsuya frowned. If Atsushi got seriously provoked it wouldn't end well. "Sorry Atsushi, but you can perform later. This is a makeshift team, so let's decide the positions. You're on defence and for offence; I'll take points off them."

"Haaaai~ Do your best Muro-chin, whatever that means…"

And with that, Atsushi stayed right below his basket not attacking at all. It was the style which best suited him. Instead, Tatsuya got the time to shine. He passed Taiga effortlessly and shot a three pointer in a beautiful form.

It was so smooth it looked like he'd done it in slow motion and everyone watched it in awe. Taiga couldn't reach it even if he wanted to. He was too far away and too amazed to react. That one shot carried all the years of Tatsuya's practise and experience.

Taiga went for a quick counter attack, almost clashing with Atsushi when it suddenly started to rain. And it wasn't just a rain; it was a sudden heavy downpour. It was dangerous to play on the slippery ground and the competition got called off.

But Tatsuya didn't forget to give Taiga a 'gift' – showing him the mirage shoot he'd shown to Aya – before they left.

"Murasakibara-kun?" Kuroko stopped him to ask something. "Do you still think basketball is boring?"

"Huh? If you bring it up again, I'll crush you down even if it's you Kuro-chin." Atsushi frowned at the ghostly guy. "I've never been sure if basketball is fun or not. I do it, because I'm talented, what's wrong with that?" He turned around to leave. He hated rain. "Well, if you want to talk me out of thinking it, feel free to try! At the Winter cup!"

######

"Eh? Aomine? What are you doing here?" Kano asked when Aomine walked into the changing room looking for a shelter from the rain.

"Huh?" The ace looked around noticing all the guys who'd just finished their practise.

"Weren't you supposed to be somewhere away?" Naito asked with a yawn. The sudden rain drained away all of his energy.

"I returned yesterday. Wanted to say hi to Satsuki." He said with a shrug and shuffled to his locker to take a clean dry t-shirt he had stored there.

"Oh, so you two are all good now?" Kano asked cheerfully. Satsuki seemed to be in a better mood these past days and he was sure she'd talked out everything with Aya-chan and Aomine. "I thought you'd be angry at her for much longer."

Aomine narrowed his eyes. "What are you talking about?"

In all sincerity, Kano answered truthfully. "Well, she told the coach to take you off the match and you blamed Aya-chan instead. She'd been in a better mood lately, so all's good, right?"

The ace froze; his drenched t-shirt was half over his head. "…What?" He asked slowly, his anger slowly bubbling up all over again.

"Oh, boy…" Naito muttered and face palmed. "I think he had no idea…"

"Huh?" Kano blinked at his friend. Then the realisation of his loose tongue dawned on him. "Oh, shit."

"What the fuck?" A very dangerous expression settled on Daiki's face when he took off his t-shirt and hastily put on the other. "It was Satsuki?! AND YOU'RE TELLING ME THAT **NOW**?!" He spun on his heel and left to find the pinkette to get an explanation why she'd kept quiet this whole time, while she knew damn well he'd blamed Aya. Oh and how compassionate she'd acted, saying he wasn't in the wrong… Though he did notice something was off about her, he just never thought…

"SATSUKI!" He yelled her name through the rain when he spotted her heading towards the school building. He ran through the rain to catch up with her. The dry t-shirt was quickly drenched again, but he couldn't care less.

"Aomine-kun! You showed up! How nice, we can go home together." She smiled happily, but seeing his enraged expression, her smile was quickly drained from her face.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THE MEANING OF THAT?!"

She jumped backwards under his loud and angry voice. "W-what are you talking about?" She asked, trying to play cluelessness, but she knew all too well what he was talking about. She'd really hoped he wouldn't figure it out…

His eyes narrowed into dangerous slits, but he took a deep breath so he wouldn't yell at her that much. "Oh, don't give me that fake innocence. It was you, wasn't it?"

Satsuki averted her eyes.

"Do you realise what you've done?!" She kept avoiding his gaze and it ticked him off even more. "I DON'T NEED YOU MEDDLING IN WHATEVER I DO! I WASN'T _THAT_ INJURED IN THE FIRST PLACE!"

That felt like a slap. "But it was Akashi-kun! Do you know what could've happened to you if I haven't done it?! Aya-chan was too eager to let you injure yourself! You may have–"

"THAT'S WHAT I MEANT WHEN I SAID I DON'T NEED YOUR MEDDLING! Y'RE NOT MY GUARDIAN OR ANYTHING! AYA WAS READY TO HELP ME! SHE FACED **ME,** WHILE **YOU** RAN TO THE COACH LIKE A COWARD!" He shouted at her.

"DON'T YELL AT ME!" She shouted back, her voice jumping several octaves higher. "I DID IT TO PROTECT YOU!"

"I DON'T NEED YOUR PROTECTION!" He roared at her then he bit his tongue to tune down his voice. "I thought I could trust you! I called Aya a liar and traitor, while _**you**_ are the one who deserves those words, not her. Get lost! I don't wanna see your ugly face again!" He pointed out into the rain. His finger was shaking with rage.

Tears appeared in her eyes. Those words hurt. All the more because she knew she deserved them, but she also felt a sudden wave of unfairness. She meant well, why was he so angry at her? She'd done it for his good!

She threw her notes into his face. "YEAH! I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU ALREADY! YOU AND YOUR UNGRATEFUL GROTESQUE FACE!" She screamed on top of her lungs and ran into the rain.

"OI!" For some reason she made him feel bad even though he was in the right. "Dammit!" He punched the wall unfortunately using his burnt left hand. "Ouch, fuck."

Katsunori watched the scene form a safe distance to avoid getting involved. _I've warned you, Satsuki…_ He thought and shook his head taking out a pack of cigarettes. He'd last smoked with Aya in the hotel room. He leaned against the wall and lit a cigarette. The downpour like this made him remember the day when he and Keiko had gotten caught up in a similar one. She'd been so beautiful that day… The memory and the rain made him feel depressed and lonely. _I'm really getting old…_

######

Satsuki ended up in Seirin's gym, where she completely surprised the second years and Riko. They offered her a change of clothes and let her wait for Kuroko-kun she wanted to see. It took some time until she calmed down her crying enough to talk.

When the boys returned from the streetball venue, she launched herself around Kuroko's neck and retold them the whole story. With all the tears, she looked like the victim.

"That's what happened… I… I think, Aomine-kun hates me now…" She sniffled.

Taiga, hearing the story from both parties frowned. "I wouldn't blame him if he did." He said coldly. "Besides, didn't you say you loved Kuroko? What are you doing here whining about Aomine? Especially when you deserved it."

There was a stunned silence in the gym.

Tears welled up in her eyes again and her chin shook. "You're right, but you got it wrong!" She cried out. "I only ever meant well. Aomine-kun would get himself in huge trouble if I wasn't around."

"Aah… you made the girl cry." His team muttered unanimously. "Baaad guy~"

"Kagami-kun, you should've deal with this more delicately." Kuroko told him with a sigh. Then he approached Satsuki and patted her head. "Aomine-kun said things he didn't mean out of anger. There's no way he'd ever hate you. We should head back; he might be looking for you."

Kuroko teaching him about girls?! A vein popped on Taiga's forehead. He's had enough of this. All the unfairness from the past days bubbled out and materialised in form of Satsuki. And those tears ticked him off even more.

"Go on, pat her head more. Make her feel like she was in the right and she'll stay the spoiled brat she is!" Taiga said angrily.

"What's up with you?"

"What's up with me?!" Taiga threw his hands in the air. "Oh, I don't know. She goes behind Aomine's back to withdraw him from the game he could've played just fine, keeps it a secret from Aya on whom Aomine took out his anger that day and when Aomine finally figures it out and gives her a piece of his mind, she runs here crying how badly wronged and hurt she's been! Without even trying to apologise to either of them! Am I the bad guy?! Really?"

Everyone remained silent and Satsuki avoided his burning red eyes.

"Lost your voice?" He cocked his head to a side. "What was with that lame birthday message you dared send her, huh? You run here crying about how my sister and Aomine rightfully scolded you but you don't really care what you've caused to them, do you? Have you even wondered that Aya, you claim is your best friend, might've cried because of what you've done? My sister isn't bulletproof, you know. Tch… At least Aomine had enough sense to swallow his pride and apologise to her."

Satsuki gulped. She didn't dare answering out loud, because she already guessed the answers. Taiga was scary when he was furious. But this was more than that, he was furious, but he kept his voice calm and composed. It was his eyes that were scary.

"I'm sorry…" She muttered under her breath, suddenly feeling small and so very ashamed when Taiga worded it like this.

"Don't say that to me!"

"It's not that simple!" She bristled.

"What's not simple?! Postpone it a bit longer and Aya won't care anymore." Taiga said eerily. "And trust me; it's better if she's pissed than not caring. I'd know that."

"Hey…" Kiyoshi meddled in. "Are we missing something?"

"Hm?" Taiga blinked at the senpai, suddenly self-conscious. "Errr… We used to be inseparable friends when we were kids." He pointed at Satsuki. "Before we left to America."

"What, for real?!" Riko asked in disbelief. "How much more is there we should know?"

Taiga shrugged and scratched the back of his neck. "Not much more. I believe Kiyoshi-senpai will tell you about today's events." He said with a frown.

Riko raised an eyebrow at Kiyoshi who gave her a small nod. She sighed. "Whatever. It's dark out already, you should go home, Momoi-san." _You've caused enough mess in my team…_

"Ah… sure…" The pinkette bowed. "Sorry for –" She started, but cut her words when she noticed Taiga's withering look. This was worse than Aomine-kun's yelling. Because Taiga didn't yell…

"I'll accompany her home." Kuroko offered himself. "You should cool off, Kagami-kun. Have something else happened to piss you off like this?"

"Tch… None of your business." He grumbled and turned on his heel to leave too. Those stares were getting on his nerves. He shouldn't have shown them this side of his.

"I didn't mean to cause a commotion in your team." Satsuki looked at her feet.

"Err… I wonder… In exchange, tell us something about the teams in the winter cup. Something we don't know." Hyuuga demanded, and he wasn't that much against Taiga's treatment anymore. The redhead surprisingly had a valid point. And that cold stare made chills run down his spine. He'd never seen Taiga glaring so coldly at anyone or being so frighteningly angry.

######

Daiki's phone buzzed. It was Satsuki's mother, he couldn't ignore it.

"Yes?" He picked up.

" _Are you with Satsuki by chance?"_ The woman on the other side asked worriedly. " _She was supposed to be home already and her phone's turned off. I swear I'll kill her for that when she gets home…"_

"She's not with me. We kinda argued." He said.

" _Huh… Still… Do you have an idea where she could be?"_

"Not really." He felt a bit worried too. Satsuki, despite all, was still like a sister to him. He got worried about her. "But I can go look for her."

" _That'd be nice."_ The woman said and hung up.

He stared at the phone for a couple of seconds. _What's that with those two women making you feel like shit even though you've done nothing wrong!_ Then he shook his head and got up taking Shiro's and Kurome's leashes.

"Feel like going for another walk?" He asked and both dogs sprang up with their tails wagging.

######

Satsuki sent Kuroko home when she was close enough to get home safely on her own. The new move Kuroko-kun had shown her on their way home shocked her. She'd never thought that Kuroko would learn how to dribble past his opponents. The boy had never done anything like that before.

She was so occupied by her thoughts that she didn't notice Daiki walking towards her, until she bumped into Shiro who whined huffily and walked back to her master.

"Oh…" She took a step back.

"Your mother called me." Daiki said neutrally. He was still pissed. But now he finally knew what had really happened…

"I'm sorry!" Satsuki squealed immediately and bowed deeply before she'd lose all the courage.

"You'd better be." He grumbled.

"I'm really, really sorry! I didn't mean to make the two of you argue!"

"Yet you did."

She peeked at him feeling guilty. She couldn't lash back at him when he wasn't yelling at her; still, he was making it perfectly clear he was still very annoyed.

"Here." He handed her the notes she threw into his face in the afternoon. The moment she took it, he turned around and headed in the direction of Satsuki's house. "Now, let's deliver you home before your mother blames me for kidnapping."

* * *

" _Aya! Focus!"_ The ballet teacher scolded her for the nth time that day. She wasn't used to see Kagami Aya making mistakes. " _What happened to you? You're way too distracted these days! One perfect performance! Am I asking for that much?!"_

" _No. I'm sorry."_ Aya bowed her head in apology. The teacher was right; though all the scolding wasn't helping her. " _I'll do it properly this time."_

" _You'd better!"_

Aya took a deep breath. She felt like her toe nail was coming off and she hated the feeling from the bottom of her heart. Her thigh wasn't fully healed yet either – it didn't have the time to heal. Her stitches had torn again on the first day of the camp and she hadn't bothered to go have it redone this time. She just treated it daily and prayed it would eventually heal. But with all the practising the scabs that had miraculously formed every night kept opening up during the day.

She was tired. She missed Taiga and she really wanted to visit Suzume and to see Daiki.

But she loved dancing and her responsibility was too great to just pack up and leave. So she gritted her teeth and forced her mind to go blank. Then she slowly imagined the music and every single step and pose she had to make. She was dancing the choreography in her head perfectly. And once the imagination stopped, her body would repeat it flawlessly. She knew. No matter the pain. No matter the issue.

The teacher watched the process with approving nod. She'd known Aya for years. And even though she knew the girl wasn't pursuing the ballet career, she kept pushing her to her limits, because Aya was a polished diamond already and she was able to do everything a professional dancer was required to know and even more. It was a shame the girl liked contemporary, acro and Latin dances more.

" _See?"_ She asked when Aya finished her dance. " _That's what I want you to do at all times. At midnight, if I decide to drag you out of your bed."_

" _Yes."_ _Two more days…_ She repeated in her head like a mantra. She'd arrive at the Touou camp later but she was leaving this camp a day sooner anyways. She had to if she wanted to visit Suzume…

* * *

 **A/N:** I hope no one was OOC and I hope the chapter was enjoyable. I tried to stick to the manga as much as possible but I had to make some changes to fit the background I've created. I've always thought that Taiga was right with his comment when Satsuki ran crying to Kuroko and the other guys treated him a bit unfairly.

As to the dance (I'm no dancer), I was inspired by Andres and Charity, who competed with the song (Kaleo - Way down we go) and the choreography in the world of dance. Hence, it belongs to Andres and Charity, I've just tried to describe the feeling I got from it, because I loved it. I hope you don't mind; you can go and watch it if you want ;)

Aaaand... the summer training camp starts in the next chapter. (I'm only halfway done with it, but I should make it in those two weeks.)

Let me know what you think and remember, reviews are appreciated, but never necessary.

S.


	44. Chapter 44: I'm home

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone who followed, favourited and reviewed! It makes me very happy!

Originally I wanted to update during the weekend like usual and have the CH45 ready as a christmas gift for you, buuuut I failed at that. With all the christmas parties and baking and tidying up and helping around my family, I had no time to write more than this. I'm sorry for that.

But, it's Christmas! Soo... Enjoy your holidays, gifts, food... the new chapter... :) Merry Christmas to you all!

Enjoy!

* * *

 _There is no school equal to a decent home and no teacher equal to a virtuous parent._ ― _**Gandhi**_

 _Wherever you go becomes a part of you somehow._ ― _**Anita Desai**_

 _She was powerful, not because she wasn't scared but because she went on so strongly, despite the fear._ ― _**Atticus Poetry**_

 _I've learned that home isn't a place, it's a feeling._ ― _**Cecelia Ahern, Love, Rosie**_

 _It was such a radiant smile, without a trace of shadow, that I couldn't help smiling myself._ ― _**Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood**_

 _One is loved because one is loved. No reason is needed for loving._ ― _**Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist**_

* * *

The doorbell interrupted his reading. Daiki groaned in annoyance. He was idly lying in the shadow of their back porch with Shiro and Kurome lazily spread on the ground around him. He shut the book loudly and got up. Then he decided to go through the garden gate.

The gate creaked, making him cringe. He only wanted to see who it was so he could comfortably ignore the person. It surely couldn't be Satsuki, because she knew where the spare key was. There was only one person he could think of…

"Aominecchi!" Kise took a few steps from the front door and looked at him accusingly. "You wanted to ignore me?!"

Daiki made a grimace. "If the gate didn't creak… What are you doing here?"

Kise made his way towards the garden gate and pushed his way around him to greet the dogs. "I'm here to save your ass. I heard from Momocchi you're leaving tomorrow."

"And?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Do you have a gift for Ayacchi?"

"Hah? I'm not giving her anything at the training camp!"

A wicked and very suggestive smile spread on Kise's face. "So it's like thaaat ~?"

"Like what?!" He asked and regretted the question immediately after because it took too long for him to get the message. He blushed. "Wha– No! Stupid! It's not like _that_!"

"I'd gladly get a gift like that~" He said with a dreamy face. "Not from you, of course!" He added quickly noticing Aomine's raised eyebrow. He cleared his throat. "Anyways… You should have at least something prepared. Just in case the right situation will occur."

"…What's the right situation?"

"Oh boy… I forgot you're terrible at giving gifts."

Daiki rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. He didn't have to be reminded about it, he knew. "I don't know what to give her." He admitted begrudgingly.

"Me neither!" Kise agreed. "Let's go shopping!"

"Hah?! You don't know what to give her either, but we are supposed to go shopping?! I don't wanna go shopping with you. You drag too much attention."

Kise smiled and pulled out his big sunglasses. "I have a disguise. Don't worry, Aominecchi, it's gonna be fun!"

 _I'm already regretting it…_

######

"Daiki? Where've you been the whole day? You missed the dinner."

He walked into the kitchen totally drained. Shopping with Kise was the worst experience. The blonde dragged him through several malls, they had to run from fangirls several times and the vultures did sniff them out even in the toilets.

"The girls are scary…" He muttered when he slumped to his chair putting a small paper bag on the table.

"What? What happened?" Michiko looked at him confusedly.

He sighed heavily. "Kise dragged me through some stores."

She laughed. Daiki truly hated shopping unless it was for something he needed or wanted. "I'm surprised you went. What did you buy?"

"Uh…" He glanced at his purchase with a frown. He wasn't sure if it was a good gift or not. But it'd simply caught his attention, so he'd bought it. "Errr... It's for Aya… It was her birthday…"

"Oh!" Her eyes sparkled happily and her childish side emerged. "Can I see? Can I see?"

"I guess…" He grumbled not meeting her eyes and pushed the gift towards him mom.

"Some jewellery?" She asked when she pulled out a white square box.

"I didn't know what to get… and she was wearing something like this before… So…"

"Hmmm…" _How unusual for him to notice that… I wonder what face he made when purchasing it._ She thought with a smile. Her little boy was growing up way too quickly.

She opened the box and examined its contents. It was a black relatively thin leather bracelet with a silver clip, wrapped around a small cushion twice. It seemed to be tightly braided from several strings of dyed leather. On the bracelet there was one silver dangling bead – a basketball depicted to the smallest details. She wasn't that surprised by his choice, she just hoped the girl would appreciate the sentiment of her boy. _Of course she will; what am I thinking?_

"You know… Bracelets are handcuffs." She teased, watching is face going red.

He grumbled something incoherent under his breath and tried to snatch the box away from her.

She pulled it further away. "No! I'm not done admiring it."

"Tch, just give it back!"

It took a couple more seconds until she closed the box and neatly returned it to the small paper bag. "You really must treasure her. I believe it wasn't exactly cheap, even though I don't know the brand." She really wasn't someone who wore jewellery.

Daiki shrugged. "What did you get from dad?"

"Huh?"

"The first gift…?" He nudged her curiously.

"An umbrella!" She said happily.

"What?!"

"What, what?"

"How did that happen? Such a lame gift."

"Lame? It was very thoughtful of him." She smiled softly remembering the gift she still had stored somewhere. "It was in high school. I was the silly freshman, who kept forgetting her umbrella. And every time it rained I waited for your dad, because I knew he'd take a pity on me and accompany me home. I liked him, and I had no other way to talk to him. He complained all the time, because I lived in the opposite direction, but every time he delivered me home sharing his umbrella with me. And when he learned my birthday, he got me an umbrella, so I wouldn't have to _always rely on him_."

"True…" Daisuke's voice came from the door. He wanted to fetch himself some tea, but he happened to hear a very interesting story. "And that very day it rained terribly and I forgot my umbrella. So your mom had to accompany _me_ home instead. That was so embarrassing." He said with a chuckle.

"I learned where you lived that day. So it was a win for me!"

"And you kept forgetting the umbrella anyways." He looked at his wife lovingly. Sometimes he couldn't believe he got her and sometimes he was very glad they managed to stay together for such a long time.

It was strange for Daiki to listen to his parents' dating stories. But it was oddly interesting too and he realised there was so much he didn't know. He'd never asked them before; it was something he didn't consider necessary to know. And picturing his parents as silly high schoolers falling in love was just weirdly unpleasant.

"Ah, can I see it?" Daisuke pointed at the gift.

Daiki let out a resigned sigh. "…go ahead…"

He went through the same stages at Michiko. "Wow, you must really like her. Stepping up the game like this…"

"Tch, do you have to tease me?"

"No," they both chuckled, "but it's brightening our days. Twenty years of marriage is no fun, son."

"Sixteen." Michiko corrected him.

"Details, we've been together for twenty, so twenty it is."

Daiki's eyes narrowed. He was just about to turn 16. If he did the math… "Sixteen? Really?" He asked his mom with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh." Her eyes widened and she blushed covering her face.

Daisuke burst out laughing, their son got them beautifully.

"Ara, ara… My tongue slipped." She hummed and turned around. "Do you want the dinner?"

"Sure." Daiki smirked, exchanging secret glances with his dad, who was always in when they could tease mom.

"Don't forget it at home." Daisuke added when he returned the box into the bag.

* * *

Derek had a hard time finding Aya in a hotel or even finding the hotel and their current training place. Everyone he'd asked sent him in a different direction. But finally, someone pointed him towards a gym where she was still practising. It was well past dinner time, or even curfew for the little kids attending the training camp and Kouta and she were still on their feet and working out. And it was the last day. They should've taken it easy. He would have.

He didn't get it.

" _Miss Aya!"_ He called out to her to alert her of his presence.

They stopped mid step and looked his way. But they didn't seem surprised or startled by his interruption.

" _Time to wrap it up, I guess."_ Kouta said in English to accustom to Derek and turned down the music happily. He was dead tired, doing a lot of stupid mistakes caused by fatigue and he really wanted to sleep before travelling.

" _Fine."_ She agreed and wiped her face. She was exhausted too, but this was her way to turn down her mind. " _But what are you doing here?"_ She was staring at Derek with something close to annoyance.

" _Uhm… Mister Haruka told me to come help you? He said you'd need a driver."_ He said and shifted his weight uncomfortably. This was his first time out of California, he felt strange, stressed and slightly lost.

Aya laughed and picked up her water bottle. " _No. He sent you to keep an eye on me. Right now, I don't need a driver, or your help. So you should probably head back home."_

"Whoa." Kouta turned to her with his hands up. " _You're sure in a head-biting mood today, Monkey. Soldier boy doesn't look like he's got any ill intentions."_

" _I don't get what he's thinking! Sending him here, to what? Watch over me?"_ She flared up quickly. " _He's never done that before–"_

" _Seth used to be with you then."_ Kouta cut her off. This wasn't Derek fault; he was merely doing his job. " _And don't be bitchy towards him just 'cause you miss Daiki and worry 'bout Suzume. It's not like you."_

She stared back at Kouta, who was usually teasing her or taking everything easy. He withstood it and stared back with unwavering steel in his eyes. Then she sighed. "… _and my toe nail finally came off yesterday."_ She added. " _You're right. Sorry, Derek. You're just doing what you're paid for. Still, you could've called first."_

" _Yes Miss, I'm sorry Miss."_

Aya rolled her eyes. " _Stop with that."_

" _Yes!"_ He saluted automatically.

She shook her head at the gesture and went to collect her stuff.

" _Uhm…"_ Derek shifted uncomfortably again. " _So… Uhm… What now, Miss?"_

" _Just call me Aya."_ She turned to him again. " _And what, what now? We're leaving tomorrow morning at six. I'll get you a plane ticket. The hotel's full, so you'll stay the night with Kouta."_

" _Oh, with me?"_ The prankster smirked and looked Derek up and down. " _I don't mind that. I_ _ **really**_ _don't mind that."_

" _In Kouta's room."_ Aya corrected her previous statement. " _And FYI, be careful, Kouta swings both ways."_

"…" Derek looked away, but he nodded. "… _I know."_

" _Oh, all's good then."_

* * *

Kiku was so nervous. She never thought she'd truly join a sports club as their cook! Yes, it'd been settled a long time ago, but she still couldn't believe it. And Wakamatsu-senpai was going too. She'd basically spend 8 whole days around him.

She hid her face and squealed quietly.

"I really don't want to know what's going through your head, sis'."

She jumped in fright. "Ryuu-nii! Knock!"

Ryuunosuke laughed loudly. "I came to help you with your stuff. I really don't get why you're leaving on Thursday afternoon, but whatever…"

"They decided to take the school bus… It's over five hours and they don't want to waste a day of practise." She said, still frowning at her brother who so boldly barged into her bedroom.

"Are you taking any bow with you?"

"Uh… no…" No one knew; except those in their class, Wakamatsu and Tada.

"I think you should. You're used to practising every single day, why make an exception? I'm sure you could find or make some targets there."

"Hmmm…" She wondered which bow she could take. _Definitelly not a daikyuu._

"Well then, if you're ready, we should go. I hope you haven't planned to go together with your boyfriend, or have you?"

Her face turned red instantly. "He… He isn't… No… T-t-that's…"

He laughed again, his little sister was cute. "Ah well, sorry, my mistake." He apologised, not feeling sorry at all. _They should just get on with it…_

######

"Aya-nee-chan's coming today, right, right?" Kaito asked expectantly, playing with his food. The last time he'd seen Aya-nee-chan was… a long time ago… He was so excited to tell her everything about his adventures with daddy; he couldn't wait until she'd arrive.

Hanae sighed. Her grandchildren surely had a habit of playing with their food once sad or excited. "She'll come in two days, not today, Kai-chan. And you should eat you food like a good kid."

"But Aya-nee-chan is in Touou High, right? And they're comin' today, right? So is Tatsu-nii-chan. But he's… elsewhere? Why is he elsewhere? Ah, so she must be comin' today!" He answered and gobbled up several mouthfuls at once.

Hanae sighed and looked at her husband who just shrugged. "Don't look at me; he's got the motormouth from you."

Hanae frowned deeply piercing her husband with a glare. "Motormouth you say, huh?"

"Eek… Sorry honey, I didn't mean it wrong."

"Who's got what? Motor-what?" The little boy asked curiously.

"Mo-tor-mouth… When someone talks a lot." Taichi explained patiently.

"I don't talk a lot! I just have to tell you eeeverythin'! Coz' you're old and don't leave the house anymore."

The old couple exchanged glances and they laughed. The little kids were really something.

######

"Everyone's here?" Katsunori asked and looked at Satsuki for approving nod. She was in charge of the attendance list.

"Yes." She nodded. "Those three who excused themselves are not coming but Kiku-chan's here, so we're all good."

"Good. Then we're all set to leave." He glanced at their driver. "I hope none of you gets motion sickness and if you do please ask Momoi-san to give you a pill for it."

"I'd like some!" Kano raised his hand immediately.

"Yes please!" Ishii pleaded. "I don't want him to vomit on my pants again."

Daiki rolled his eyes and seated himself comfortably. They had around five hours of travelling ahead, and then it'd be only a day or two until he could see Aya again. _Thinking of Aya…_ He sprang up reaching for his back with a very bad feeling. He rummaged through it looking for the gift he'd bought for her.

"What's up, Aomine-san?" Sakurai asked leaning over his seat.

"It's not here…" Daiki muttered angrily. "Fuck!" He slapped his palm against his forehead.

"What's not there?" Imayoshi asked curiously.

"None of your business." Aomine grumbled, hiding the contents of his bag – there was nothing to hide but he didn't like the wicked captain staring at his stuff.

 _Dammit!_ He hastily zipped his bag and pinched the bridge of his nose. _I'm and idiot._ He thought desperately.

######

In the evening, they arrived at the small village which was the closest to their final destination. The bus driver parked the bus right next to another one and set them out. He'd comfortably stay in an inn in the village, while the boys could walk the rest of the way. There was no way he could get the bus through those hairpin turns safely. And it was getting dark already, all the more because they were in the mountains which cast long shadows at sunset.

"Eh?!" The boys voiced their surprise when they got off the bus and stood face to face with Yosen's team. Sure, they knew they'd be there together, but so soon?!

Then a loud discussion and introductions broke out. Many boys didn't know the others and they probably wouldn't remember all the names, but it was a must to introduce.

Kiku kept half hidden behind Wakamatsu or Tada-senpai, whichever was further from the biggest guys from Yosen. But she wasn't hidden as well as she thought.

A huge shadow loomed over her. "Eeeh? Another Chibi-chin." The giant drawled bending forward to see Kiku better.

"Eeeek!" She startled, bumping into Wakamatsu's back.

"Hm," Wakamatsu turned around with a frown, ready to protect Kiku from whatever that startled her. And then he blinked at Murasakibara. "Hey! Long time no see."

Atsushi straightened up looking down at Wakamatsu. He frowned. "Hmmm… Hi. I was talking to Chibi-chin though. She is a bit taller, so I thought Hiro-chin should stick around her, if they do that maybe they won't tangle between our legs that much."

Hero's ears prickled at hearing him, and that she could always hear when he made fun of her small frame. "What did ya say?! No one's tanglin' between your overgrown sticks!"

"Hiro-chan!" Fukui appeared to rein in on the little demon from the basketball club; she quickly earned the nickname in the school. "Be nice to Kiku-chan. She's not their manager as far as I know."

"Huh?" She finally zoomed in on Kiku. "Oh! Sorry, sorry!" She laughed and outstretched her hand. "I'm Hironaka Sumire, hope we can be friends!"

"…Mhm…" Kiku accepted the vivid handshake, not sure what to think. "O-Ohno Kiku." She stammered.

"Why ya stutterin'? I don't bite." Hero smiled, but then added: "unless ya try to make a move on him." She pointed her thumb at Fukui, who chuckled desperately. He had no idea how he fell in love with this spitfire.

"N-n-no, no, no." Kiku shook her head immediately. "Don't w-worry, I'm not interested."

"Ya say he ain't interesting?"

"T-t-that's…"

"Chill out, Hironaka." Aomine's voice drawled as he shuffled to greet Murasakibara. "Ohno is definitely not a threat to your love life."

"What?!" She turned red instantly.

Aomine raised his eyebrow and gave Fukui a sympathetic look. "She contradicts herself often?"

Since Hero wasn't looking, Fukui nodded gravely. But he found it adorable at times but also unbearable at other times too.

"Gee'… And there I had a calm summer." He complained (not that his summer was actually calm) and nodded to Atsushi in greeting.

The giant nodded back.

"Hey. I was surprised you didn't show up at the streetball venue." Tatsuya joined the party.

And Aomine turned his eyes to heaven. "I wasn't in the mood to play with those pathetic opponents."

"Oh… but Taiga and us were there."

He raised an eyebrow at Tatsuya. "Like I said… Unimpressive." But he wondered how good the guy could actually be. He hadn't seen Tatsuya playing for real yet.

"Because Muro-chin forced me to come."

"I didn't force you. Wasn't it Taiga who provoked you into playing?"

Atsushi frowned and fished out a snack from his pocket.

"Huh…"

"ALRIGHT!" Masako's sharp voice cut off all the babble. "We're leaving! Take your stuff and start walking!" She pointed at the dusty path snaking into the forest. "And we'd better hurry before it gets dark. You never know what monsters might be lurking in the mountains." She smirked when she saw some of the boys go pale. Ghost stories were her favourites.

"Eeeeh? We thought it was just a stop!" Several first years and guys from Touou complained. They'd never been in this camp like the senpais from Yosen.

"What was that? You want to run?" She asked annoyed by their.

There was a collective silence. No one wanted to provoke Masako.

A bike came hurtling towards them from the forest with a cloud of dust. It came to a sudden halt. A boy with his hair tied into a bun jumped off and smiled.

"Hi! You must be the clubs going to Taichi-sensei, right?" He asked. "I'm Aiba Keiji." He kept looking around, searching for someone familiar, but when he didn't spot them he shrugged. _Kaito will be disappointed._

"You weren't here last year." Masako pointed her shinai at his face.

"Huh?" He looked at the lady coach clueless.

"What's your business?"

"I'm the apprentice. It's my second year actually. Aaaand Taichi-sensei kicked me out to come meet you. I'll go get the car and I can at least drive your bags there. Wouldn't it be more convenient?"

"How old are you even?"

"Seventeen in a month." He said seriously and a wide grin broke on his face. "But driving is nothing unusual 'round here. The serpentine is safe unless it's raining, don't worry."

"Can I take a ride with you?" Katsunori asked suddenly. He didn't feel like walking six miles, or how much it was. He'd done that when he'd come for his training camps.

"Oh, Harasawa Katsunori-sensei." Keiji blinked at him and bowed. "It's been a long time since you last stopped by. Gramps are gonna be happy to see you. Sure, I'll give you a ride. You too, sensei?" He looked at Masako.

"No. Someone has to herd the kids."

And so, Katsunori waited for Keiji with all the bags while the group proceeded into the forest. It was getting colder in the evening and the girls took their warmer jackets. The car passed them soon after they got going and Katsunori didn't forget to wave Masako with a smirk.

The big group broke up into smaller groups with similar pace and Masako walked at the back, maintaining a steady pace through the forest. Wakamatsu kept close to Kiku, steadying her up every time she tripped over some pothole or occasional stray root. In was impossible for the girl to keep steady on this unknown road and in this dim light, all the while trying to keep up with everyone.

Aomine walked alone. Satsuki was close by, but she was still keeping her guilty distance. And she was trying to talk with Hero about the upcoming training regime, her plans and opinions. The little demon had become a good manager so the conversation was beneficial for both.

Tatsuya and Atsushi kept going behind Aomine in silence. Tatsuya was curiously looking around. The forest around was beautiful and eerie at the same time. It closed up around the path creating a slightly claustrophobic feeling. There was a stream close by, because they could hear the water but they couldn't see it. Tatsuya didn't like hiking in nature that much and it wouldn't surprise him if some bear popped out at some turn.

By the time they reached their destination, it was already dark, but the place they discovered was magical. Suddenly at the last turn a huge open area appeared in front of them. Opposite them, at the right end there was a big traditional house. Next to it were two smaller two-storey buildings separated by not more than 1.5 meter gap. There was a concrete basketball court and a huge gym. The meadow was surprisingly big and flat, given the location. There was also a tiny parking lot for three cars at most.

A gravel path connected all the buildings and it was outlined with tiny solar powered lights. The sliding door at all three houses were wide open and the light was pouring out. An old couple was discussing something with Katsunori. When they noticed the big group they waved at them.

Keiji ran towards them and opened up the car so they could take their bags. Afterwards, both teams assembled in front of the main house.

"Okay boys!" The old man spoke up with a surprisingly strong voice. His shoulders were stooped and his back seemed to be bent to one side. "Some initial rules! Girls will be living in the main house with us! This house," he pointed at the closer building, "is prepared for Touou, the next one is for Yosen – like usual. Baths and showers are half-open at the back of the houses. Curfew is at ten, if I see anyone out past that hour you'll be running rounds 'round the house and chopping wood. Understood?"

When he saw everyone nod he continued.

"Breakfast is at seven, after your morning runs. Lunch at noon and dinner at six. Whoever is late will do the dishes – and I don't give a damn if it'll be one person every single day. Another warning, I have four bee hives that way," he pointed somewhere behind them, "so I'd like you to keep your distance. There should also be two huge black dogs running around somewhere. They're sweethearts, but don't spoil them and don't provoke them. Yosen's been here before so they know how things work around here, they can enlighten you. If you have any questions or demands past that; ask me, Hanae or Keiji."

The boys nodded again and hummed in agreement. They were sure the threat of running 'round the house weren't just empty words.

"Okay guys," Hanae smiled at them warmly, "put your bags in your houses and come eat dinner. I wouldn't like it go cold."

"Uhm…" Keiji raised his hand, "Baa-chan, where's Kaito?"

"Huh?" She looked at Taichi who looked around and then shrugged: "Where are the dogs?"

The old woman shook her head in resignation. "He should be back with them… Yui and Ai never miss the dinner."

"Aren't you worried? He's just a kid." Keiji was slightly panicking.

But Hanae just raised her eyebrow and crossed her arms. "Young man, you and Aya used to wander those woods for days too! You've always returned even without the dogs. So Kaito will be fine. Mothers have the sixth sense." She wasn't worried, because the forests around were safe and Kaito, despite being a little kid, knew how to take care of himself.

Taichi shook his head in warning. _You don't want to argue that._ He meant.

"Can I stay for dinner too?" He asked instead.

"Won't your mother be worried?"

He shrugged. "I basically live here anyways."

Hanae nodded and then showed girls to their room upstairs. After that they helped with setting tables. Satsuki was banned from the activity right after five minutes when she managed to break four plates.

Food was piled up in huge bowls and trays and everyone could take as much as they wanted – provided they left enough for the others. And Hanae's food was heavenly delicious. It was too good to waste time talking. So the teenage boys were downing it quietly without leaving any leftovers.

The door suddenly slid wide open, hitting the wall and a small red haired boy, no older than seven, appeared in the dining room panting heavily.

"Aya-nee-chan?" He asked, looking around. He was covered in mud from head to toe and his knees and hands were scraped and bruised. In one hand he was holding a small battered bouquet of flowers. When he noticed all the strange faces and no Aya, he took a step back and tears welled up in his eyes. He must've cried before too, because snot was dripping from his tiny wrinkled nose, but the boy just wiped it with the back of his hand again.

Two black dogs slipped their huge heads into the house looking around curiously, but they didn't step in. They'd been forbidden to enter the house, so they patiently waited for someone to notice them. They were wet too and covered in mud.

"Kaito!" Hanae gasped and stood up. "What were you doing?"

Keiji raised an eyebrow. "Not to worry, huh?" He quickly coughed hiding those words.

The boy sat on the ground with a loud thud and rubbed his eyes with his free hand. The flowers he was still holding were put on the floor at his side. He sniffled dejectedly. "Aya-nee-chan was supposed to be here." He muttered and his stomach rumbled loudly.

"Honey," Hanae crouched next to him, "I told you Aya will arrive two days late."

"B-b-but she's in their team!" He threw his hand in the direction of the Yosen boys. No one corrected him. "She promised she'd come."

"And she will. The day after tomorrow." Hanae patted his head. "Are the flowers for her?" She looked at the poor pink and purple hydrangeas the boy brought.

He sniffled again and nodded. "I don't have another gift. And Aya-nee-chan likes these." He lifted them up and then let them hit the floor again. The flowers were ruined, he knew. If only he hadn't slipped down that hill.

"We can put them into the water and they will look much better in the morning. I promise." Hanae told him warmly. "Aya will be happy to see them. So what happened to you? Did you fight with a bear to get them?"

Kaito pouted. "I went too far looking for these. Then I got hungry and I wanted to be on time for dinner. Ai and Yui too… So we ran. But it was dark and I slipped, going all rolly-rolly-rolly down a hill…"

Taichi laughed at the description. Sure, Kaito looked slightly ragged, but it was nothing too serious and the boy seemed to be okay enough to talk. "I swear I'm having a déjà vu now."

"Oh, shush it." Hanae frowned at him. Then she turned to Kaito again. "We should get you a warm bath, what do you say?"

Kaito pressed his lips together and his stomach rumbled again. "Can I eat first?"

Taichi shook in laughter. "You can't deny it! He's just like the two."

"Bath first! If you waited this long, ten more minutes won't kill you, young man." She pointed at the door and sighed. "Those kids will be the death of ours one day. First the tree climbing monkey and now down the hill rolling mole. What've we done to deserve this?"

Kaito hung down his head and slowly walked towards the door and a bathroom on a corridor behind it. "Eh, Tatsu-nii-chan?" He noticed Tatsuya sitting at one of the tables he was passing by. And his face suddenly brightened. He got up and ran towards Tatsuya, hugging the surprised teenager.

"Heey." He wrapped one arm around Kaito, already picturing how dirty his white t-shirt would get. "It's been some time. Do you still play guitar?" He asked randomly.

The boy's eyes shone. "Yes! I already know the song you showed me! And –"

"The bath!" Hanae reminded him strictly.

"Haaaai! But Baa-chan! It's Tatsuya-nii-chan, he used to spend loooots of time with Aya-nee-chan and Tai-nii-chan, can he come with me?"

She frowned at Tatsuya. "Really?"

He smiled politely, but he felt strange under the woman's gaze. "Yeah. I've returned to Japan just the other day."

Taichi looked at Katsunori. "Does Aya know he's here?" He asked grumpily and Tatsuya suddenly knew that the grandparents knew and that they didn't like him.

"Yes." Katsunori nodded. "As far as I know there's no bad blood between them."

"Eh?" Kaito was blinking from one adult to another. He didn't understand. He loved Tatsu-nii-chan. "Come on…" He pulled Tatsuya's t-shirt.

But Tatsuya smiled and pushed the small hand away gently. "Maybe tomorrow. You're a big boy already, I'm sure you can take a bath on your own."

"But –"

"Be a good kid and listen to your grandmother, okay? I'm not going anywhere."

"…okay." He mumbled and shuffled out of the room.

Tatsuya breathed out in relief. "Sorry, I didn't know Kaito-kun would be here."

"Whatever." Hanae waved her hand. "We had no idea you had such a deep bond with the twins. I'll go help Kaito." She said and left.

"And I'll feed the dogs." Taichi got up and sighed looking at two muddy beasts. "And spray them with a hose."

"You know the kid?" Atsushi asked curiously.

Aomine and Satsuki happened to sit at the same table. They arrived last, so they took the last free seats.

"He's Kagami Kaito, their cousin."

Satsuki pouted. "Aya-chan didn't tell me her cousin would be here."

"There's a possibility she doesn't know. Kyou, uh, his father, brings and takes Kaito as he likes." He said with a shrug. He was aware of Kyou's strange upbringing and he considered it rather cool.

Kagami Kyou, Haruka's twin and former pro basketball player, was now a freelance wildlife photographer and author of several travelogues. He also tended to his numerous bars spread around the world. That meant he had to travel a lot. For the past three years the man was taking Kaito, his son, everywhere with him. There were only two of them and Kyou wanted to be with his son as much as he could, but sometimes he left him with the grandparents, the twins and even with the twins' grandparents in France. It was for Kaito, so he would know his whole family and learn languages.

But Tatsuya had no reason to tell them that.

The pinkette's eyes were staring right at him. "Aya-chan never mentioned him."

"You probably didn't ask. And besides, the twins have 18 cousins, Kaito included. Though Kaito is the only _sibling_ from their father's side and he is somewhat special. More like their younger brother, really." _Technically, he is their half-brother…_ He thought, but decided not to confuse Atsushi, Satsuki and Aomine with genetics.

"Whoa… That's a lot…" Aomine whistled. "You know them all?"

Tatsuya chuckled. "Not at all. I know only Kaito. I've never been with them to France."

"Tatsu-nii-chan!" Kaito returned with a plate full of food and a cushion. First, he set the plate on the table then he put the cushion on the chair and then climbed up. He was a small kid and the table was still too high for him, so he needed the cushion to properly reach up. He was all cleaned up and wearing green pyjamas with monkeys. He wasn't crying anymore; grandma had explained that Aya-nee-chan would really truly come and that she loved Kaito very much, so the boy was satisfied. And he had one more day to get the flowers.

"That was quick." Tatsuya praised him.

The boy nodded. "I was hungry! Hmmm…" He was staring at the other three teenagers around the table. They didn't scare him; he was already used to meeting strangers. "Friends?" He asked.

"Oh, yes. This is Aomine Daiki." He pointed at the grumpy guy sitting opposite Kaito. The boy nodded and looked at the pinkette. "…and Momoi Satsuki" Kaito nodded again and leaned forward to look at the huge guy sitting on Tatsuya's other side. "…and Murasakibara Atsushi."

"Hm, hm…" Kaito hummed and munched on his dinner contently. "I'm Kagami Kaito."

"With the introductions done… Where have you been? I haven't seen you for ages!"

"Mongolia! We travelled 'round and 'round with a nomadic tribe!"

That was how Kaito's long monologue started. He simply had to convey his adventures to everyone sitting at the table. He was eating and talking, and surprisingly, all the teenagers were listening to him with interest. Sometimes they even asked him something.

Kiku, Tada and Wakamatsu joined them when the others started to leave. Even Hero and Fukui squeezed themselves to the table with Kaito. The boy was cute, jovial and he certainly knew how to talk a lot. Sometimes he didn't know a word or mixed up languages, but it was cute and Tatsuya always helped him out. Kaito could draw them right into his stories. Maybe it was partly caused by his resemblance with Aya. Or maybe the boy had some special spark that affected them.

They spent hours in the dining room, listening to the stories of a six year old.

Hanae shuffled towards them with a kind smile on her face. She patted Kaito's head – finally there was someone else listening to him.

"It's curfew, guys. You should go or Taichi will make you run 'round the house."

"But baa-chan! I'm not finished with how daddy fell off that tiny horse!"

"Tomorrow honey, you'll tell them tomorrow. But you need to go to sleep now."

Kaito whined, but he yawned widely too. His day was filled with running around and falling and excitement and right now, he was exhausted. "'kay." He agreed and hopped off the chair, taking his cushion.

"Good boy."

"Good night." She told to the teenagers.

"Good night!"

The girls headed after Hanae further into the house and the boys went outside.

Aomine stretched his back and yawned. He was tired and strangely amused by the kid. A soft smile appeared on his face as he watched thousands sparkly stars above his head; he couldn't see them from the city.

Some guys from both teams were chilling on the porch watching the starry sky lazily. Some were playing cards by a small lamp inside, but the big lights were out already and the sliding doors were shut to keep all mosquitoes and bugs outside.

"You didn't tell us you had a kid with her, Himuro!" Some guy from Yosen sat up grinning at the group which returned from the main house. At least they suspected him to be grinning; the stars were the only source of light out here and it was quite dim.

Tatsuya frowned. He knew some of the guys on the team didn't like him. As far as they practised with him just fine, he didn't care. But…"What nonsense are you saying, Tanaka? Kaito's her cousin."

"Can't be. The kid totally looks like that redheaded chick. Except that lead-grey eyes. " He mocked. "Those are yours, aren't they, _daddy_. Hahahaha."

"Very funny." Tatsuya said irritably.

"Oh, we've seen the articles." A boy sitting next to him laughed too. "I'd bet there is some kid, probably on an adoption list."

"Right. _She_ would never lower herself to changing dirty diapers." They both laughed loudly. It was an unpleasant laughter.

"Hey!" Aomine snapped at him, trying to get to the front, but Murasakibara was damn huge. His good mood was quickly destroyed and he couldn't believe that Himuro was just taking that. Aya was still his friend, wasn't she?

"Ohooo! So she fucks you both?!" Tanaka asked and laughed even more.

"Can we share your cute lil' _Robin_?"

Aomine sprang forward, but Atsushi grabbed his shoulder and held him at place. He glared at the giant, but Atsushi just shook his head. It was probably the first time that Aomine saw Atsushi really pissed off. The giant was easily annoyed and could be quite childish, but it always passed quickly. Now it seemed that Atsushi was ready to break someone's neck.

Then, to Aomine's surprise…

Tatsuya's hand shot forward and he grabbed the closer guy by his collar and violently pulled him off the porch. The porch was a good meter above the ground and the guy stumbled falling on his ass. But Tatsuya yanked him to his feet.

"Don't call her that." Tatsuya hissed furiously and glared at the boy. "You know nothing about her, so shut your mouth."

Tanaka tried to free himself, but Tatsuya had an iron grip and his visible eye was murderous, cold and scary. So far they had Tatsuya as someone friendly and easy-going. How wrong they'd been.

"It's the truth!" He protested weakly and his voice jumped embarrassingly high.

Tatsuya chuckled icily. "Just because you read some made up bullshit, doesn't mean you know it all. This," he threw his arm to point at everything around him, "is her home, her family, her friends and her team. _You_ are just one little cockroach running under her feet. Think twice before you try to badmouth her again."

"Why are you protecting the bitch?" The other guy asked. He still had some courage as he was quite out of reach. But he forgot how quick the giant could be if he wanted…

With one step Atsushi pulled the boy off the porch too. Unlike Tatsuya, however, he raised the boy up with one arm. The boy kicked his foot above the ground helplessly.

"Like a bug." Atsushi drawled and a very dangerous light shone in his amethyst eyes. "If you insult Aya-chin one more time, I'll crush you."

That threat from Atsushi was a serious one.

"Tch." Aomine was the only one left out. But it was probably for the best, because his blood was boiling and he could feel that Tada and Wakamatsu were ready to restrain him if he made as much a step forward. This was Yosen's dispute. No matter how much they wanted to protect Aya. They shouldn't be involved in a fight with the other team. Besides, Tatsuya and Atsushi had it under control.

"What is going on?!" Okamura's deep voice thundered over them. He was frowning at his guys causing a ruckus on the first night. He hadn't heard what it was about, but he didn't like the looks of it. When Tatsuya and Atsushi joined forces, they were basically undefeatable and he wondered what caused the giant to act out.

"Those two were insulting our Aya-chan~" Imayoshi's joined them and one door on the Touou's house slid open. His voice was polite but there was a threat and a razor blade hidden in it. "This is her home. A little respect… So could you please deal with them, Okamura-taichou? Preferably before our ace knocks out their teeth? And I won't stop him. Or maybe your own guys will deal with it?" He glanced at Tatsuya and Atsushi.

"Hmph," Okamura sighed, "let them go."

"Huh?" Atsushi looked at his captain with displease. "They insulted Aya-chin."

"So I heard." The bulky guy said and cocked his head to reinforce his original order. "And I will deal with it."

Atsushi clicked his tongue. "Don't forget, once more and I'll crush you." He threatened one more time and released the boy who crashed to the ground.

"Himuro-kun."

Tatsuya was staring at Tanaka hatefully. "Don't you dare talking with Kaito." He growled lowly and let go. He didn't forget to push Tanaka as he released his grip. Tanaka stumbled over his own feet and crashed to the ground next to his friend. Tatsuya spit in their direction. "Bastards."

"Oi." Okamura didn't like disputes in his team, but he was much aware of the rivalry and hostility among some players. "That was unnecessary."

"Maybe." Tatsuya admitted, "but they insulted my family. They should be glad we're here and not back at Yosen…"

The captain sighed. "You two. Get up your asses and come with me." He pointed inside with his thumb. "There won't be any fights or provocations here. Do you understand?"

They gulped and got up. Their captain was a nice guy… Unless they pissed him off. They were only first years, but they knew what it meant to disrespect the captain. It was one thing to tease the big gorilla guy, but disrespecting him and angering him by causing problems to the whole team was something wholly different.

They exchanged glances. _They'll regret this…_

######

"What articles?" Kano asked when Aomine, Tada and Wakamatsu closed the sliding door. It was thin and they heard the entire scene.

"It's nothing." Aomine grumbled and slumped onto his futon. He was pissed off and in a new place. He knew he wouldn't sleep at all.

"I think they should know." Imayoshi hummed with a deep frown. "From us. Because I don't think those two are done."

"…you know too?"

"Of course I know, Aomine. I'm the captain. But don't worry, you knew it first."

"It's not our thing to share."

Imayoshi had to agree with his ace. "No, but neither it's their. At least we know it's bullshit. Those two…"

"What are you talking about?" Naito sat up and stared at the five guys who seemed to know it all.

"Tch," Aomine clicked his tongue and got up. He didn't want to hear it again. He didn't want to deal with the idiots in his own team who didn't like Aya, because he wouldn't be able to hold back if they insulted her.

"Where are you going, Ahomine?" Wakamatsu grabbed his elbow. It was against the rules they'd just heard.

He yanked his arm free. "Out." He said and left.

######

"Hey, you."

Aomine closed his eyes. _Damn._ "Yes?" He turned around to face the old man who was apparently checking up on them.

"Name? And team."

"Aomine Daiki, Touou." He said; there was something in Taichi's voice that didn't tolerate disobedience.

"It's way past the curfew, kid. Eh… Come with me." He motioned his hand for Daiki to follow him and headed towards the dogs' shelter.

"Huh?" For some reason it freaked him out.

"I ain't gonna murder you boy, don't worry." Taichi cackled and kept walking.

Aomine shook his head confusedly and caught up with him. "Where are we going?"

"Dogs. I heard you liked them."

"Uh… yeah… I have two…"

"I know. Aya told me. For some reason she suspected you might bring your dogs here, so she let me know. Just in case."

Daiki chuckled lightly, he'd been thinking about it, but his parents had talked him out of it. They walked towards the shelter.

Yui and Ai were both up. They yawned, presenting their fangs and licked their noses. They shook their fur and then lazily walked towards Daiki to greet him. They smelled other dogs on him, but they didn't mind.

"Hey there." He said softly and crouched down. Those black dogs were huge as bears, but their eyes were kind. "Sorry for waking you up." He let them sniff him and then he gently patted their thick fur.

 _Dogs are great judges of character…_ Taichi nodded approvingly and leaned against the shelter staring at the starry sky. "I've heard what they said about Aya."

Daiki's head snapped his way. "What?"

"I always check up if you boys are not wandering around. The forests are safe – if you know them. I can't have someone wandering off in the middle of the night because you want to have fun with some stupid ghost stories or whatever."

"Oh…" He had no idea what to say, so he returned back to petting the dogs. They were surprisingly cuddly and he was soon sitting on the ground, suffocated by them.

"My son is an idiot who failed to protect her. Those articles should've been long gone. He could've taken care of it, but he didn't. Ah… Never mind…" He looked at Daiki and his piercing eyes judged the boy. "I'm glad those two stood up for her."

Daiki was looking back at him. The old man's eyes were red like embers and flames and it looked like the flames were alive, slowly moving and observing him. He usually didn't care about stares he was getting, but these eyes were judging his worth. He wanted to be deemed worthy.

"Me too," Aomine said levelly "because I would've beaten the crap out of them."

"I saw the posture." Taichi nodded and looked at the sky again. He sighed deeply. He was worried about what was going on with his family. But there was nothing much he could do, he could only be there and watch over them. "I believe Robin had a very difficult summer she won't want to talk about. Because it's just like her. She doesn't want others to worry," he chuckled, "which worry us even more."

Daiki nodded and listened. It was the first Aya's family member besides Taiga and Katsunori (who didn't really count), he met. He was curious, a little bit afraid and very surprised. Why was the old man talking with him? Why not Tatsuya, or Katsunori?

The ember eyes turned to him again. "Wondering why am I talking to you, instead of punishing you for wandering 'round past the curfew?"

"…yeah." He answered honestly.

"I wanted to see what kind of person you are."

"Why?"

"Aya talked about you when she was organising the camp. Some others too, but when she talked about you, she sounded… happy. It made me curious."

Daiki's throat dried up and he suddenly felt nervous. "So… what did you found out?" He asked, trying to sound as calm as he could. Maybe he was a bit rude, but…

"I don't know yet." He chuckled. "I've only just met you, kid. But there's something I'd like you to do."

"What is it?"

"Make sure those two dickheads won't hurt her when she comes. Otherwise, I'll bury them where no one will ever find their bodies. And she wouldn't be happy if her old fragile grandpa ended up in jail, would she?" The old man grinned, showing his teeth.

Daiki laughed at that. "I'd gladly help you, but okay."

* * *

" _Don't you live in Tokyo?"_ Derek asked confusedly when they ended up in Akita. Aya was handling all the tickets and he was stumbling after her like a lost puppy the entire time.

" _We're going to visit my friend and then we're heading to Hanamaki and further. We have a training camp there."_

" _Another one?"_

" _Yes. I'm a manager in Touou's basketball club."_

"… _really?"_ He asked with wide eyes. That was unexpected.

" _Really. Come on, I want to be on the way to the hospital already."_

" _Hospital?!"_

She rolled her eyes and quickened her pace. Derek was a nice guy, but he didn't know much and he kept asking a lot of questions. Questions, Aya didn't feel like answering. And sometimes he cared too much. She didn't need him to bring her food or whatever. She was more than capable of taking care of herself. Still, she was trying her best to not lose her nerve. _He's just doing his job…_

######

In the morning, Daiki was forced to run with everyone. Masako with her shinai turned out to be a very persuasive element for the ace.

When they returned for the breakfast, the atmosphere was tense.

"What's up?" Kaito asked Tatsuya in a whisper. The seating was the same as the previous day and it'd probably remain like that for the rest of the camp.

"There was a small dispute. Nothing to worry about." Tatsuya whispered back and smiled at the boy.

"Over a girl?" Kaito guessed excitedly.

"I don't know. It was probably over some card game."

"Hmmm… Boooring."

######

"Hey! Where're you running to?" Daiki shouted after Kaito when he spotted him disappearing in the forest with the dogs. He ran up to them curiously.

"Uuuuhm… To get another flowers. Aya-nee-chan will be here tomorrow, maybe today evening? If she really wants to see me. She can do miracles. And since I've ruined the flowers yesterday." He looked at the sun and nodded, "I should have enough time to get there and back in time for dinner."

Daiki's eyes narrowed, "you judged the time according to sun's position?"

"Yeah, daddy taught me how to. Come on, I'll teach you! And you can help me with the flowers!" The boy impulsively grabbed Daiki's wrist and pulled him into the forest. The guy reminded him of Taiga and he looked really fierce, like some hero from a fairy tale. Tough but nice. Kaito was curious.

"Tch." Daiki didn't have time to protest. But he didn't feel like practising – there were no Yosen vs. Touou matches planned that day. He'd rather spend the day exploring the surrounding forest and he certainly had an adventurous spirit; so long as there was daylight and no creepy ghost stories. And Kaito's excitement was contagious just like Aya's. For some strange reason he liked the kid. Kaito was a cool little fella, not a spoilt little brat.

After a few paces Kaito stopped and turned around, staring with his big grey eyes at Daiki. "You don't wanna?"

He sighed and a grin settled on his face. "I haven't said that. Lead the way, kiddo. And don't get us lost." Daiki's orientation skill weren't terrible, but this was an unknown forest with no phone signal. He didn't want to risk the night out there.

"Yay! Don't worry! These two can always find a way home!" He patted Ai's head.

######

Aya's fear of hospitals was back, or rather, she was realising it again. Taiga was not there and the scent of disinfectant was ever present. She forced Derek to stay in the hospital's cafeteria; he was really the last person she'd lead to her best friend who was still unconscious. But going to Suzume's room alone was scary.

There were other people around; patients, doctors, nurses and other staff but it was suffocating for her. She stuck her hands into her pockets and curled them into fists to hide her shaking fingers. It was August, but she was cold.

Flashes of bad memories were appearing in her mind and she was trying to shut them out, keep them at bay. But…

She felt like she was eight years old again. Tied to a bed at night because she was having night terrors, during which she fell off the bed or scratched and opened up the shot wound on her shoulder, or she sleepwalked around, and the responsible head nurse was too indolent to keep an eye on her. The same nurse yelling at her and Taiga in the morning for dirtying the new bed sheet with blood because Taiga had untied her and she had scratched at her wound in her sleep again. Then Taiga being tied to his bed as well, so he couldn't help her… And their father came to see them just once in those treacherous two weeks. He didn't believe her when she accused the nurse. ' _You know kids; they make up lots of things…'_ The little kid, who died in that room with them… Because they couldn't go and get help at night… No one answered to their screams. ' _Just another night terror' , _the nurses believed...

She felt like she suddenly couldn't breathe. The world spun around her. She quickly crouched down and stuck her head between her knees. She knew what this was. She knew damn well, yet she couldn't help it. She was drowning.

"Hey!" Someone grabbed her shoulder. "Aya."

She turned and caught that hand. The girl with her hair dyed half blue was bent over her worriedly. "Y-Yomi…" Aya took a deep breath.

"Heey," Yomi patted Aya's shoulder and didn't let go of her hand. She'd never seen a person drowning on land. But now the redhead seemed to be getting better. "It's alright. You're alright. Suzu's right there." She pointed at the door at the end of the corridor. "I was just leaving, but do you want me to go with you?"

Aya nodded, took several deep breaths and got up, not letting go of Yomi's hand. "Thank you." She said quietly, feeling so embarrassed by this episode. "Sorry… I'm useless in hospitals."

"I've heard." The girl smiled and squeezed Aya's sweating palm encouragingly. "Taiga-kun told me when he stopped by."

"Eh? Taiga was here?" _I didn't know._

"Well, of course. We're all worried."

"Any news?" Aya asked when they walked into the room.

Suzume looked like she was just sleeping. The bruises on her face were now gone and she looked much better. But she was still unconscious.

Yomi sighed. "Doctors said it's a coma. They said it might last a few days or a few months or a few years. No one really knows why it happened–"

"It won't be years."Aya cut her off and took Suzume's hand in her own. "I know it won't."

"I want to believe it too."

The red eyes turned at her. "Then why don't you?"

"I don't know." She shrugged. "My mom never woke up. I hate hospitals too. But I really want her to get up and annoy me again."

"Sorry."

Yomi smiled. "Yours is dead too, no need to apologise. They say she can hear us… Do you believe that?"

"Yeah." Aya was drawing circles on the back of Suzume's palm with her thumb. "That's why, the idiot who's scaring the crap out of us, should just quit and wake up quickly." She said looking at Suzume's calm face. "And if she is in there somewhere she should know that she isn't alone and there are people waiting for her. And the cat."

"The cat that tore my curtains." Yomi joined the redhead. So far she was only staring at her friend with worry and pity. But Aya's worried, yet so different approach surprised her. A moment ago, the redhead was suffocating with fear and now she was lecturing the unconscious girl. Her best friend, where there were no walls kept up. "You owe me for that, so you should hurry up and come home. Dorian's been waiting to meet you, stupid."

The girls spent in the room hours. Talking to Suzume, to one another, laughing, crying, worrying… Yomi felt she found another friend. Another kindred spirit. She wasn't jealous anymore. When they were leaving, they both kissed Suzume's cheeks.

They said goodbyes and announced they'd be back again. And again. Until they annoy her enough to wake up and send them to hell.

They didn't notice a tear streaming down Suzume's face.

"I've been thinking." Aya said as they headed towards the cafeteria.

"Hm?" Yomi squeezed Aya's hand she was holding again. She didn't want to see the redhead suffocating again.

"Couldn't you bring her some music?"

"Music?"

"Yeah. Maybe it could help?"

"I will. Send me some songs you two shared. I know she has a special playlists for each person she loves."

Aya smiled. "Sure thing. Oh, there's the guy." She pointed at Derek, sitting in the cafeteria and staring at the clock.

"He's cute."

Aya raised an eyebrow. "Shall I introduce you? Though he doesn't speak Japanese just yet."

"Gosh no. My English is terrible."

The redhead chuckled. "See you in a week then?"

"Yeah, see you in a week, Aya." She slipped her hand out of Aya's and turned to leave. The day was emotionally exhausting for her.

"You can call me Robin, if you want."

Yomi blinked at the redhead. From Suzume, she knew the nickname was special. Then she grinned widely. "I will! Bye bye!"

Aya waved her goodbye and walked to Derek. " _Sorry for the wait. I think we can go now."_

" _Oh, yes. It's fine. I didn't mind the wait at all."_ He murmured staring at her eyes. He could tell she was crying, but her eyes were clearer than before. Livelier. He really didn't understand the girl.

" _I've made another great friend today."_ She smiled. " _I just wish it was under the different circumstances."_

" _Are you sure you don't want to go anywhere else?"_

" _Actually… Let's stop by Moriyamas. I want to buy something for my guys."_ As they walked out she took out her pack of cigarettes and lit one up. She didn't care about Derek's opinion in the slightest.

######

Daiki and Kaito walked into the dining room just in time for dinner. They were carrying flowers, carefully tied with a shoelace. Some guys snickered, but it went over Daiki's head. He had a great day with the kiddo and the dogs.

"Those for Lil' Monkey?" An eerily familiar voice cut the air.

Daiki turned around and stared at the guy with pink dreadlocks comfortably sprawled on a chair, playing with his hair.

"Kouta-nii-chan!" Kaito squealed and ran to the guy. He carefully put flowers on the table and then launched himself at the young man.

"Urgh. You're strangling meee!" Kouta teased and then he hugged the little boy tightly. "I had to come to see you. So you wouldn't forget my face."

"And because you need my help with your university assignment." Taichi grumbled when he shuffled out of the kitchen.

"That too." Kouta admitted.

"Aya-nee-chan's not with you?"

"Unfortunately, she needed to make a stop in a hospital to see her friend. She should be here later tonight or tomorrow around lunch, depend if they stay the night somewhere or not. More likely they will. The Soldier boy isn't used to travelling and jetlags like your nee-chan, so he might need the rest."

"Who?" Kaito and Daiki asked at the same time.

Kouta smirked devilishly. He wanted to tease the hot ace so much, but he didn't want to cause another dispute. _A little jab wouldn't hurt though…_ "Derek. The new driver, Haruka sent him over to keep an eye on Aya. I think he is doing a good job~"

Kaito frowned. "Huh? Who's that? Never heard of him."

"Neither has she, until they went for that crappy party."

"Meh," Kaito shrugged. The driver or whoever wasn't important. He wanted to see Aya. And hear stories from the dancing camp. "How was your camp?"

"Your nee-chan tried to kill me every day. My feet are a mess and I'm glad I can walk straight, but it was very enjoyable. And you wouldn't believe it, but Aya-nee-chan stepped on my feet a couple of times."

"That's a lie!" Kaito protested vehemently. "Nee-chan's the best! You made that up… Or it was somehow your fault."

Kouta laughed. "I think she wanted to be here with you," he looked at Aomine meaningfully and winked, but patted Kaito's head, "so much she messed up a few times."

Aomine shuddered. Kouta's attention sure didn't feel good. But he got the message.

"Really?! Really?!" Kaito grinned happily. "I can't wait to tell her eeeverything! And I really want to go the tree house!"

"Keiji-kun hasn't shown you how?"

Kaito shook his head. "He said it's Aya-nee-chan's… uh… _privilege_."

######

"Yo." Kouta walked up to Satsuki and Daiki, who were obviously bickering. He had no idea why, and he didn't really care. He wanted to properly talk with the ace.

"Uhm… hey…" Satsuki looked at her feet and blushed. The guy was quite overwhelming and quite shirtless…

"Shiranui Kouta, I supposed we weren't properly introduced at all, right, Takano-chan."

"Eh?" She looked up at him. "I… It's Momoi Satsuki now."

"Oh, I thought something was different. Sorry 'bout that, Satsuki-chan." He flawlessly switched to her name. "Do you still dance?"

She shook her head. She knew the name; she just couldn't connect it to anyone from her past. It was awkward.

"Would you mind if I talked with him?" He asked pointing at Daiki.

"N-not at all. I'll go to talk with Sumire-chan and Kiku-chan." She said quickly and walked away. Her ears were burning red from embarrassment and guilt, because Kouta surely knew how stupidly she'd behaved back then.

"What's up with her? She didn't eat my desert or anything…" Kouta wondered and shook his head.

"You should wear a t-shirt." Daiki commented dryly. "What's up?"

Kouta raised an eyebrow.

The expression made Daiki realise who he was talking to. He half-hid his face in mortification."You know what, don't answer that."

A smirk settled on Kouta's face. "I rather won't." He agreed; he didn't want to scare off Aya's 'boyfriend'. "Just wanted to assure you, Derek's not an issue. I'd love to tease you, but you two had a big enough fight as it is, right? You don't need to make some jealousy scene or whatever."

"I wasn't going to." Though he had to admit, he was jealous.

"Good to hear that."

Daiki nodded. A weird silence settled over them. Then Daiki blurted out: "Why Soldier boy?"

Kouta burst out laughing.

* * *

"So you're practising today?" Tatsuya asked him when they assembled in the gym after breakfast.

Daiki shrugged. "Today are the matches. And kiddo wanted to stay here."

"He's waiting for Aya like a little puppy. But he's still a son of a former pro-player, he knows a lot about basketball too. Kyou will certainly hear about this camp."

"Like I care."

"Aomine! You're in the first mini match!" Naito called out to him.

"Hah?!" A vein popped on Aomine's forehead. Was he seriously playing with Susa, Oyama, Naito and Tada? What a weak little team, it could've been much worse though. "Are you serious?!" He glared at Satsuki.

The pinkette shrugged. "No one can beat you but you, right? It shouldn't be a problem."

He narrowed his eyes. This was something Aya would do. But he smirked at the challenge. In the opposing team were all regulars: Tatsuya, Okamura, Fukui, Liu and Muri. Only Atsushi decided he was 'overheated' and would sit this one out. Daiki never had a need to face off Atsushi, but he would gladly try it during the camp at some point.

"I'm marking Himuro!" Daiki called out.

"Oh?" Tatsuya smiled. "That's interesting."

"You lose."

The tip off went to Yosen. Oyama was not good at it yet and Aomine was ordered to let Oyama try. It was a practise camp; they were supposed to learn firstly, competing was on the second place.

"Tch." Aomine stopped Okamura's dunk somehow, with luck, speed and nimbleness. But the bulky captain was crazily strong.

"Impressive." Okamura muttered. Atsushi could stop him with force, but Daiki… The ball just suddenly disappeared from his hand. "Why don't you guard him tighter, Himuro?"

"Eh, sorry!" Tatsuya hummed and caught up with Daiki.

The ace narrowed his eyes. "You let me pass."

"Wanted to see if you could stop Okamura-san." He smiled and caught a pass from Muri. "Now let's see if you can stop me."

A chill ran down Daiki's back. That was a feeling he didn't expect. Excitement? These were unknown waters. He could feel Tatsuya's level and he'd never seen him play. He stood comfortably, ready to react. His left hand was still a bit sensitive because of the stupid burn. But he didn't care. It couldn't affect him.

Tatsuya dribbled comfortably, smoothly, with ease. Then he quickly went right, jumping for a shot.

Daiki reacted to that, but it was a fake. Tatsuya never jumped it just looked like it, instead he turned around, passing Aomine, who had instinctively leapt up.

"Shit!" Daiki muttered, trying to speed up his landing.

Tada managed to free himself and he went for Tatsuya. But he slipped past him with another couple of fakes.

Daiki caught up again. The fakes were incredible and incredibly annoying at the same time. _How come he fooled_ _ **me?**_

"Welcome back." Tatsuya smirked. And tried the same sequence again, just to see if Aomine could be fooled by the same moves twice.

"I don't think so."

They danced around one another for a moment. The focus and pressure were tremendous. Tatsuya, however, felt that Aomine had a foot on his breaks that the ace wasn't really playing. Only fooling around. It angered him.

"Neither do I." He muttered and jumped to shoot.

This time, for real.

Aomine jumped but the ball seemed to pass through his hand. He landed and stared at the ball passing through the hoop. _Mirage shot… He can really do it._ He stared at Tatsuya with a slight respect. Something like that took years to master, he knew.

"Aomine!" Kano shouted, he thought the ace didn't see the ball flying his way.

"Yeah, yeah." He rolled his eyes and caught the ball easily. _Tch._ His burnt left hand, mostly healed up, stung. _Don't think about it._ "Let's see how well can you guard."

The sudden, almost predatory, aura surprised Tatsuya. Aomine loosened the pressure he was putting on the breaks. And then he showed Tatsuya a bit of his streetball; a sequence of totally unnecessary and tricky movements accompanied by some fakes which confused the hell out of Tatsuya much more than fakes similar to his own. Tatsuya knew fakes, he'd faced streetball too, but Aomine Daiki's style was his own, exceptional, unpredictable, unguardable, unique. Aomine Daiki's… And no one else's. Tatsuya had never seen something like that. _Similar to Dominic, but yet so different…_

Aomine made a shot out of the blue, from an angle and distance which other players wouldn't even try, let alone make.

"I ain't looking down on you." Daiki said with a smirk. "But you won't win."

He was surprised by Tatsuya's skills. They were admirable, but he felt those skills weren't completely Tatsuya's, that the boy was still hesitating, unsure, comparing himself. Asking if he was good enough. Daiki could tell that much just from this one game. And he understood what Aya'd meant when she said Tatsuya had 'self-esteem issues'. But he wanted to stop one of those Mirage shots.

Maybe not that day, but till the end of the camp… He had to.

No one really expected Touou to win. It was a very tight 2 point difference. The center was still weak and the skill difference was big. Even Daiki was somewhat, unconsciously, ready to lose the practise match. But the others made really great improvements he hadn't expected. And he was a goddamn ace of the generation of miracles, who was everywhere where the ball appeared. He sure as hell wouldn't let Tatsuya win. Not in basketball, not in anything. That feeling alone pushed him into playing for real.

"That was crazy!" Kano hung his arm around Aomine's shoulders. "How'd you do that?"

He shrugged off Kano's arm. They were both drenched in sweat and it was disgusting. "I don't lose," was his simple answer. He was exhausted. And he could see Tatsuya was half-dead too. And the match only lasted 15 minutes.

"You have a monster on your team too, Katsunori." Masako said.

"Jealous now, Masa-chan?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No. I made my choice. And would've made it again. Mine's stronger. And bigger. And better."

Katsunori rolled his eyes. "What's with you and the size? It matters, but not that much." Then he noticed some teenagers sniggering behind their backs. He deadpanned at the wording they'd used. "Maybe I could change your mind?" He asked with a completely straight face, half expecting to be hit by her shinai in that moment.

But she was completely oblivious to innuendos. "I don't think so."

He raised an eyebrow at her, but when she still didn't go red from embarrassment he sighed in resignation. His attempt to make a joke came out ineffective. "Never mind…" He breathed out under his nose, ignoring all the boys making fun of them. "You do realise that Aomine managed to win with a team of benchwarmers, while you used the majority of your regulars, right?"

"Your benchwarmers are _that_ good." She said simply. "And you'll see the difference once I use Murasakibara."

"Can't wait to see that." He muttered and turned to go to his team.

As he was passing by her, she told him: "I don't think _you_ can change my mind, but you're welcome to try."

Feeling the heat rising to his cheeks he rubbed his face and ran his fingers through his hair. No one would see Harasawa Katsunori blushing. Certainly not a bunch of teenagers. _She could always get you like this, man up, stupid._

######

"Ne?" Naito nudged Imayoshi while drinking. "If Aomine played with us…"

"A-a-a. We don't do teamplays much, Naito-kun."

"I know, but _if_ he did… What he showed today… I've never seen him play like this before. Even with Kise, it was somewhat different." He didn't want to say 'weaker', but that's what he felt.

"Kise is his best friend, and he dislikes Himuro. He just loosened his breaks more than before."

Aomine was replaced by Ishii, Tatsuya by Tanaka. The others weren't as exhausted and another game continued. This time, it was Yosen's win. But Touou held up well.

Daiki sighed and headed out. This was enough of practise for the day. He hadn't expected Tatsuya to pull _that_ out. And he certainly couldn't get used to it again. The teams he'd face… they weren't this strong. It excited him, and disappointed him again. If he got better, he wouldn't even be able to _pretend_ he was playing with those flies…

Kaito didn't follow him, and he was glad for that. He lied on the porch of the main house and listened to the steady sounds Kiku, Sumire and the old couple made in the kitchen. It was nice and warm and he enjoyed the sunrays drying off his sweat.

######

" _Are you sure it's this way?"_ Derek asked for the third time.

At that moment Aya wanted to hit him. But she took a deep breath; she wanted to be home already. The Moriyamas persuaded them to stay the night. Derek seemed to have jetlag, so she agreed. Tired driver was a dangerous driver. " _Yes. And if you're scared to take the road let me drive please. I'm home here. I know the way."_

" _As you say, Miss."_

Nope, she didn't manage to keep her calm. " _Aya!"_ She snapped at him and wondered how he could get on her nerves, while all he wanted to do was to be helpful.

When they finally parked at the huge meadow, she jumped out of the car, leaving Derek to deal with the GPS and collect his stuff. She basically ran towards the main house, unsure who to greet first. Probably her grandma, but she didn't care.

"Oh." She stopped on the spot when she noticed Aomine sprawled on the porch, idly basking in the sun like a very content overgrown cat.

"Hm?" He cracked opened his eyes, interrupted by the sound and looked in the direction of it.

She surprised him. He impatiently wanted to see her, but he kind of expected her to come during some of their meals, or something... "Oh…" He echoed hastily stumbling up to his feet to greet her, but suddenly he didn't know what to say, what to do. Should he hug her, should he not? What should he say? He was tongue-tied. _How did I manage to call her?_

It didn't really matter.

He was glad to see her. Her hair was loosely tied in a braid; her eyes were lively and cheerful. Compared to the last time he saw her, she was shining like a little happy sun. She was wearing a white tank top with a generous cleavage with a strange long rust-coloured baggy skirt. She was wearing her bracelet and the ring on her necklace was resting on top of her breasts. Quickly he tore his eyes off of there; he found it inappropriate to stare at her boobs at the moment.

Her scar wasn't covered. _Has she forgotten 'bout it again?_

She noticed where he was looking. Sticking a loose strand of her hair behind her ear she looked away. And then back at him again.

"Uhm… hey," she wasn't sure how to behave either. But she had to say something, because the staring was getting really awkward. "You've been practising." She stated the obvious, judging by his loose shorts and t-shirt.

"…obviously…" His lips curled into a small teasing smirk. But those deep blue eyes looking at her were softer, happier than usual. She was glad to see that.

"–" There was something else he wanted to add, but didn't get the chance.

With a few steps she erased the distance between them. After all the shit, she needed to make sure he was real. She needed him. Because of their previous fight, she wasn't sure if it was completely okay to hug him, even though they had more or less made up, even though they had previously agreed that hugging was okay…

So instead, she rested her forehead against his chest, leaving her hands freely hang at her sides. It was a safer choice, a compromise. If he wanted, he could simply step away and they'd avoid a totally mortifying situation. She closed her eyes, enjoying the closeness while it lasted.

He didn't step back, but he didn't hug her either. He just stood there. Surprised and happy, feeling like a total idiot unable to do anything. She must've felt his heart hammering like crazy against his ribs and he realised he'd been holding his breath up until now. _How pathetic…_

His uncertainty and embarrassment were cute. She sighed in relief.

"I'm home." She said quietly with a relieved inaudible chuckle. She said it mostly to herself. One thing was sure all the stress, worry and hurt seemed to be washed away by Daiki's sheer presence in her space. _But you've known that before…_

He almost misheard her.

She had a need to say that to him? While lightly nuzzling her forehead and nose against his chest? As if _he_ was her home? He must've smelled from the practise, but apparently she didn't mind or she didn't care. It was weird, but… Could he really hug her? _Oh, fuck this._ A wide grin settled on his face and he squeezed her with his arms almost crushing her for a moment.

She was back.

"Welcome home, silly."

A surprised squeal escaped her. But when loosed his grip a bit she hugged him back and laughed. It was daft how everything seemed so small and unimportant, how light and strong and protected she felt with him. Loved even? She couldn't even describe it properly. Being with him was natural. Like breathing. And it felt so right.

She didn't quite understand, but she knew she didn't want to let go. Ever.

"I've miss–"

" _Miss Aya! Oh! Uh, sorry!"_

"–missed you, I wanted to say." Aya grunted and pushed herself away from Daiki. "Sorry, for that."

She turned to Derek, who didn't know where to look.

" _Nothing to apologise for."_ She said. " _Though I'd like you to withhold the report from my father."_

" _I was never going to report anything, Miss. I was asked to help, and I'm just doing my job."_ He stood at attention trying to act like he was staring at something past the teenagers. He surely didn't expect Aya to hug a strange guy, someone like Aomine… And he felt jealous, because he'd had no idea. She'd never said anything. _Not like it's any of my business…_ He thought bitterly. His affection for the girl was short lived. It was stupid, really, he barely knew her.

She narrowed her eyes at him. He looked angry? Why would Derek be angry with her? _Maybe I was too impatient with him? Rude?_ " _The name is Aya, not Miss. I've already told you that."_

" _Errr… Right. I'll go get your bags; I just wanted to ask where to take 'em."_

" _I'll help, there' not that much of it anyways."_

"Can I help with something too?" Daiki asked with a raised eyebrow. He vaguely understood the context, but he knew his limitations, so he didn't try speaking English with them.

Aya nodded with a smile. "There's not much to help with, not really." They turned to walk back towards the car.

"You know your cousin and the dreadlock guy are here, right?"

She stopped mid-step. "WHAT?! Kaito and Kouta are here too?! I have to see Kaito right away! Hey, wait! What the hell is the Shiranui doing here?" She rambled out, suddenly not knowing which way to run first. Get her stuff? Go find Kaito? Go kick Kouta in the ass for not telling her he was coming here? See how Kiku was doing? What about Tatsuya and Hero and Atsushi? Or should she see grandma first? Katsunori? The dogs?

Daiki sighed with and shook his head in desperation. He knew what this meant. He'd just met her again, hugged her again, and now she'd run off for gods knew how long to catch up with everyone.

 _This is gonna be one hell of a loooong afternoon and night…_ He thought, but decided to play her shadow for a while. He was curious about her family dynamics too, and there were those dickheads…

* * *

 **A/N:** Soooo... They meet again... And other stuff... I hope I didn't overdo anything. :)

Let me know what you think and remember, reviews are appreciated but never necessary.

S.


	45. Chapter 45: you dating yet?

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone who followed, favourited and reviewed! It makes me very happy :)

Enjoy!

* * *

 _When she wraps her arms around my neck, all I want to do is protect this girl for the rest of my life. ―_ _ **Simone Elkeles, Perfect Chemistry**_

 _There is something beautiful about all scars of whatever nature. A scar means the hurt is over, the wound is closed and healed, done with. –_ _ **Harry Crews**_

 _The soul is healed by being with children._ ― _**Fyodor Dostoevsky**_

 _Is it meaningless to apologize? Never._ – _**Alan Moore, V for Vendetta**_

 _Home isn't where you're from, it's where you find light when all grows dark._ ― _**Pierce Brown, Golden Son**_

 _When you fall in love, the natural thing to do is give yourself to it. That's what I think. It's just a form of sincerity._ ― _**Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood**_

 _Love is needing someone. Love is putting up with someone's bad qualities because they somehow complete you._ ― _**Sarah Dessen, This Lullaby**_

* * *

"Oh, by the way…" She stopped when she handed a bag of sweets she'd bought at Moriyama's sweets' shop to Aomine. " _This is Wright Derek , _our driver, _and Derek, this is Aomine Daiki. "_ She officially introduced them.

They shook hands. Aomine appreciated it more than a polite bow. The handshake was strong and firm and he figured he wouldn't really mind the guy. Sure, he would probably get jealous from time to time, buuuut… The guy didn't look that threatening at all.

"Well, you can practise your English and he _could learn Japanese a bit more, wouldn't you agree, Derek?_ " She asked and looked at him expectantly.

"Uuuuhm…" He nodded carefully. " _Does anyone here understand English?"_ He asked, dreading the answer.

" _Everyone should, on some level at least if you speak slower than usual. Kouta, Kaito and I are ready to help if there are any problems. But you're free to try Japanese too. You've been studying it, right?"_

" _Only for two months or so… I don't really understand yet. Let alone speaking…"_ Derek sighed and levelled his pace with the teenagers. He was carrying his own luggage and one smaller bag Aya let him carry. Otherwise, the girl carried her rather small bag (given she'd packed in it for three whole weeks) like it weighed nothing.

Aya shrugged. " _You'll be probably forced to learn._ Ah, whatever, let's go. I really want to meet everyone."

"What's in it?" Daiki peeked into the bag he was carrying.

"Sweets from Suzume's shop. I stopped by to visit and her grandparents let us stay the night."

"Is she still in the hospital?" He wasn't sure he could ask; they hadn't really spoken about it. Maybe he wasn't even supposed to know, but he did and he was curious. He wanted to know.

"Yeah." She nodded and caught Daiki's gaze. ' _We'll talk later.'_

Daiki nodded. ' _Okay.'_ Then he saw her smile again. She happily entered the main house, focusing on the people who were present and waiting for her. He had no idea how she was doing it. He really admired that side of hers. And he couldn't wait until they'd be alone to talk things out properly… Not that he knew exactly what he wanted to talk about.

The sounds she could hear from the kitchen were obvious: her grandma was preparing lunch, most likely with Kiku's, Keiji's and maybe Hero's help. And maybe even Kouta's if he'd graced everyone with his presence.

Derek and Daiki followed behind here. Derek was looking around curiously; it was his first time in Japan and this house was unlike anything he'd ever seen. Elevated, huge, made out of wood but with electricity and all… Daiki was curious about Aya's bottom, mostly, and her legs and all. He'd seen the house and the kitchen already – Taichi forced him into cleaning duty in the morning – as he'd been caught by the old man outside past the curfew twice already.

"Tadaima!" Aya called out when she let herself into the kitchen.

All the work going on in there stopped. Kiku and Keiji smiled at her and welcomed her home. Hanae put down the knife she'd been using, wiped her hands and flew across the room to hug her. For an old woman, she moved quickly and elegantly, it was difficult to believe she was in her sixties.

"Okaerinasai!"

Aya was surprised by the tight hug, but she reciprocated accordingly. And she realised, she missed this. She sighed and for a moment, she rested her head against Hanae's and enjoyed the loving, welcoming hug. "Yeah, I've missed you. And I've heard Kaito's here!"

"Yeah, yeah, he's been asking about your for days! He and his little motormouth! But before you go smoke him out of wherever he wandered to… what's going on with you? Are _you_ okay?" Only then did Hanae pull away to scan Aya. She even took a step back to see her whole figure. "You've lost weight!"

"Huh? I'm fine." Aya blinked at her and looked at herself. "I don't know about losing weight… But maybe? I've been practising a lot more lately."

"And your leg?"

Aya narrowed her eyes. "What about my leg?"

"Don't try lying, young lady. I called Haruka, he didn't pick up – nothing new, so I called the house. And I finally talked to that pleasant lady who takes care of you all."

Aya let out a long, desperate sigh. Her cheerful mood was starting to disperse. "Ah, Gabi... I'm fine. Really. Can we talk later? I want to put down my stuff and go greet everyone."

The old woman raised her hand up in sign of retreat. "Okay, but we **will** talk later. No flyin' away, Robin."

"No worries. But I'll have to be with Kaito until he talks himself to sleep. And he does have energy reserves like any other Kagami." She winked at her grandma and headed out.

"What a peculiar trait…"

Aya stopped by the door and turned around again. "Oh, can Derek take the other guest room?"

Hanae frowned. "Who?" Then she glanced at the two guys at Aya's tow. Aomine Daiki, of course and a handsome young man. "Who's that?"

######

They ascended to the second floor and turned left and immediately right. There were four doors on the narrow corridor and a window at its end. Aya opened the first door to her right and pointed into the room.

" _This one will be yours, Derek. Mine's there,_ " she pointed at the door at the end of the corridor on the left, " _and that one is Kaito's, "_ she pointed at the door next to Derek's. " _And I believe Kouta is in the room next to me. Urgh… Never mind… The bathroom is downstairs, or outside, wherever you want to shower. You can rest and get over your jetlag, and maybe join our practise if you feel like it. Otherwise, you can do whatever you want. Go for a hike, laze around, eat whatever you want… The car is at your disposal, so if there's a place you want to go to, you can; just let me know about it. Okay? Feel like home."_

Derek peeked into the cosy room and nodded. Partly, he expected to be given some tasks around the house. " _Is this a sort of vacation for me?"_

Aya shrugged. " _If you want to call it that. But you're not taking any of your days off and your pay check won't change, but it's not considered a business trip you could charge extra, as you're provided everything and your pay check is generous enough. If that's what you wanted to know."_

" _Err… yeah, thanks."_ He smiled sheepishly. As a new employee of the Kagamis he had tons of questions, but he was too shy to ask too much.

" _But of course. You can just ask that, you know?"_

" _I'll try to remember it, Mi– Aya"_

" _Finally."_ She chuckled. " _Okay, you need your rest and I need to settle back in. See you later."_

Derek handed Aya's bag he was carrying to Daiki and vanished into his room with a wide yawn. He was still very tired.

"Work stuff?" Daiki asked nonchalantly as he followed after Aya to her room. It had a huge 'Keep out' sign on the door and some other faded out stickers, which must've been quite old.

The door didn't creak at all. "Yeah, about his pay check. But I guess you could pick that up, right?"

"Not everything." He shrugged and leaned against the door frame. It was amusing watching Aya as she walked into the room and scanned it, as if she saw it for the first time.

There was a big bunk bed in the right corner from the door, a simple double desk with two chairs and one wardrobe. A small library was overflowing with books and there was something like an old wooden chest under the bed, but Daiki couldn't be sure. A bouquet of hydrangeas was nicely arranged on the desk and there were two notes next to it. Not from him though, he hadn't been up here before.

She threw her bag on the bed and turned to him. "You can come in. Put those bags on the bed please."

He did as she asked him. And he sat on the edge of the bed.

Aya wasn't sure what to talk about with him now. She was excited to greet everyone and see Kaito and at the same time she just wanted to lie down and sleep, and maybe brood a little. This room used to belong to her father, Taiga and she shared it now as the family grew bigger.

"I s'pose you don't know who put these here?" She asked. The flowers on the desk drew her closer to investigate.

Daiki shrugged, he had no idea if it was Kaito or Hanae arranging the flowers, but he knew who'd brought them. But he didn't want to mention he participated in that. "The kid went to pick 'em up the other day."

"Apparently." She chuckled, reading a happy birthday wish Kaito had tried to write, although he was just learning how to do that. It was a sloppy and childish handwriting, but the effort he put into it was so obvious; she was moved. "I should go to see him right away." She said softly, intending to crush the little motormouth in her arms once she got to him.

"He's in the gym. He can't wait to see you, nee-chan." He teased, but he had the rare kind smile playing on his lips. Daiki had no idea what to talk about either. There was so much, he couldn't pick a single topic.

She turned around and leaned against the desk watching Daiki with the soft expression she'd had. "I know, but first's first… I'm sorry for all the mess. And how I suddenly left without an explanation. I should've been there. I'm sorry."

"You've already said that." He frowned. "And I should've realised it wasn't your doing. I'm sorry too. I didn't know it'd been Satsuki…" _And I promised I'd apologise in person._

She raised an eyebrow. "Did she apologise to you?"

"Yeah, more or less, she apologised… after I'd flared up... But we're not on the honest speaking terms yet…"

"At least she apologised to one of us." She liked Satsuki, but she wasn't sure she wanted to meet her now. With a sigh she ran her fingers through her loose hair, pulling at it slightly. Then noticing her scar she frowned at it. _I should change into a t-shirt…_ "Damn it there is so much I've missed." Her cheerfulness was slowly draining away.

"Not really." He shrugged, there really wasn't much. And he'd missed about the same. When she suppressed a yawn he raised an eyebrow. "Don't _you_ have jetlag?"

"Not really." She repeated his words. "I'm beyond exhausted though." With a proper yawn she sat on a chair and outstretched her legs. "Just too much happening in too little time. And then there's Suzu…"

"…want to talk about it?"

She shook her head. "Maybe tomorrow." A tiny voice in her head was screaming at her to tell him everything, because out of all people, she owed him all the answers he would want to get. But it wasn't that easy and she didn't want to start a lengthy discussion (likely involving tears of frustration) when Kaito was so impatiently waiting for her. "Baa-chan will interrogate me later at night anyways and everyone will want to know. And I want to think it through. I guess I won't get any sleep in some time."

He didn't like the idea of her 'thinking through' her answers, because she'd find a way to make it look simple and fine, even though it didn't have to be. But he could also feel the pressure she was under. Everyone would ask about her summer, her friend Suzume, maybe even the stuff Imayoshi had told them… Daiki himself wanted to get some answers… And he certainly didn't want to be in her shoes right now. Did she know Imayoshi had told the boys about her?

"Want another hug?" He blurted out, affected by all the thoughts and questions swirling in his head. He wanted to support her; he didn't want to pressure her even more, although he really wanted to. And those words just formed in his mouth all on its own, surprising him as well.

"Huh?" She blinked at him with a puzzled frown, not sure she heard right. With all the things he could ask and do, he asked her if she wanted another hug? Hell, she desperately _needed_ it.

"Uh…" He bit his lip to hide a blush heating his cheeks and looked away. "Forget it… It's nothing…" He mumbled; shocked by his own suggestion and her reaction he couldn't interpret right.

Thankfully she spoke up at the same time as him, her voice overlapping his muttered words. "I guess I do…"

"Huh?" He glanced at her in disbelief.

A small blush coloured her cheeks as she tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. Actually asking for a hug like this was a bit strange, she felt a bit shy… "I… Well…" Then she shook her head and looked at him with those burning reddish eyes of hers. She was certainly not an overly shy princess. "Damn it all." She swore and got up from her chair, making those few steps to stand in front of him. When he was sitting on the bed, she was towering him. "Yes, I want and _need_ another hug." She said, but she didn't do anything else, not sure if she could. Then she quietly added: "From you…"

She surely was something else. Shy and bold at the same time.

Daiki didn't need to hear more, and he'd be an idiot if he didn't react to that. But right now, he didn't feel comfortable when she was standing above him, so he got up, and pulled her into his arms. That way he could be the one hiding her in his arms, not the other way around.

When her arms circled around his waist and she rested her head against his chest, he felt unbelievably happy and powerful at the same time. There was someone trusting him, confiding in him, needing him in a completely new way.

She sighed contently listening to his steady, albeit a bit quickened, heartbeat and charging her batteries from his strong presence. The hug assured her that everything was going to be okay. He didn't have to say it. No words were really needed. This was more than enough.

They stayed like that for some minutes, silently supporting and bathing in each other's presence.

"We should go." She said reluctantly.

"…do we have to?" His voice vibrated in his chest and she pulled her head away to look up at him, though she didn't let go yet.

Her eyes traced his lips for a moment then she frowned and shook her head. "Yes. I want to see Kaito, and it's only a matter of time until baa-chan comes to check up on us." _I don't want another ruined kiss attempt._

He raised an eyebrow and smirked. Maybe he could tease her a little. "Mhm, that's why you're holding on like a tick…"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Not like you mind, Honey-bun."

"It's not every day that a D-cup girl comes by to hug me. I need to enjoy it while it lasts." He had no idea where he was taking the courage and blush-resistance at the moment. With her around, he didn't understand himself.

Aya didn't have a remark to beat that one. She shook her head chuckling. "Daiki:1, Aya:0." She said and finally pushed herself away.

A small chuckle escaped him too. He had no idea she was 'counting' it like that too.

She pulled a hair tie out of her bag and braided her unruly mane in seconds. Then she took out three medals and shoved them into her pocket.

"Want to show off with those?"

She rolled her eyes. "My selfish desire to win is not the only thing driving me to actually do it. And _**I**_ couldn't care less about these." She patted her pocket.

"Huh?"

"You'll see why I'm taking them."

When they were about to leave her room, he caught her wrist to stop her.

"What now?"

"Err…" He scratched the back of his neck sheepishly, glancing at her scar. "…don't you mind the others seeing?" He asked carefully, half expecting her to get offended.

Her eyebrows knitted in thought. She'd forgotten about the scar… "Uuuh… I do? But I keep forgetting about it at home, around you anyways… Father doesn't like seeing it at all. So I guess it's time I stop hiding it? It'll lift one worry off my back. And it's not like I need to give anyone an explanation if I don't want to."

He nodded. That decision probably took a lot of bravery. "…if anyone insults you, I'll crush them."

"You're starting to sound like Atsushi." She laughed and remembered she needed to take the sweets with her as well. "Speaking of Atsushi… take this, please."

The bag full of sweets appeared in his hands seemingly out of thin air.

"Tch. Are any of these for me?"

"Sure."

######

The dogs were at her side immediately when she walked out of the house again. "Ufff, hey girls, long time no see." She bent forward and rubbed their fur with both of her hands. They wanted to play, but she wanted to meet the others. "Yes, yes, I love you too. But I'll play with you tomorrow; we'll go for a nice long run, promise." She smiled and straightened up. She knew they'd follow her all the way to the gym, but they wouldn't go inside.

"Where do you take them?" Daiki asked curiously. He hadn't scouted the area that much, but so far he hadn't seen a track well enough for running.

"It's a secret, but you can join us if you can keep up…" She teased and entered the gym, completely missing his funny annoyed expression.

She hoped she wouldn't be spotted right away. The coaches and the boys were preoccupied by four concurrent matches so they wouldn't notice her any time soon. But Kaito, sitting opposite the gym door, was watching the entrance as well as Tatsuya's match. Kaito's attention was equally split between the two things (maybe he watched the door more). So when Aya finally walked through it...

"Aya-nee-chan! You're back!" Kaito jumped to his feet with a wide happy smile and ran through the gym to jump at her. He didn't care that the games were going on and he was running right through the middle and risking being trampled.

"Oi! Careful!" Wakamatsu shouted when he almost tripped over the boy.

"Watch where you're running!" Someone else just barely stopped before running into him.

"Aya-nee-chan!" He squealed again and launched himself at Aya like a missile.

Knowing what was coming at her, she lowered herself and opened her arms to catch the reckless boy without falling backwards.

"Ufff!" She let out when she caught him and she spun around to keep balance. "You've gotten heavier!" She accused him with a smile and shifted him in her arms so she had a better grip. Like the majority of kids, Kaito still enjoyed when he was carried around in someone's arms. More so if it was Aya or Taiga or Kyou doing it.

"You're back!" He repeated and hugged her around her neck, hiding his face in the crook of her neck.

"I'm back." She said softly, nuzzling her head against his. "And where's my welcome home kiss?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

Kaito pulled back staring at her with his big eyes and then he swiftly kissed her on her cheek. She did the same. When she pulled away, the boy was frowning at her, puzzled.

"What?"

"Last time I gave kissy to a girl she hit me." He pouted. "Why don't you?"

Aya burst out laughing.

"Hey! Why're you laughing? It hurt!"

"Sorry, sorry." She composed her expression. "It must've been a shock. But don't worry, I won't hit you. You're my lil' brother and I love you very, very much. I gave kissy to you too, right? So… no problem there… And thank you for the flowers! They're gorgeous." She kissed his cheek again.

Kaito grinned widely. "I know, right? We picked them up carefully! Ne, ne? Kou-nii-chan said that you stepped on his feet! It's not true, right? Right?"

 _We?_ "Errrr…" She looked past Kaito at Tatsuya, who smiled at her in greeting. The games were already stopped. Not like they could concentrate with Kaito and Aya reuniting next to them. She had to answer the question first; she might ponder the fact that Kaito hadn't picked the flowers on his own later on. "In fact I did." She admitted truthfully.

"Eeeeh?!" He was blinking at her in disbelief and slight disappointment. "Really?!"

Aya nodded gravely. "Really. Buuut…"

"What? What? What?"

She smiled mysteriously and fished out three medals from her pocket. "We got these." She showed them to Kaito and his eyes shone in admiration. He reached to take them, but Aya pulled it from his reach.

He glanced at her. "Can I see?"

"If you promise, you'll forget about the feet stepping thingy~"

"I will." He nodded seriously and reached out again. "Pleeeease!"

"'kay, 'kay." She put him down on the ground and took the first medal. She hung it around his neck one after another telling him where they came from. "This one is for acro, this one for samba, and this one for free choreography in the camp. Take good care of them for me, please."

He clapped his hands, bowed and with twinkling eyes he started to examine the medals one after another. Then he had to go and show them to everyone, of course. Which gave her some time to greet Katsunori.

"I'm home." She smiled as she approached the coaches and Satsuki who was near them. The pinkette avoided eye contact and she seemed ready to hightail.

"Urgh, come 'ere." Katsunori grumbled and hugged his god daughter, despite his nature and everyone around. He actually came to miss her in those few weeks she'd been away. "Welcome home, Robin."

"Careful, or you'll spoil me."

"I don't think so. So? Willing to lead the afternoon practise?" He asked immediately.

"Huh? What?" She blinked at him. It wasn't like she minded, but she hoped for a calm first day.

"Your practise would be handy, for Yosen too." The whole point of the training camps was to teach the boys something new, to polish their skills. And the balance and flexibility practises Aya had put together for Touou were just the right thing for the occasion.

"You wanna help our enemies?"

"I want to see what they can do now."

"As if she could handle them…" Masako muttered loud enough they heard. "The little manager is good, but not skilled enough to set a reasonable exercise."

A vein popped on Aya's forehead. _Not skilled enough, huh?_ "Don't forget I'm _the_ Kagami Aya, Araki-sensei." Masako must've known her history, given she personally knew the twins and their old national team.

"Haaaah?" Masako tapped her shinai against her shoulder. "You dare trying?"

"They'll sleep like the dead when I'm done with them. Hero had better take proper notes."

"Hmph. We'll see about that." She turned and headed towards Okamura to tell him the news. She was curious and pleased with her ability to provoke yet another Kagami.

"Oh, I'll show her." Aya was successfully fired up, and all the fatigue and pain magically left her system.

"You didn't want to lead…" Katsunori understood her initial reluctance only now. "Sorry, I threw you into it."

"Never mind." She waved her hand in the air. "A missing toenail never killed anyone. Besides, was she always like this?"

"Masako? Pretty much." He sighed. "Be glad she didn't test your reaction time with her shinai."

"Believe me… She did, when I first went to Yosen."

"Aya-chan! Welcome back!" Kano shuffled to them, finally released by Imayoshi, who was trying to give them some last time warnings.

"Hey! I'm glad to be back. How was your break?" She asked cheerfully.

"Short. And exhausting with all the babysitting." He sighed and scratched the back of his hand. Unconsciously he was avoiding direct eye contact with the redhead. He couldn't help it; Imayoshi had dropped a bomb on them just the other day.

She sighed too and looked at the captain. "Was it really necessary, Imayoshi-taichou? It feels like I've grown horns or something."

"Eh?" Kano looked up at her with wide eyes. "You know we know?"

"You do?" Aomine echoed. He was keeping close to her, partly because he didn't know what to do with the bag of sweets, but mainly he wanted to shield her if necessary. He thought she didn't know and he didn't want to ruin her day by telling her.

She rolled her eyes and rested a hand on her hip. "Yeah. Thankfully, Imayoshi sent a warning message this morning." She shot a glare at the captain again then looked at Aomine. "You could've told me too, you know."

"Too much trouble." He muttered and looked away.

"Really?" She hummed and shook her head. "Ah well, okay, yes. I believe what Imayoshi told you wasn't made up."

Imayoshi nodded with his usual half-wicked smile. He liked playing around, but making up lies wasn't up to his tastes. "Don't worry Aya-chan. I only told them what you would~"

"What a relief." She said sarcastically.

"Although… it's an interesting scar you have there~" His eyes opened more than his usual slits as he was examining the new trait he noticed.

"Yeah! Right?" Kaito joined in the conversation jumping up and down to get the attention of the tall captain, who was slightly scary, but Kaito had to explain instead of Aya-nee-chan. He knew she didn't like the scar. He didn't get it, because it was so cool! "A bad guy wanted to hurt Aya-nee-chan and Tai-nii-chan, but he only left the scars. Isn't it cool? Daddy says scars are beauty marks of strong people!"

That left everyone speechless. Kaito happily hopped to Aya again, where Katsunori patted his hair. "Well said, kid." He said with a half-smile. At least Kyou was still the way he used to be. And even though Katsunori didn't like kids, all the Kagami children were his exception.

Aya cleared her throat and pulled Kaito closer to her side to give him a half hug. She so loved the brave kid. "Anyways, I brought something for you all."

"For me too?!" Kaito asked, wrapping his arms around her hips and looking up at her with puppy eyes. "What is it? What is it? What is it?"

"Of course for you too!" She patted Kaito's red hair. Then she looked at Aomine, "could you circle around so they can take the cookies? Yosen's team too and Atsushi, Tatsuya and you have two packages each."

"Hah? Unfair!" Kano protested. "How come they get more?"

She shrugged. "They need more motivation to come and practise?" She made up an explanation. There was no real reason; she just wanted to buy them something extra. Maybe it wasn't completely okay, but she didn't really care. She didn't have to bring them anything at all…

Jabber among the boys of both team started. Some were looking at her with hostility, which she ignored. Some were unsure how to look at her. And some looks didn't change. Tada, Ishii, Sakurai, Naito and the others she was close with were looking at her with smiles and warm welcome. Only Kano was slightly off his balance, but she knew he would get back on track in no time.

She chuckled and used the jabber to lean down to Kaito. "And I have some other gift for you. And we have to get you into the tree house someday soon too. Wouldn't you agree?"

"EEEEH?! YAAAAY! The tree house!"

"But first I'll need to see and test your tree climbing skills."

######

Haruka was pacing in his office like a caged lion. He was irritated, angry, worried and he couldn't focus on anything. Another terrible report had been handed in. Something Aya could do easily in two hours top now took a whole day and the work done was shitty.

And his kids hadn't called, or e-mailed in over two weeks. He had no idea if they were alive or what. He was sure they were just fine, but suddenly, he was realising their absence more than ever before. How long had it been going on like this anyways? How long had he not known about their whereabouts? He didn't know. If Keiko knew, she would probably strangle him. Or worse yet, she'd divorce him. The more he thought about it, the angrier he was getting. But first and foremost, he was angry at himself.

" _Fuck!"_ He swore and rubbed his face. It'd been only two weeks.

Thalia, who had brought him the report, was timorously sitting in the chair. Her hands were held close to her body and she was frightened. She had no idea she'd be called in by the big boss himself. Or that he would be so… so… wild? Infuriated? Did she really mess up that much? She'd tried really hard to make it look like the report she'd received as a model work. Something her predecessor had done, but she had no idea how the other person had made half of it! Would she lose the job? She couldn't. Not again. She was close to tears, but she refused to cry. Tears usually infuriated her employers even more.

He glanced at the new girl curled in the chair trying to disappear, fighting her tears with shaking chin. Was she scared of him? Of course he would call her in when she fucked up the only task he'd given her.

He shook his head, letting the reasonable part take over. The girl had been in the company for something over a week. She needed time to adjust. It was impossible for her to know how to use all the tools Aya had used; especially when Aya didn't leave any instructions on how she'd done her reports. He was partly angry at Aya for that, but he couldn't blame her either.

He pinched the bridge of his nose and loosened his necktie that suddenly felt too tight. A deep sigh left his lungs and he looked at the girl, visibly calmer.

" _I'll redo the report myself."_ He said seriously.

" _No I–"_

" _It'd take too long." _He didn't let her speak up. " _I 'll try to make some manual out of it for you. Okay?"_

Her eyes widened and she nodded, unable to keep eye contact with the fierce man. " _Thank you."_ She muttered under her breath.

" _Good. Now go. You should know how to deal with the post."_

The way he said it stung, but she could handle post. " _Yes."_ She got up and escaped the office. She admired Lindsay and her steel nerves. There was no way she would ever handle being an assistant to such a man.

"You haven't fired her, right?" Lindsay peeked into the office.

"No. Why?"

"It looked like she had a horde of hellhounds at her heels."

He snorted. "I told her to deal with the post." With another deep sigh he slumped into his chair.

Lindsay closed the door behind her and looked at the man in front of her. He seemed really exhausted. Maybe not to the others, but she knew him long and well enough. "Have you slept at all?"

"…not in days. There is no message from my kids and even my mother called. And when I sleep I keep having stupid nightmares."

"What did your mom want to talk about?" She asked curiously. Haruka had never mentioned his parents before.

He avoided Lindsay's gaze. "How should I know? I didn't pick up…"

"Seriously?" She sighed and sat opposite him. "Aren't you too old to behave like a teenager?"

"Careful with your tongue, Lindsay." He glared at her. His assistant was getting too bold and he wasn't sure he liked it. Perhaps he shouldn't have let her stick her nose into his family matters, but there was nothing to be done about that now.

"Sorry, sorry." She bowed her head in apology. "But if you're worried about them, shouldn't you go see them?"

"I'm not worried. I need to have the work done, dammit!" He slammed his hand against the desk, which made Lindsay jump in shock. Then he reached for the medallion and fondled with it through his shirt. "…and they wouldn't want to see me anyways." He muttered weakly which only confirmed that he _was_ worried.

"You can't be sure of that… And… Forgive me my boldness, but if you keep sticking your head in the sand and avoiding them, you'll hardly fix anything. Are you actually scared?"

"Get out." He growled and she knew she crossed the line, even though she'd apologised beforehand. Maybe she was allowed to speak up openly, because she was quite involved in Haruka's family matters, but now she messed up.

Still, there was one more thing she needed to add. "They're brave after you; don't disappoint them in that too." She said and got out of the room like the hellhounds she'd mentioned earlier were chasing her.

The next thing she heard was a glass crashing against the wall.

 _Oh boy._ She thought, took her laptop and relocated to Thalia. Haruka needed to cool off and she could help the new girl. No need to risk her neck further.

######

During lunch Aya didn't sit with Aomine and Satsuki, but with Kiku and the boys. She wanted to be near them and Satsuki was doing anything to avoid eye contact or being alone with Aya. And so, she took the message and kept her distance too. Kaito was talking and asking a lot, so was she, and the conversation at her table flowed naturally. Maybe Kano was quieter than usual, but he needed to make up his mind about her all over again, Aya understood that and she didn't force him to speak.

Aomine wasn't happy that Aya was sitting away from him, but he could understand and it gave him a chance to talk with Satsuki. He wouldn't force her to apologise, but…

"Satsuki, you sure you don't wanna talk with her?" He asked her with a raised eyebrow. He was watching Aya the entire time and he could guess she wasn't happy about the drift between her and Satsuki, but if Satsuki didn't do anything, neither would Aya.

"She doesn't want to talk with me." She pouted and didn't even look in Aya's direction.

"Well, I wouldn't either, Momoi-san." Tatsuya jumped in and looked at the pinkette with knowing look. "If you kept giving me signals that you'd rather have your tooth pulled out than looked at me, I wouldn't want to talk with you either. Aya won't beg you for an apology, or friendship. So if you continue with what you're doing, you'll be short one friend by the end of this camp."

Atsushi cringed at hearing that. "Having a tooth pulled out is scary…"

"That was not really the point, but you're right." Tatsuya smiled at the giant, who rolled his eyes – he did get the point of Tatsuya's little speech.

"It's certainly scarier than Aya-chin." He said to Satsuki, stared at her for a moment and then continued eating like he'd said nothing at all.

Satsuki shook her head confusedly, she never understood the giant. He was 100% right, she just didn't feel that way, yet. But she didn't have much time to make it right.

"Jiiiii-san, I'm really trying! It just won't listen!" Kouta's voice reached them from outside as he was approaching the open door to have lunch too.

"It's a chisel for good grief! A tool! It doesn't _listen_! It does what you need to do!" Taichi grumbled at him angrily. He'd never seen someone so inept in wood carving. Even Taiga had done better on his first try. _If only he was half as semi-good as Taiga…_

"It doesn't." Kouta pouted as he walked into the dining room. His hand was bandaged as he'd cut it several times with different tools he'd tried out. "Oh, hey Lil' Monkey! I didn't know you were already here!" His face brightened up immediately and he was by her side in two jumps, hugging her before she'd managed to stand up to go greet him herself.

She grunted in annoyance, but she hugged him as much as their position allowed – it was awkward and uncomfortable through and through. "Like we haven't seen each other for years." She said sarcastically with an eye roll. "What are you doing here anyways?"

"An assignment. I'm supposed to make a sculpture, whatever size, whatever theme, I just need to work with a material out of my usual assignments. So I thought I might use wood. But it's harder than it looks." He sighed.

"Things you try out for the first time tends to be like that."

"Sex's not." He protested.

"Urgh! Really?!"

Kouta grinned foxily. "To keep you alert."

"What's 'sex'?" Kaito asked curiously, turning his big eyes at the two.

"Huh? Oh! Nee-chan will tell you." He winked at quickly retreated. Of course he earned a slap on the back of his neck from Taichi and a nasty glare from Hanae.

"Nee-chan?" The boy turned to her.

She shrugged. "Ask daddy. You are a boy; you should get an explanation from a man."

"Hmmmm… Why?" He probed further.

"Because you can't deny your daddy the privilege to explain. We wouldn't want him to miss the opportunity, and he'd be sad if he didn't get the chance…"

Kaito thought about for a bit then he shrugged. "'kay." And he turned back to his food.

Aya sighed in relief inaudibly and got up to wash her dishes and greet with her grandpa. Meanwhile, Kouta dragged a chair to sit at Aomine's table and started stuffing himself with the delicious food he fetched from Hanae. When Aya was walking back to her place she unexpectedly slapped the back of his head; he almost choked with the food. She did so nonchalantly in passing. "Idiot." She hissed and continued on.

"Serves you right." Tatsuya chuckled and slapped Kouta's back to help him get the food out of his trachea.

"What? I thought he knew." He said to Tatsuya, still coughing quietly. "They travelled around on horseback and lived in yurts. I thought there were not many secrets among the people and even the smallest kids know."

Tatsuya raised an eyebrow. "Apparently, you thought wrong. You never learn, do you?"

"Huh?"

"From tomorrow on, Aya'll be preparing meals too. Be careful about pissing her off too much." Aomine advised and got up to wash his plates in the basin. The boys (the captains and coaches) had agreed that everyone would wash their dishes after breakfast and lunch and only dishes from dinner would be washed by those caught outside after the curfew.

"Shit..." Kouta cursed under his breath and decided to serve his own food.

######

The afternoon practise was, so far, the most difficult one for the boys, especially for the Yosen team. They hadn't previously experienced the ballet and dancing inspired balance and strength practises. Passing the ball around on their tiptoes or stretching out too much weren't their fortes. But Aya managed to handle all of them, giving them tips and hacks how to get better. Not all of them listened and her courtesy was wasted on some, but she didn't really care. She'd always had a thick skin against idiots. And the boys had to admit one thing, she knew her business and she was doing everything with them.

In the last round of passing the ball around on their tiptoes, Tanaka decided to have a tiny little revenge for the humiliation from the other day. Instead of passing to Aya's readied hands, he foxed slipping and threw the ball into her thigh using all of his strength.

She let out a strangled grunt as she took the impact of the ball. The leg was healing slowly, because of her nonstop practising; her muscle was damaged, but as long as it supported her weight, she wouldn't stop practising. It still hurt, but it was much better than during the competitions, or first days of the camp.

"Sorry, sorry! I didn't mean it, are you okay?" He asked worriedly with an apologetic expression on his face.

Aya bit the inside of her cheek and then smiled. "It's fine, don't worry 'bout it." She said and shifted her weight, testing the leg; it felt fine enough. "Go get the ball and let's get back to practise!"

Tanaka trotted to get the stray ball with a frown. He'd expected a bigger fuss. He decided to test it again sometime later, but when he returned to the circle very nasty glares from Atsushi and Tatsuya convinced him otherwise.

At the end of the practise, after the final sprints and proper stretches, she decided to rest her right leg a bit and she was putting less weight on it while walking. It wasn't exactly limping, but doing that for she lost the dancer's grace that was connected with her gait. Majority of the guys were lifelessly lying on the ground, too exhausted to move, the rest ran away fearing she might come up with another deadly exercise; there was no one to notice her slight change in walking.

With a certain amount of curiosity she approached Aomine, making sure no one was in earshot. "So you can't walk on your hands, but you can do splits?"

"Huh?" He straightened up to look at her, firmly holding his collected stuff. "I haven't done a single one." He grumbled in response, staring at her intensely. 'Leave it.' His eyes seemed to be saying. This was the first practise he attended and didn't leave half-way through.

Aya raised an eyebrow at him and shrugged. "Maybe not, but you could if you wanted. You didn't want to be the weird one, right?"

His brows knitted in a deep frown. He thought he'd done a good job in hiding the fact. It was considered quite unmanly among the team and he didn't want the teasing. So he decided to do as bad as everyone else.

She chuckled and shook her head. "Whatever, I don't care, I'm just curious. But rather than weird, it's impressive."

"Martial arts." He shrugged. "If you want to kick high, or do other things, you need to be stretched properly."

It was the only possible explanation she'd come up with, so she was happy she had it right. "Thought so."

They headed towards the exit; Wakamatsu was the one responsible that the gym was cleaned up properly that day. There was nothing more for them to do in the gym and Aya wanted to take a quick shower and go help a bit with the dinner. At least with the serving.

"And why are you walking… differently?" Daiki asked after several seconds.

She frowned; she didn't expect anyone to notice. Not so soon. "Am I?"

"Tch, you're not the only one with the feel for others' rhythms. You don't want to burden your right leg. Did that idiot's _pass_ hurt that much?" He'd love to pass a ball in Tanaka's face, but the guy might've really slipped… And Aya hadn't seemed too bothered before when she'd gotten hit in the limbs by some stray balls.

She stared at him for a second, and then she sighed and decided for the truth. "I fell through a glass conference table back in L.A. and cut my thigh quite _nicely_ … Had it stitched but the stitches torn and I left it to heal on its own. But because I'm practising constantly it's healing very slowly. So, yeah, the hit hurt."

"…" He was blinking at her with a blank expression. "What?"

"Aya-chan!" Satsuki approached them by the gym's door. She was playing with the hem of her t-shirt nervously. "Uhm… Could I… Could I talk with you?"

"Uh…" Aya looked at Aomine and than at Satsuki. She wasn't sure who to pay attention to at the moment. Daiki looked like she'd dropped a bomb on him, but it wasn't that bad right?

"Tch… yeah, you two should talk." He waved his hand and made himself scarce. But he didn't forget to get Satsuki one of his 'don't fuck it up' looks.

Aya shrugged. "Okay." She walked a bit farther from the gym's entrance.

Satsuki followed after her like a puppy, thinking how to start a conversation, because Aya-chan didn't look like she'd make it easier for her. The redhead was patiently waiting for her to start and she needed to muster up enough courage. "Uhm, well…" She squeezed her eyes shut and bowed deeply. "I'm sorry for the misunderstanding I caused! I really am! I didn't realise it'd cause such a mess." She rambled out quickly.

The redhead sighed. "Well, nothing to be done about it now. Daiki and I talked it out a long time ago…" _More or less._ "Please, don't do such a thing next time." Though she wasn't sure Satsuki wouldn't do such a thing next time, she hoped so.

Satsuki blinked at her in surprise. Was it okay? Was it enough? "Uhm…Are we…? I-is it…?"

"It's fine. We're still friends. I won't push you into the stream or anything, don't worry. I'm not a vengeful bitch." She smiled. This dispute among them was pointless, but she wanted Satsuki to admit she'd been wrong. And besides, Satsuki wasn't a bad person, she just sometimes failed to realise the impact of her actions. Quite unusual for the intelligent girl like Satsuki.

"O-okay…"

"Good then, I need to run to take a shower and then help in the kitchen. I'll sit with you at the dinner, 'kay?"

"Y-yeah! Sure! Uh… Thank you!"

Aya shook her head with a chuckle and headed towards the house. Kaito joined her half-way. He'd been too interested in Kouta's failing with the sculpture and so he'd decided to watch him and grandpa instead the basketball practise. But now he wanted to be with Aya-nee-chan.

######

"Hey, Shiranui." Daiki walked into the workshop. Normally, he wouldn't look Kouta up on his own, but the guy was the only one who could tell him what exactly had happened to Aya's leg; he doubted the driver knew much and even if, the English was a problem there.

"Hm?" Kouta raised his gaze and a knife found its way into his finger. "Fuck! Ouch! Dammit!"

"You're not focused." Taichi scowled at his apprentice. "And watch your language!"

"He interrupted me!"

"You should've stopped working before looking up." Shaking his head, Taichi picked up the knife and wiped it clean. "We're done for today. Clean the wound; be here tomorrow after morning runs and breakfast."

"What? I don't need the runs." He protested.

The old man could be like a general at times. "You're also a dancer, right? If Robin goes, you go too. Or you'll do the dishes."

Kouta sighed and nodded. "Will I ever do this right?"

"If you don't stop trying, I'll teach you right." He smiled and walked out. It was time to feed the dogs, and the youngsters probably wanted to talk alone.

Kouta glared at Daiki as he headed towards a small sink in the workshop. "So? What brings you here to cause me harm?"

"Tch, it's not my fault you're clumsy."

"Right, Mr. know-it-all. Argued with Aya again? So soon?"

"No, I wanted to ask her something, but Satsuki got in the way. I think you can tell me too." It didn't really matter, as long as he got some answer.

"And why do you think I know the answer? Or that I will tell you?"

Daiki frowned. True, Kouta might not tell him, or the guy might make up some utter nonsense. "You lived in the same house, and she trusts you, to an extent…"

Kouta sighed and then winced as water stung in his fresh cut. He had no reason to lie and he wanted Aya to finally relax and just be happy and in love. "Ask me them. Maybe I'll tell you. Unless it's her lingerie preference! She'd kill me if she found out I knew! – Ooopsy!" He covered his mouth, laughing inwardly at Daiki's blush and following flash of anger and jealousy in his eyes.

Daiki decided to ignore that improper remark that actually fitted Kouta's character. "The leg injury… It sounded weird." Someone like Aya wouldn't 'trip' easily. He couldn't imagine it.

"Sounded? You listened to it?"

The expression on Daiki's face changed into a very dangerous and impatient one. He seemed to be saying: 'one more stupid word and I'll drown you in that sink'.

Chills ran down Kouta's spine, but he wasn't really intimidated by Daiki. He had a very thick skin and low levels of self-preservation and two older brothers. Although, for a teenager, Daiki could certainly look scary.

"Her father." He answered emotionlessly and turned back to the sink.

"What?"

"Haruka slapped her, or punched her, I wasn't there, so I can't really know, but it was strong enough to fly her through that damn table. It looked gruesome. And she actually went to a hospital." He snorted. "That in itself speaks volumes."

"…" Daiki needed a moment to process it. "…and you let her practise and compete?"

Kouta shrugged. "It's only a flesh wound and she's freaking Kagami Aya, you wouldn't be able to stop her either. That's why Taiga went with her for the acro as I would probably damage her leg more."

He could understand, but still… He didn't like it. And she led the practise like nothing, didn't tell anyone except him. "Why is it healing so slowly?"

"The stitches torn, she pulled them out and the scabs didn't hold the wound closed properly. So it kept reopening during the camp. But she took proper care of it. The small scratches and cuts are healed up quite nicely." He shrugged. "Except the two big cuts it shouldn't scar, don't worry." He looked at Daiki curiously, observing him.

He scowled at Kouta disdainfully. "Tch. I don't care 'bout that." He grumbled and left.

"Well, thank you! I'm glad you told me, Kouta! And sorry for interrupting you!" He called after the departing – stomping away – guy, who'd been the reason of his cut.

Daiki just raised an arm over his head and waved in sign he heard. And maybe agreed.

######

"Booby-chan, ya'v' been avoidin' me!" Hero accused her with a pout and dragged a chair to the table where Aya was sitting at the dinner.

All the occupants had to squeeze together to make a space for her, but Hero didn't care in the slightest. She didn't understand why was everyone so set on sitting in one spot the whole camp. She liked if she could change her company from time to time. And she could tease Atsushi this way too, and be teased back; they actually formed a strange form of friendship she didn't mind at all.

"No. I've been too busy in the past few hours." Aya protested. "But it's certainly nice to see you again!" She briefly hugged the tiny girl with one arm. "I've heard you're officially dating Fukui-senpai. Congrats!"

Hero blushed cutely and then she grinned foxily. Of course she pulled all the interesting stories out of Satsuki. "Ya should take an example!"

A short-lived blush passed Aya's cheeks when she caught Daiki's surprised stare, but then her expression went blank. "I guess so." She agreed neutrally.

Hero, not expecting an agreement continued with her lecturing. "No, really! Ya'v' been circlin' 'round one another like idiots and…" Aya was staring at her blankly and Hero repeated Aya's answer in her head and flushed, this time in embarrassment. "…oh… right… Yeah, ya should, ya should." She cleared her throat and nodded several times. Atsushi and Tatsuya were discreetly laughing at her. "What ar' ya laughin' at, huh?!"

"You should listen better, Hiro-chin."

"No wonders you stood up Fukui-senpai on your second date." Tatsuya added, knowing where it hurt.

Hero narrowed her eyes, ready to throw something at him. It hadn't been her fault; Fukui had been talking too much and she'd gotten the meeting spot wrong and had waited elsewhere. They'd stood each other up, unintentionally, both of them.

"Hey, hey, hey. Cool off, Hero." Aya gently tapped the girl's hand with chopsticks, trying to prevent her from throwing the object at Tatsuya.

"What d' ya know, Booby-chan, and there I thought he was decent." She pointed at Tatsuya with her chin and decided to ignore him.

"Why d' you call Aya-nee-chan like that?" Kaito asked with a frown, staring at the little loudmouth.

"Ain't it obvious, Squirrel?" She wiggled her eyebrows and ogled Aya's breasts.

"Squirrel? – hey! I warn you, Sumire. Touch 'em, and I'll hit you." Aya threatened, using Hero's name to accentuate the threat; she could guess the girl's intention by her expression. Then she noticed Kouta's attention was on them. "Not a word!" She glared at him.

Kouta raised his hands in defensive gesture. "Wasn't going to say anything, Monkey! But–"

It was Derek's hand that covered Kouta's mouth before he could utter some nonsense. " _I'll keep an eye on him."_ He'd heard about the sex comment from earlier and made it his task to keep the wild man in check – as much as he could without properly understanding the language.

" _Thanks!"_

"So he does understand." Daiki muttered.

Aya shrugged. "Nah, I think he just knows Kouta already."

" _Hey! What was that for?! It's disgusting!"_ Derek let go immediately with an appalled expression and wiped his hand into Kouta's t-shirt. It was obvious the dreadlock's guy had just licked Derek's palm.

"Apparently not that well… What've I done to deserve this…" Aya lamented with a deep sigh and shook her head.

Kaito had no idea what was all this about, but Aya's sigh spoke volumes. So he hugged her in sympathy. "There, there." He said patting the side of her waist he could reach.

"Yeah." She patted Kaito's head fighting off laughter. "I know, we're surrounded by lovely idiots that we call our family."

######

"Daiki?" Aya was helping him with wiping the dishes and only a few of the others remained in the dining hall.

Majority of the guys was dead tired and they preferred playing cards or reading in their sleeping space, instead of the dining hall. Kaito was talking to Tatsuya, and it was obvious that Tatsuya wanted to get away and rest already. He yawned widely and glanced at Aya, sending a 'please save me' message. He liked Kaito, but he really wanted to pass out on his futon.

Daiki, who was totally absorbed by his duty and lost in his thoughts, took a while to answer. "Hm?" He looked up, feeling her gaze more than remembering her attempt to get his attention.

"Could you take Kaito upstairs and keep him company, please? I'll finish this here and then I need to talk with Hanae-baa-chan."

"Uh…" He wasn't sure it was okay.

Aya interpreted his hesitation differently. "If you don't mind his motormouth…?" The boys weren't here to babysit after all.

"No… That's fine, he's showed me around here a bit already, but… can I go in?"

"Huh?" Was that the problem? "Why not?"

"Err, well… I'm accommodated elsewhere? Kagami-san might not be delighted by me wandering in the house…" He said with a grimace. "I don't want to do the dishes for the whole week."

"You won't. It's fine, I asked you and you'll be with Kaito. If Jii-san minds I'll be the one answering to him."

He thought about it for a moment, and then he nodded. "On one condition."

"Oh?" She raised an eyebrow, "which is…?"

"I want to get into the tree house." He demanded with a childish glee in his eyes. He's never had a tree house and he was probably the only one who'd noticed the massive structure high in the trees. It was well concealed, with all the leaves and camouflage. Maybe he wouldn't have noticed if Kaito hadn't pointed it out to him. He was curious and excited about getting up there, but he hadn't found a way up there yet. Even though he'd seen Aya climb there on the video, he hadn't found the supports in any of the surrounding trees and he didn't want to break his neck.

"Deal…" She blinked at him and then smirked playfully. "…and there I thought you might want a kiss." She added quietly when he turned to go save Tatsuya from the little motormouth.

He whipped around with his eyes wide and deep blush he was trying to fight off so hard. "What did you just say?" Could he have really asked that?! It hadn't occurred to him.

"You heard me." She said with a gleeful sparkle in her reddish eyes.

"Careful, Sweetheart, my self-control can be very flimsy." He stared at her with desire and dare. _Yeah, but talking 'bout it is easier than doing it…_

 _Mine too…_ She thought averting her gaze, thankful for the table separating them. Those deep blue eyes could make her knees weak like none other.

The lack of retort on her side made him turn around and go to Kaito. If not for the few people in the room, he'd probably jump over the table. The girl had an unbelievable impact on him.

"He's a nice young man, eh? Handsome too."

Hanae's voice coming from behind startled Aya and she whipped around with a hand over her heart. "Don't scare me like that, Baa-chan." Then she blushed and turned around. The plates and bowls were suddenly very interesting.

The old woman chuckled. She'd witnessed the whole sparkles igniting teasing between the two and she couldn't say she minded it. Her granddaughter seemed happy, and that was a good thing. She was old, but she hadn't forgotten her youth. It reminded her of Keiko and Haruka, or her own relationship which had started during her high-school times. Oh, how much in love she'd been back then. Plus Aomine Daiki seemed to be a decent boy with good personality, even Taichi had said so, and her husband could be very strict. Maybe a bit rough on the edges, but strangely kind too.

"You two dating yet?" She asked curiously, taking another dish towel to get the work done faster.

Aya shook her head.

"Little advice from an old woman… If you like him, be with him, don't complicate it too much. Loves come and go. Some end in tears and some bloom for whole life. And who knows? This one might be like that. But you won't find out unless you try, Robin."

A small smile like kindling fire spread on her lips and warmed her already burning heart even more. "I know, but father won't be pleased. I don't want Daiki to be harmed because of me."

"Oh, he can stick his complaints and anger up his arse for all I care." Hanae spat angrily. "He's done enough wrong to you. Don't think 'bout his opinions or what he might do anymore. Because he won't. As his parents, we'll have your back. Aomine-kun's too."

She chuckled bitterly. "Thanks. That's what I've intended, but it's not that simple. It's still somewhere in the back of my head. Tch, I'm an idiot." She leaned against the sink and ran her fingers through her hair.

"No you're not, you still care. As unbelievable as it is. And that's not wrong. But start thinking about your own happiness. He is your father, he always will be and you won't get rid of that feeling in the back of your head and heart, but don't let it limit you anymore, my child. Keiko-chan brought you up with wings, use them and never forget that. Both of you, Taiga too." She was watching her granddaughter kindly.

"Yeah." Aya put down the last dried plate she'd been holding. "So what do you want to talk about?"

"I wanted to know what exactly happened and if you're alright. But I guess you will be." She smiled. It deepened her wrinkles, but it also beautifully lit up her face. Hanae was pretty regardless of her age.

"I've told you so."

"Yeah, but you always say that. And it worries us more than you think." She put a teapot on the stove and took out two cups. "Still, tell me how are things going with the company? How's your leg – I've heard something from Gabi, but I want to know your version too. What about your friends? Have you met with Alex?"

######

She walked upstairs without turning the lights on. She didn't want to disturb the peace which settled over the house so late at night. And she knew the way by heart. It surprised her how well she remembered it.

Kaito's door was open and he was vividly describing one of his adventures to Daiki. "…and that's when I figured out it was only the wind making scary sounds as it was blowing through those hollow rocks. It was an eerie mournful sound and we were expecting some weird creatures to appear there." They were sitting cross-legged on the bed and only the table lamp was illuminating the room, Kaito was facing the door. He had a blanket wrapped around his shoulders looking like some tiny mushroom with a human head. "Even daddy was frightened, though he wouldn't admit it. I know, his horse could feel it, it danced around sometimes like–" he raised his eyes noticing the figure standing in the doorway, he'd be frightened, but he knew the silhouette well. "Oh, Aya-nee-chan, I was just telling him about the strange rocks on the grasslands."

She smiled kindly. "Oh, you'll have to tell me tomorrow too."

"Not tonight?" He asked dejectedly.

"Not tonight. Didn't you want to hear a bedtime story?"

"Oh, yes! Tell me the story about Hotaru-hime! Pleaase!" It was his favourite story.

"Do you know in which book it is?" Aya knew very well which book it was in; it was one of her favourites too, but she wanted Kaito to go and fetch it. Even if she didn't have the book, she had the story memorised, but the boy didn't know that.

"I'll bring it!" Kaito scrambled out of bed, almost tripping on the corner of the blanket.

Aomine's strong arm caught him before he could crash on his nose. "Oi, oi, careful, kid."

"Ehehe." The boy laughed and wrapped the blanket tighter around his shoulder, not giving it up. "I'm Zashiki Warashi!" He squealed quietly and ran out of the room.

"Careful with that, kid." Daiki grumbled with a frown. Zashiki Warashi might've been luck bringing house spirits, but he didn't like ghost stories or someone mentioning them in eerie places. For him, this old house could very well host several spirits and he really didn't want to encounter any of them. Eh, no need for Aya to know that. He looked at her and shifted his sitting position. "How was the interrogation?"

A small smile played on her lips. "Surprisingly wise and pleasant."

"Huh?"

"Baa-chan saw our teasing earlier, so she asked me if we were dating _yet_." She was observing him curiously. They needed to talk about this too and grandma gave a casual impulse to start it.

His eyes widened and if he was drinking something he'd probably choke on it. "…are we?" He asked quietly, not taking his eyes off of her. In that warm little light she looked stunning. Her loose hair looked like living fire and those eyes. He was mesmerised by them more than by her boobs – though he'd never say it out loud.

"…you tell me." She matched his volume and finally walked into the room, dragged in like a snake by a flute. The atmosphere was crazily intimate and she thought her heart would jump out. She was tempting her fate, but it felt damn good, because in those dark eyes she didn't see a speck of refusal.

He smirked, but it was somewhat soft. He got up and took a step towards her. His heart was somewhere in his throat and he felt overheated, but he found enough courage to challenge her. "I say we are." His voice sounded strange, deeper, even to his own ears. He had no idea what she'd say to that, but he felt she wouldn't say 'no'.

"Mhm, I'd say so too." She agreed and had to look up as he got closer to her.

When his calloused palm gently cupped her cheek it was shaking, she'd bet her fingers would shake like that too. It was so beautiful and happy; she'd forgotten about the whole turmoil of feelings swirling in her and focused solely on this one. The one that made her feel so content and happy and safe. She needed Aomine Daiki in her life, not like just a friend, but like an equal partner.

"Aren't you scared?" She asked quietly. She had to.

 _Of kissing you? I'm terrified._ He thought. "What of?"

"Kagami Haruka?"

He frowned. Her father's shadow seemed to be long and simply denying the worry would be a lie. He'd heard how she 'tripped and fell through the table'. It worried him…"…I won't let you leave because of him."

"Thank you." It was barely louder than a whisper and she reached up to cup his cheek too. Her thumb traced his cheekbone as she rose to her tiptoes. She wasn't a short girl, but he was so damn tall.

Their noses touched. His lips brushed lightly against hers. He had no idea what was he supposed to do. But Aya didn't seem to care. She closed her eyes and leaned into him, holding onto his shoulder to support herself. And her soft lips moved, as if showing him what to do. It wasn't difficult for him to follow.

He drove his fingers into her hair like he had wanted to do for so long. His other hand instinctively found her waist. She fitted into his arms perfectly.

Feeling his hands she sighed contentedly and stood on her toes. By holding her waist he supported her even more. As a ballerina she shouldn't have a problem with balance, but it was the last thing she cared about at the moment.

She was _finally_ kissing Daiki. Damn, she wanted to do so for so long. His lips were dry and a bit rough. A little clumsy at first, but he was a _very_ fast instinctual learner. With all the passion, love and excitement, he was unexpectedly gentle with her.

When they parted to breathe, their breaths were quickened and eyes shining. Their foreheads were still touching and he didn't seem willing to let her go. They both felt like bursting from all the overflowing emotions.

Aya licked her lips and smiled. "Not bad for our first kiss, huh?" She asked with a mischievous sparkle in her eyes.

He chuckled breathlessly. "Not bad at all."

"Glad to hear that." She chuckled too and kissed him again.

He blinked in surprise, but quickly got pulled into it. Who was he to complain when his girl wanted to kiss. Weren't they missing something?

This kiss was short-lived.

"I found it!" Kouta's loud voice – too loud for the late hour – and his running footsteps startled them.

Their faces quickly parted and Aya abruptly dropped off her tiptoes, hissing as she felt a sudden jolt of pain from her missing toenail. _There runs the mood…_ She thought bitterly, but she wasn't really angry.

Then there was a gasp followed by a loud thud as Kaito tripped over the blanket and fell head first onto the wooden floor. Thankfully his head missed the door and he was staring into the room at the two hugging teenagers.

Instead of pushing her away, Daiki pulled her into a hug hiding her flushed face in his chest. He himself had to take a few deep breaths to calm down. The kid almost made his heart leap out of his throat. As if he wasn't nervous enough.

"Huh? What's that?" Kaito asked. The two hugging was a bigger shock than the hard impact – he'd been used to those.

"A good night hug." Aya said quickly and chuckled against Daiki's chest. His heart was beating as crazily as hers. She pushed away enough look at Kaito. "You see, I sleep better when I get a hug." Then she looked at Daiki, whose expression was a mixture of excitement, disappointment and 'please kill me'. "Sorry?" It wasn't such a colossal interruption like Kise's. They did at least settle something.

But Daiki shook his head. There was nothing to apologise for. A bit more of kissing her like _that_ and it'd be a slight problem for him to keep his excitement in check. "Wasn't he away too long, by the way?"

Aya frowned and took a step away from Daiki, but she kept one hand on his arm. He was right. "Where were you?"

Kaito was still on the ground with a grin. "Baa-chan gave me milk with honey!" He said happily, licking his lips. "Oh," the boy blinked and then started crawling to his feet, "can I join?" He liked good night hugs.

"Once you get up." Aya stretched her hand out to invite him to the circle. "Come on, you little Zashiki Warashi."

The boy was short and reached below Daiki's hips, so he could hug just his thigh. It was a strange experience for Daiki, but he didn't really mind. " _So a girlfriend… what now?_ " He mumbled in Thai and let out a subtle sigh.

"Hm?" Aya glanced at him.

Daiki just shook his head and strengthened his hug. "It's nothing."

She shrugged. She knew that Kaito would soon demand the bedtime story. And there was one thing she wanted to do. So she put a hand on top of Kaito's head to prevent him from looking up and quickly got on her tiptoes.

She could only reach Daiki's jaw, but whatever. A brief good-night kiss on the jaw would have to do. And so, she happily did it. His whole body stiffened, and she knew it surprised him. A content smile settled on her lips and she rested her forehead against his jaw.

Kaito stirred.

Aya sighed, she didn't want to tell him to go, but he should. He knew he should. "Didn't you want to read a bedtime story?" Daiki asked, hoping he didn't sound strange.

"Yeah! Hotaru-hime's waiting!" Kaito pulled away and looked at them expectantly. A blood dripped from his nose.

"Right after we clean you up." Aya sighed and took a handkerchief from Kaito's night table.

"Huh?" He reached up, touching his nose and then studying the blood on his fingers. "Oh… I must've hit it…"

"Must've."

Daiki shuffled out of the room, watching Aya taking care of the little interruption. He wasn't surprised that Kaito loved her so much. "Good night."

" 'night, Daiki." She smiled at him with a slight blush and licked her lips. Then she blinked as she remembered something. "Careful on your way out."

"Huh?"

"Kouta lives here." She said ominously. "He might be smaller than you… but he has the advantage of surprise."

Chills ran down Daiki's spine. He didn't feel comfortable around the guy.

She laughed at his suddenly frightened expression. "…don't worry, he won't jump you. Derek's more likely to become his victim."

Wait, was Kouta… "…is he in–…?" He looked at her meaningfully, and hoped she'd get the question. He didn't want to stir Kaito's curiosity again.

"Into both, if you get it."

He made an 'oh' face. "I'll watch my back." He said seriously.

"I'd watch the front too…" She teased.

"Tch." He clicked his tongue and vanished in the darkness of the house.

"It's stopped!" Kaito clapped happily. He had no idea what they'd talked about, but his nose stopped bleeding. "Can you read me the story now?"

"Sure, let's read."

######

"And where've you been this long~?" Imayoshi asked curiously when Aomine returned well past the curfew.

"Babysitting." He grumbled. "The kid wouldn't let me go."

"Then I presume Aya-chan saved your poor ass?"

"Who else?"

"So are you finally dating?" Naito asked in a bored tone and looked up from his book. "I swear I'll eat a toilet brush if you tell me you're not despite coming back this late."

"Careful with your promises, Shouhei." Ishii warned him with a smirk. "You might get to fulfil it one day."

Naito rolled his eyes. "Oh, please. They've been circling around each other for weeks like idiots."

"So?" Kano asked. He wanted to know. Everything about Aya-chan he'd learnt was somewhat saddening, amazing too, but saddening. He didn't really know how to act, but… Maybe he could take an example from the rude ace. Aomine didn't seem to care, although he'd known it all for quite some time and he'd always behaved like usual. And Aya didn't mind it. Well… maybe the ace softened up a bit, but he was still rough around the edges. Kano realised that he was actually waiting for this answer. As if he'd base his future behaviour solely on it, which was nonsensical, but he felt it was important in one way or another.

Everyone who wasn't sleeping was watching him expectantly.

Aomine frowned. He himself didn't quite get the situation he was in now. He'd gotten his first girlfriend fifteen minutes ago. Everything came crashing on him only then, when was asked to voice it out. _So what now?_

"And if we are?" He asked. Aya's question avoidance must've rubbed off on him.

"REALLY?!" Several guys shouted in disbelief. Wakamatsu was the loudest, of course. "You are?!"

"So how was the kiss? She any good?" Someone asked, which only earned them a very nasty glare from the ace.

"Oi, oi." Susa raised his hands in pacifying gesture. "Keep it down, will you? Kagami-ojii-san might appear to check up on us. And it's their business, not ours."

"Oh, Susa, don't say you're not curious." Imayoshi nudged him.

"I still think it's none of our business. He didn't confirm it, by the way." He looked at Aomine again.

"Then we'll ask Aya-chan tomorrow~" The captain smirked. "I believe she'll tell us. And if not, there's still Shiranui-senpai and Momoi-san, right?"

When Aomine heard the list of people who'd be involved in Imayoshi's investigation, he decided to answer him himself. "Tche. We are. Any problem with that?!" He barked.

"Not in the slightest~ just don't lose your edge in the matches."

"The only one, who can beat me, is me. That hasn't changed." He said coldly and slumped into his futon. "Now I'd appreciate if you shut the hell up and turn the lights off." He needed to sort out his emotions and thoughts. It'd been one hell of a rollercoaster day. But Aya's lips… Damn!

######

Derek woke in the middle of the night. He was thirsty. When he got out of his room he noticed opened door and light on in Kaito's room. But the whole house was silent, so he expected everyone was sleeping. He decided to turn off the light first.

He had to smile when he peeked into the room and saw Aya and Kaito sleeping together with an opened book resting on top of them. Aya was curled up close to Kaito, who was wrapped up in a blanket. The girl must've been cold in her t-shirt and shorts. He sighed, took another blanket lying on a chair and covered them both. He placed the book on the table, turned off the light and left.

She was cute when sleeping. But she was also a teenager he shouldn't be interested in. They could be friends, but that was it. He knew.

" _She'd pass as 20 year old, don't you think?"_

" _Fuck!"_ It took him all his strength to not shout in fright Kouta gave him.

" _Sorry, sorry. I was thirsty."_

" _That's why you ghost around?!" _He whispered sharply.

" _And why do you? Creep on a sleeping girl to top it."_

" _I was thirsty."_ He muttered, looking away. Not that they could see much in the darkness of the house.

" _Mhm…"_ Kouta hummed, but he couldn't blame him. He'd have done the same; he'd just wanted to do so after getting a glass of water. Well, and he'd have drawn something on their sleeping faces. After a moment of heavy silence he chuckled and patted Derek's shoulder. " _I don't blame you. She's a lovable girl, too bad she's taken, no?"_

" _I_ _ **work**_ _for them."_ Derek didn't know what to think of Kouta. The guy seemed to read through him way too well, all the while being… ridiculous. His crush was gone already, he'd seen how she looked at Daiki, and he didn't want to get into that. It would've been inappropriate and desperate. And he wasn't desperate. " _I don't have a crush. I just care. Is that a bad thing?"_

" _Not really. Those who get to really know her, and aren't idiots, do care. But broken crushes can still hurt, no?"_

" _Huh?"_

" _I can comfort you, if you can forget I have a dick for a moment."_

" _That wouldn't be a problem, but…"_ He admitted truthfully; man or woman, he didn't care. But he wasn't in the mood and emotionless sex never interested him much. " _No. Sorry."_

" _Good to know…"_ Kouta mused quietly. He'd thought Derek was straight through and through. _So a bi like me, huh…_ " _No need to apologise. It was worth a try."_

" _Good night, Kouta."_

" ' _night"_ Kouta replied and watched Derek descend the stairs. Then a thought occurred to him, Aya's room wasn't occupied. _Hmmm… Let's revive the old times…_ He smirked deviously.

######

"Lindsay!" Haruka wasn't surprised when he found Lindsay's office empty, but he needed her. He was sure she was still in the building and he just had to find her.

" _Should we hide under the table or something?"_ Thalia whispered timorously, not daring to look over the screen separating her cubicle in the office. There was no one else there, so there was no one to rat them out, but still…

Lindsay chuckled. " _Don't be silly. He's already cooled off."_

" _Damn it! Playing hide and seek?! What are you, five?!"_

" _Eeeh, maybe not."_ Lindsay reconsidered her previous statement. Then she rose to her feet. " _Good job Thalia. I think you should go home for today."_

" _Seriously?! This is where you've been the whole day?"_ He asked in disbelief.

" _Oh, Haruka-san. Sorry, I didn't hear you calling for me. We were trying to figure out how Aya-chan did those reports. We didn't realise the time passing so quickly. Sorry."_ She played innocence so well, he believed it.

" _Right… I need you to get me plane tickets."_ He said with determination in his voice.

She blinked in surprise. There was no business trip or meetings planned for more than the next month. This was unexpected. " _Where to? What date?"_ She asked matter-of-factly.

" _Tokyo. The day after tomorrow. I'll take two weeks off."_ He was talking quickly; as if afraid he might change his mind if he spoke slower. Leaving the company unattended was like leaving a toddler to fend for itself, but he knew Lindsay was a capable assistant and leader if needed to be. He could rely on her wits and ability to substitute him for some time.

The young woman smiled encouragingly. " _Okay. I'll get right to it. Do you want me to book you a hotel or something too?"_

He thought about it for a moment. The apartment belonged to his children now, but he assumed they wouldn't dare kicking him out. " _...no. I have a place to stay."_

* * *

 **A/N:** Maybe a bit too long as it covers only one day, but there's lot of characters at one place and I didn't want to ignore anyone...

Let me know what you think and remember, reviews are appreciated but never necessary.

S.


	46. Chapter 46: I love you

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone who followed, favourited and reviewed! It makes me very happy.

I'm still managing to update on time! I'm surprised myself.

Enjoy!

* * *

 _Holy shit! Where's a cell phone camera when you need one?_ ― _**Simone Elkeles, Perfect Chemistry**_

 _Go and play. Run around. Build something. Break something. Climb a tree. Get dirty. Get in some trouble. Have some fun._ ― _**Brom, The Child Thief**_

 _It was the kind of kiss that made me know that I was never so happy in my whole life._ ― _**Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower**_

 _And the stars blinked as they watched her carefully, jealous of the way she shone._ ― _**Atticus Poetry, Love Her Wild**_

 _Lust starts with chemistry. Love starts with trust and respect._ ― _**Marian Lanouette, If I Fail**_

 _Love is an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired._ ― _**Robert Frost**_

* * *

Aya was nastily woken up by Kaito's hand hitting her in the eye. There were certain drawbacks when sharing a narrow single bed with a kid. She sat up and rubbed her eyes. Kaito was sleeping like the dead, so she crawled out of the bed and stood at the window watching the morning mist covering the surrounding hills as it was slowly rising up. The predawn light illuminated the moist meadow.

She stretched. With a giddy smile she remembered the first kiss with Daiki. _My boyfriend, huh?_ She thought and traced her lips with her finger. Warmth spread through her veins and charged her with energy. Now she wondered how she'd even fallen asleep, but she had to admit she'd been exhausted and the stories she'd read to Kaito lulled her to sleep just like him.

 _You need to cool off._ It would be chilly, but she could head out for a run and be back in time to help with breakfast. Sun would rise soon enough anyways.

She kissed Kaito's forehead and headed to her room to change.

The door on her room was left ajar and she pushed it open without a single worry. Something spilled on her. "Oh, what the…" The sudden 'shower' was cold, sticky and smelled weird. It completely soaked her hair and t-shirt all the way through to her undershirt. She wiped her face and turned on the light to see, what the hell it was.

She studied the liquid mass with disgust. It was some mixture of beer, water, eggs, flour, fine sawdust… She turned around to study the trap, rage rising in her.

There was a trap wire attached to the door and a bucket was fastened above it, so it would spill, but not fall on her head. And there were her pointe shoes bathed in that disgusting hotchpotch, now hanging above her door like mistletoe. There was only one person capable and daring enough to set this up. And yes, she'd forgotten what he could and would do, given the chance.

Oh, she was furious! She jumped up and snatched her shoes.

"My pointes, how dare you?! SHIRANUI KOUTA! YOU'RE DEAD!" Aya's enraged roar at about four in the morning woke up everyone in the main house.

In a second she barged into his room, almost taking the door out of its hinges; hoping to shock-awake the sleeping beauty who plotted all this. But Kouta was standing near the window, already waiting for her.

"Oh, hey." He grinned broadly in provocation. "I thought you needed a reminder." He winked. She looked spectacular! Covered in the mass, her hair stuck and glued to her smudged face and oh those poor clothes. He was very pleased with the result of his hard late night work.

Needless to say, now she was demanding his head. Good he'd left the window open; he wouldn't get past the goddess of wrath.

"You're so dead now." She growled, slapping the pointes against her palm, ready to use it as a weapon.

"First you have to catch me, Monkey." He stuck out his tongue and in a second he jumped through the window, slid down a narrow shingle roof protecting the porch and he was on the run. Barefoot. Wearing only his pyjama bottoms.

"HEY! WAIT!" She followed after him, legs first. The short slide down the shelter hurt, like burning her bare skin, but it soon ended and she fell on the grass like a cat. Barefoot; only her toe with missing nail was wrapped in a bandage. In her knee-high shorts and totally dirty, she chased after the hightailing prankster.

There were another high pitched screams heard from the main house. Followed by Katsunori's really infuriated stream of insults and curses. Followed by another angry voice cursing in English.

The predawn light illuminated the meadow enough to see the two chasing silhouettes as they slipped and tripped on the moist grass in their neck breaking effort to run and catch.

She slipped and rolled over, quickly scrambling back to her feet. Kouta, looking over his shoulder, laughed. "COME ON! YOU SLOOOOWPOKE! CLUMSY!" He called, hoping the anger would slow her down. Despite her fall, the head start he got was being slowly eaten away. And she only added to her efforts.

"SLOWPOKE?! JUST YOU WAIT, BASTARD!" She yelled swears and curses as she chased after him.

That definitely worked as an alarm clock for the boys, contently sleeping in their private houses. They crawled out to their porches and squinted in the weak light to see what was going on.

Kouta looked over his shoulder again, which caused him to trip and roll over. It only shortened the already reducing gap between him and Aya. Then another small missile bolted out off the main house and joined the hunt on Kouta, shouting nasty insults at him.

"Whoa." Tatsuya hummed rubbing his eyes.

"Uuuhm…." Daiki blinked. "What the…?"

"I'd say, Kouta pranked them." Tatsuya said through laughter. "Uh… Fukui-senpai, are you sure you won't go catch Sumire-chan? If she catches him…"

Fukui raised an eyebrow at him. "Won't you go catch your Ex?"

Tatsuya laughed. "It's unwise to get in her way when she's furious."

"Same here." He shrugged. "If they catch him, then he deserves whatever he gets."

"Does someone have a phone?" A boy from Yosen asked, this was hilarious.

"In this poor light you won't get much~ And if you did, we'd have to snatch the phone to delete it." Imayoshi said wickedly. "Things like these stay in the camp."

Kouta suddenly turned and headed into the forest, hoping to get lost in the trees.

"OI! NOT THERE!" Hero screamed, but followed nonetheless. She was starting to feel her operated Achilles tendon and she knew she couldn't run for much more. She wouldn't manage a chase in the uneven terrain of the forest. "AYA! GIMME THAT SHOE!"

"Huh?" Aya turned her head to look at Hero close behind her. Because of that she failed to see a hollow in front of her and she tripped again. "Fuck." At least the grass was soft enough to cushion the impact with the ground.

"The shoe!"

"Here!" She thrust the shoe into Hero's hand and quickly got up again.

"Was 'bout time." Hero muttered. Then she aimed at Kouta's legs and threw the shoe with all her might. It hit. Kouta stumbled and crashed to the ground with a loud grunt.

"Urgh! Ouch. Go get 'im. I can't sprint further." Hero sat down heavily and started massaging her leg. She'd be lucky to walk properly for the rest of the day after this crazy, albeit short, chase.

Aya got to him before he managed to scramble up and disappear into the tree line. He got hit by the remaining shoe couple of times. Then Aya took off her completely ruined top shirt and smudged the sticky mass all over Kouta's face and hair – knowing it'd be hell to wash the sawdust out of his dreadlocks. But being so close to him was peculiar.

Kouta fought back. "No you don't!"

"Nooo!" She squealed when he rolled them over several times. They turned into a ball of tangled arms and legs each was trying to get up and get away.

Inevitably, Kouta kicked her injured thigh making her yelp in pain and he stopped fighting for a moment. "Sorry!"

It wasn't nice, but she used it and kicked him into stomach. "Urgh!" He groaned and rolled off. Aya's aim could be freakishly accurate if she got serious.

She scrunched up the t-shirt and threw it at his chest, where it made a nasty splat sound.

"I warn you, don't do it again." She said icily, anger still burning in her eyes.

"Oh, come on, Monkey. The morning run wasn't that bad, eh?"

She stared at him for a moment, and then she smirked victoriously. "I caught you."

"With help. Next time –"

"There won't be a next time!" Taichi's voice bellowed over the meadow. "Get your asses here! Both of you!"

"Well shit." Kouta frowned and stretched his hand towards Aya. "Did you have to make such a ruckus?" _Well, I pranked them all…_

"I'm not helping you up." She stuck out her tongue and ran to face her grandpa.

Both trouble makers got hit on their foreheads by the edge of Taichi's palm. "You, for making such a ruckus." He frowned at Aya, but understood her reaction and she wasn't the only one pranked. "And YOU!" He glared at Kouta, "for wasting our food! And making a mess in MY HOUSE!"

"Sorry!" The young man bowed deeply.

"Don't sorry me! You'll clean up the mess, apologise to everyone you made fun off, you'll chopping the wood in Keiji's stead for as long as you'll stay and no more pranks inside the houses or the gym!"

"But –"

Taichi's eyes were throwing daggers. "Do it again and you're sleeping on the porch. UNDERSTOOD?!"

"Yes, sir!" Kouta shouted loudly, fairly chastened. _But I can pull pranks outside, right…?_

"Oh, and you'll go buy the food you've wasted." Hanae added to his punishment. Then she looked at Aya with pity in her eyes. "Go clean yourself up, Robin, those eggs are drying up in your hair."

"Yeah. We've made quite a show for them…" She pointed at the boys with her head, thankful for the tricky dawn light. Then she shivered. It was truly a chilly morning.

"They'll soon forget it." Masako walked outside with her shinai tapping against her shoulder. She, Kaito and the grandparents, were the only ones who had been spared the sticky shower. She assumed that Shiranui didn't want to be beaten by her shinai, and again, she proved to herself it was a good weapon. "But I must admit… Seeing Katsunori like a wet chick made my day. Good job, kid." She almost patted Kouta's shoulder but seeing the sticky mass and his sweat she changed her mind.

"Masako-chan." Taichi warned her. "Don't praise him."

"Yeah, yeah…" She waved her hand, and then turned to the boys. "Okay! I see you're all up! Get changed and go for the run! To the village and back! Twice!"

"Eeeeeh?! But Keiji-kun isn't here to take our water bottles there…" Someone protested. Keiji always took their water bottles to the village where they'd turn, so they could drink.

Masako shrugged. "You'll drink here after the full first round!" They complained quietly. "ANY COMPLAINTS?!"

"NO!" They responded and ran inside to quickly wash their faces and change before Masako decided that pyjamas were good enough to run in.

"Nee-chan!" Kaito's whimper sounded from above their heads. The boy was holding onto Kouta's window frame by his fingers and trying to find a support on the steep shingle roof. It wasn't that steep, but with the morning dew it was slippery and hard to find enough support.

"And what are you doing there?" Taichi asked in disbelief.

"Wanted to help Aya-nee-chan."

Taichi frowned at Aya and Kouta. "Did you have to use the window?!"

Kouta shrugged. "Fastest way out."

"Shut up." Aya muttered. Arguing with Taichi wasn't the wisest thing to do.

"I'm scared…" Kaito said with tears in his eyes, feeling embarrassed and helpless. He didn't have enough strength to pull back up into the room, because the window was a bit higher than his head and he was scared to slide down. It was too high for him to just jump down like Aya and Kouta.

Aya made a guilty grimace. She didn't like that Kaito was stranded there because of her. "It's okay. I'll go up and pull you inside, okay? Just a second." She said in consoling voice.

"NO!" Kaito protested immediately and almost slipped. "Don't leave me!" Somehow he thought that once she was out of his sight she'd be gone and leaving him to his fate.

"I won't I'll be up there right away."

"No. Don't leave." He repeated.

"Hmmm…" Aya was looking at the roof trying to find a way up there from where she stood.

"Don't even think about it." Taichi shook his head.

"Why not? The eaves should hold my weight and I can pull myself up."

"But it's damp and if you slip and fall you might harm yourself, and unintentionally pull him down with you."

She sighed. "Kaito, do you trust me?"

He nodded vigorously.

"Then let go and slide down. I'll catch you. Like that time on the water slides." She tried to persuade him. He was small and light, she could catch him just fine.

"I'm scared." He repeated.

Aya looked at Kouta. "Go in and pull him up from the inside." She was starting to feel a slight panic squeezing her insides. She needed to _do_ something.

"He'll make a scene if it's not you." Kouta pointed out. The little boy was too set on being with his big sister; being saved by her too. He feared the boy might wiggle of his grip and fall down anyways.

"Damn." She cursed under her breath. "I'll have to go up from here." She decided.

"And what about me, Risu-chin?" Atsushi drawled, using Hero's nickname for the boy. He overheard the last bits of their conversation as he was heading towards the others to go for the run. He didn't interact with the kid much, but he didn't mind him. And he understood the feeling of being left alone at a scary place. He wanted to help him, and Aya-chin.

"Look." The giant walked right under the roof and raised both of his arms. Without standing on his tiptoes, almost his entire forearms were above the edge of the rooftop where Kaito could see them. "I can reach up here and take you down. But you have to let go and slide to me."

Atsushi took a few steps back to look at the boy. "I won't let you fall."

Kaito gulped looking at the giant. Somehow he felt he could trust him. It comforted him that someone reached all the way up. Then he looked at Aya.

She nodded. "You can sit and slide like on a water slide. Atsushi will catch you. Like Taiga would."

"Like daddy would?" Kaito peeped.

"Haaai, whomever you think about." Atsushi assured him.

The boy gave a short nod and lowered himself to sit, slowly letting go of the window. But then he slipped and with a loud shriek he rolled and slid down.

Thankfully, Atsushi's reflexes were the real deal and just as the boy came to the edge of the roof his hands were there to catch him. He held Kaito up until the boy opened his eyes in surprise he wasn't falling anymore.

"You're fine, Risu-chin." The giant said slowly and a small smile appeared on his face. Then he turned to Aya and shoved Kaito into her arms. He didn't know what else to do with the kid.

"Neee-chan!" Kaito hugged her around her neck and started crying for real. Now when he was safe and sound.

Aya squeezed him tightly and rubbed his back in a comforting gesture. A huge weight fell off her. She was glad Atsushi had been there to help. Otherwise they'd have to pull Kaito in from inside and the kid would be offended and angry for the whole day.

"Thank you, Atsushi. I don't know what I'd do without your help." She smiled at him kindly.

The giant nodded. People usually didn't thank him.

"Murasakibara!" Masako called out his name in annoyance. "Come on!"

With a colossal sigh and eye roll he jogged after the others. But he felt good about himself; his height helped someone today.

######

The pranked girls had to help each other to get the sticky hotchpotch Kouta had prepared out of their hair. Using the outside showers while the guys were away was the best timing for this type of unwanted bonding.

The showers were placed behind the houses and ran around with over three meters high thick wooden walls. They walked in through a narrow sliding door, which Aya closed and locked behind them. There was a sort of spacious front room with numerous racks to store their clothes. The floor was pawed with dark flat rocks and a short path led towards the open showers. There were 8 showers at each side and the floor sloped towards a drain running through the middle. A small bamboo stool was standing under each shower.

Despite its outside character, the showers were kept clean and could be roofed during the winter or strong storms.

Kiku wanted to avoid the whole situation. She stayed in the 'clothes room' on her own, stalling with getting undressed. Her hair only reached her shoulders, she didn't need help, and going to the showers naked with the other three girls… She wouldn't mind Aya… But…

"Come on, Butterfly-chan." Hero called out ready to go and fetch Kiku. "We don't bite."

"Hero." Aya stopped her with a warning in her tone. "If Kiku doesn't want to, then that's that. No reason to force her."

"Hey! I'm only B-cup too! No worries!"

"She's C-cup." The redhead corrected Hero nonchalantly.

"WHAT?! Okay, now ya have to come! In ya'r underwear if ya want!"

 _That's not a problem…_ Aya thought gravely.

"I-I-I'll go…" Kiku peeped from the dressing space. "B-b-but… P-please, d-d-don't tell a-a-anyone…" Her voice was barely audible and she was stuttering again. This whole time, the three girls had never done anything to hurt her. Even the wild midget was trying to be as compassionate and polite as she could be. Kiku wanted to trust them. Because… how was she supposed to try dating Wakamatsu, if she'd be constantly scared of showing herself to him? How could she hope for a good relationship if she couldn't trust him? She had to test it, she had to…

With trembling shoulders and lots of self-denial, she walked in after the girls. They went silent. All of them. Kiku was looking at her feet. Without her glasses she wouldn't see their face that well anyways. They were staring at her scars; old cuts, scratches and cigarette burns, which were marking her torso and thighs.

Satsuki gasped. She'd never expect something like this. True, she only knew about Aya-chan's shoulder scar, and two minutes previously she'd counted four more – older ones and two new – or would be new in a couple of weeks, maybe. And even Hero had a scar from her surgery. But Kiku was… It was terrible.

"Who the fuck did that?!" Hero flared up.

"Huh?" Kiku looked at the midget, surprised. _You should've learned your lesson already. They're your friends._ She thought.

"Really, who? I'll tear their heads off! Hurtin' a cute lil' butterfly like ya."

"That's terrible." Satsuki breathed out. "I'm sorry, I didn't know." What was she supposed to say?

Aya sighed sharply to get their attention. "Bullies. And staring won't help it, neither would pity. Like Kaito said yesterday: _scars are beauty marks of strong people_. Now, shall we get to washing this shit out our hair?"

"He said what?" Kiku asked; she was close to crying after that. The kids were priceless, she should know.

"Yeah." Hero nodded with a grin. "If that's true, than ya'r' the strongest woman I've ever seen. Believe that, Butterfly-chan."

Aya coughed with a teasing grin.

"Yea, yea, ya too, Booby-chan. But don't get too flattered."

They all laughed at that. And Kiku felt lighter. Maybe Wakamatsu would accept it too? Eventually… Eventually she'd show him if she wanted to… She blushed furiously.

"Thinking about Wakamatsu-senpai?" Aya asked and pulled Kiku under a shower.

"No! How could he… No!" She shook her head still blushing.

"Heeeeeee…" Hero grinned and aimed her shower at Aya's face. "How come ya know and I don't?"

"Because you're in Akita?" Satsuki said and rubbed huge amount of shampoo into Hero's hair.

"Phones exist, Pinky-pie." The girl lamented.

The pinkette ignored her. "Aya-chan?"

"Hm?" She looked up from Kiku's hair she was trying to free of all the sawdust.

"I bumped into Aomine-kun yesterday night. _Late night_. He seemed… Overexcited? And a bit worried, or out of his usual brooding-frowning self? Is there something going on?" She asked and her eyes were shining with curiosity, hoping for juicy news. She'd been shipping those two for months, well… if it weren't for her meddling, but that wasn't important now.

Aya blushed, remembering the kiss again and looked away.

Hero was sitting on her stool with her head tilted down while Satsuki was brushing the mess out of her hair; she didn't see Kiku or Aya. "Okaaaay! That silence is suspicious, Booby-chan."

"So what happened?" Kiku joined the three. She was curious too, and she knew a bit more of Aya's feelings.

"So we kissed." Aya blurted out. "And are dating. Officially… Apparently."

That caused an official squealing of all three girls.

"So wait!" Hero stood up and dramatically threw her hair backwards. "Ya tellin' me it was yar first kiss?!"

"We weren't dating before, so yeah?"

"Huuuuh?! I'd swear ya did all sorts of things before."

"Sumire-chan!" Satsuki punched – or tried to punch – her shoulder. "Aomine-kun is not like that. He's actually shy."

"That guy?! No. He ain't shy. I've seen those magazines." Then she gasped. "Ya'v' seen 'em right? Booby-chan? Don't ya mind?"

Aya rolled her eyes. "I've seen them. I don't really care much. Trust me; your Fukui-senpai definitely hides a couple of those too. You just haven't sniffed them out yet." She had a brother and cousins. All the Shiranuis were like her brothers. She grew up with boys and she wasn't naïve and she didn't consider it a threat to her relationship. _Taiga would never admit to having magazines like that either…_ She thought.

"Ken-kun would never…!" Hero protested with something close to adoration in her voice.

Kiku got up and freed her stool for Aya-chan. "You think Wakamatsu-senpai…" She was thinking out loud.

Aya sat down and shrugged. "Dunno, maybe not. He seems too pure for his own good." Then she sighed contently when Kiku dove her hands into her thick hair and decided not to think about anything unnecessary; it wasn't everyday that someone was washing her hair and Aya just loved the feeling.

######

"All cleaned up?" Daiki smirked when Aya put his breakfast in front of him. He couldn't help but feel giddy when she was close. Her hair was still wet, held symmetrically and loosely from her face by a small jaw clip. It wasn't her usual hairstyle, but he liked it too.

She smirked too. Those mischievous eyes of his… And those lips. No, she shouldn't behave like an idiot. "I've had help." Then she turned to Atsushi. "Thanks again."

The giant nodded and then frowned. "They've been making fun of me." He was very much capable of protecting himself, but the verbal insults were still unpleasant. And sometimes Atsushi's teammates forgot he could be vengeful, especially on the court, where he liked to even things out.

"Huh?" She looked over to the table with Tanaka and the rest, who were quietly laughing at something. _Me, most likely._

"They are our team, but we're not on good terms with them." Tatsuya admitted. "And Kaito comparing Atsushi to his daddy, was kinda… You can imagine…"

"Oh?" She raised an eyebrow. Good that Kaito was eating with grandma back in the kitchen. "And I bet the two of us were proclaimed parents at some point?"

Tatsuya's eyes widened. "How…?" He had it difficult to pretend in front of her.

By Tatsuya's reaction she knew she hit the nail. "Interesting bullshit, and that guys don't gossip about stupidities. Wasn't it like that when Kaito was an infant and we took him out for a walk? When was it… Like five years ago or something?" She snorted at the memory.

Tatsuya had already forgotten. But now that she mentioned it… "Oh… You chased them up a tree like a personified wrath. The first time I was actually scared of you." He laughed. "We didn't even understand the concept of dating back then."

"They wouldn't shut up. And my fuse was much shorter back then." She shrugged. "But I guess I've always been a mother hen hating badmouthing pricks, who hurt others." She said it louder and glared towards Tanaka's table. The boys sitting there went silent and their cheeks heated in embarrassment. "Tch, idiots."

The next set of full plates she served to the boys at that table. "You know guys…" She was slowly setting the plates, looking at each one of them. There was a dangerous light in her eyes. "You don't have to like me. But don't turn me into your enemy. This is my homeland after all." She smiled at them with a cold, chilly smile and left to take out the last set of plates. They gulped and stared at one another for long seconds before they started eating.

When everyone had their food served, Aya came out of the kitchen with her own plate, looking for a free seat.

"Aya-chan." Satsuki motioned her to come to them. "You can sit over here. I'm finished already. I can get another chair for myself." She said with a sparkling expression on her face, sending 'good luck' signals.

Satsuki's cheeks were flushed and Aya wondered what the hell Satsuki was thinking about. It wasn't hard to guess though; the pinkette was observing Daiki and her to the point it was unpleasant.

Daiki groaned in annoyance. Satsuki couldn't be _more obvious_.

Aya felt like she was under a microscope and she sat down with a sigh. She turned to Satsuki with a raised eyebrow and stared at her for a moment, but the girl stared back without blinking, clearly ignoring Aya's ' _stop it'_ message.

"If you stare at me like that I'll probably choke with the food. You too." She snapped her eyes at Tatsuya, who was now staring too. Satsuki's expression gave away there was something going on and he wanted to know.

Daiki glanced between the three. He knew that expression on Satsuki's face. _Oh god… She was told._ He thought desperately. "Tch, that wasn't smart, Sweetheart." He grumbled quietly.

Aya's agreeable nod told him he was right. "My mistake. Please, Satsuki, don't make me regret it."

That was enough for Tatsuya to understand. "So you…" He pointed between Aya and Daiki. "Finally?"

Aya blushed but then she shrugged. "Any problem?"

"…not at all. Congrats." He said, but it sounded a bit forced. Aya acted like she didn't notice it and he wasn't sure if he was glad or jealous. Honestly, he was feeling both.

"Huh?" Atsushi was looking around not understanding what the hell was going on. "Muro-chin? What's up?"

"Well–"

Aya started eating. Ignoring everything and everyone. Well, this was going to be a little awkward with the others, but nothing they couldn't get used to. She and Daiki had functioned like a weird couple for some time after all.

######

The day's practises consisted of running and drills of fundamentals. It was nothing interesting for Daiki, so when he heard it, he turned on his heel and left the gym. The matches were planned for the next day.

"You can take some time off, if you want." Katsunori said to Aya, who stared after Aomine until he disappeared. "I bet you don't get to enjoy the holiday. You've been practising for three full weeks and you led the yesterday's practise. Momoi-san can handle everything just fine."

"That wouldn't be nice of me, would it?"

"None of them gives a damn, Robin. With Kaito and all, they expect you to ditch too for some time…" He scratched the back of his head with a slightly uncomfortable expression.

"Huh?" She looked up at Katsunori, not getting it.

"The word's been around… You two are dating right?" It wasn't really surprising; for no one in the team. They'd been just waiting when it would be official. Katsunori would give a neck there were some bets among the boys.

"Uh, yeah, so? Doesn't mean I should ditch my responsibilities. He's not a kid I need to take care of 24/7."

The coach raised an eyebrow at her. "Don't you want to though? Show him around and such? You won't get back here anytime soon."

She blushed and bit her lip. "Maybe…"

"Then go. Just don't do anything… you might regret, okay?" 'Stupid', he wanted to say.

Aya chuckled. "Don't worry. I promised I'd try to not cause you trouble. And I'm not stupid."

"You're in love, which kind of equals that." He muttered with a frown.

Her eyes narrowed. "Thanks for your trust." She said ironically. Then she turned to a small group of boys from her team and smiled at them. "If you're still alive in the evening I'd like to have a little match with you."

"Okay!" The first years nodded and with a short salute she left the gym.

Tada nudged Wakamatsu with a frown. "See? You should do something about Kiku-chan while you're here. Once we're back at school you'll keep finding excuses."

"W-what are you talking about?" Wakamatsu stuttered with a terrified expression.

"I've noticed she always disappears for an hour or so after lunch. I wonder where she goes, or with who~" Imayoshi hummed.

"Just kiss her already, man. You've been on three dates. Three. And nothing. The girl must be disappointed too."

"That's not true. We're just… taking it slow."

"Mhm, does she see it like that too? And are you sure you don't mind it~?" Imayoshi had to be the one getting into Wakamatsu's head and teasing him even worse than Tada would.

"Aren't you supposed to lead the warm up?" Ishii patted Wakamatsu's shoulder to remind him. "We're waiting, Romeo."

"AAARGH!" He slapped his hands against his cheeks, leaving too red marks there and started running around the gym. "COME ON!"

######

Kaito and the dogs found Daiki immediately, demanding some chasing game. With those two giant dogs Daiki was glad he was there to keep an eye on them, so they wouldn't unintentionally hurt Kaito in their overexcited-puppy-mode.

"What are you two up to?" Aya asked them, immediately getting the attention and affection of both dogs, which almost flipped her over. "Urgh, hey girls, uff, see you have heaps of energy."

"Hey! Why do they like Aya-nee-chan more than me?" Kaito protested with his arms crossed on his chest.

"Because I don't suffocate when they jump at me." She chuckled and shook them off, but continued scratching their heads and necks. "Didn't you ask Kiku-chan to help you bake cookies for Atsushi?"

"Huh? What?" Daiki raised an eyebrow at the two. "Why not y–" _you_? He wanted to ask but Aya elbowed him, knocking out his breath.

Kaito blinked and nodded. "Oh, yeah! I'll give you some too, nee-chan!" He waved them and ran towards the house to look for Kiku.

"Now, care to join me for a run with the dogs?"

"Huh? Wait, what? Did you just…?" He pointed between Kaito and her. Truth to be told, he was feeling a bit awkward. He was unbelievably happy, but also a bit embarrassed, and he wasn't sure what would change now. And Satsuki's long lecture after breakfast didn't help at all; it'd implanted worries into his mind that hadn't been there before.

Aya shrugged and averted her eyes. "Yeah. I love Kaito, I really do, but I want to be with you too." She admitted, peeking up at him. "And there's someplace I want to show you while we're here, so…Are you comin'?"

He blinked at her and then rubbed his face to hide a blush. She wanted to be with him alone? He wasn't dreaming. This was for real. Really real. "Yeah."

"Good. Oh," by the corner of her eye she noticed someone passing through the meadow. It was Keiji, carrying timbers towards the workshop. There was something she needed to ask him. After Kaito's little adventure in the morning, she'd been thinking about a new addition to the tree house. "Kei-chan! Wait up!" She caught Daiki's wrist and pulled him with her.

"Hm?" Keiji stopped and looked at her. For a moment he was balancing with the heavy timbers on his shoulder. Daiki and Aya automatically caught the timbers and helped Keiji to stabilise, taking some of the weight off him.

"I've been thinking…" She started with a thoughtful frown.

"Always a dangerous pastime." He quoted one of the books the two loved, and judging by Aomine's surprised expression he'd guess the guy knew the books as well. Aya rolled her eyes and smirked. With a chuckle, he continued; "What is it?" He knew that look in Aya's eyes. She had some crazy idea and she was going to involve him.

"You've surely heard about our morning adventure with Kaito, right?"

Keiji nodded. "Poor kid. I feel sorry for him. And for Kouta-san."

" _-san?_ What the… He deserved all he got." She shook her head. "The thing is I can't take Kaito up into the tree house if he got scared of that roof's height… He wouldn't be able to get down on his own and if I tried to somehow take him down myself, it could be dangerous for both of us. Maybe he wouldn't even climb all the way up."

"Eh? But Kaito's been so excited to go up there, waiting for you and all… Wait, how can you stall that?"

"I have my ways with Kaito. But… Could you come up with an idea how to get Kaito up and down to the tree house safely? And he shouldn't be able to get there by himself."

Keiji blinked and Aya could almost see the cogs in his head started spinning. "… You mean something like a primitive lift?"

Aya nodded. "Something like that. And not everyone should be able to run it… I'm not really sure about the technical part, but I thought you could figure that out."

"Hmmmm…." He rubbed his chin. "Give me 'till evening. Taichi-sensei is preoccupied with Kouta-san, so I have time to think about it. But it'll definitely be a two or three-men job to make it work."

"That's not a problem, right?" She glanced at Daiki.

Baffled by the whole conversation he nodded. Would he need to help? He didn't mind, but... "R-right…"

"Okay then, we'll have a meeting in the evening." She glanced at the timbers. "Are you holding it?"

Keiji shifted and took the weight off of them, well, Daiki mostly. "Yeah, thanks. And Aya."

"Hm?"

"Have you read the instruction Taichi-sensei left you for your birthday?"

"Not yet. Not for the past three years, why?"

He grinned mischievously, not willing to give out what he knew. What surprise would that be? "All three years' worth of gifts are still out there. And if I'm right where you're heading... Keep your eyes open."

"I will." She agreed and turned towards the forest. She looked at Daiki and the dogs, which were expectantly waiting for her. "Can you keep up?" She asked with a grin.

Daiki smirked at her. "Lead the way, Sweetheart." There were dozens of things he wanted to ask, but it could wait until they'd get wherever she wanted to show him. He couldn't wait to see it.

He had no idea where they were heading, or how far she would take him. They passed under the tree house and through some bushes. Running on the uneven terrain of the mountains, he had to watch his feet. There were some nasty roots willing to trip him. He wasn't used to running in the mountains anymore and a few days at Koh Yao Noi running around with Klahan didn't really count. But Aya looked like she didn't have to focus on the ground that much. She moved through the forest with certainty, like she knew every root, bump and hollow on the small, barely visible path. And she didn't seem to be getting tired. She was keeping a steady pace and he had a suspicion she would run faster if it weren't for him and his occasional cursing the tree roots crossing which tripped him. _Where does she get the energy?_ He wondered, but he'd never admit he was getting tired.

The final climb was the steepest.

They were both sweating, and he thought his thighs would burst after this terrible last climb. He needed to stop to catch his breath and tell her something about that crazy uphill run, but when he got to her side, stopped and finally looked up, all he could say was: "Whoa. It's…" He blinked at the beautiful view extending in front of them.

The air was cooler up here than in the meadow, but the sky was clear and the sun was warming everything up. The summer breeze was gently blowing through their hair and Aya was by his side. And there were dogs… There was nothing at the moment he'd like better than this place and this atmosphere. He felt as if it was the top of the world, although it surely was just a random hill with a pretty view.

Aya was slightly out of breath too. She smiled kindly and waited for Daiki to look all around him. She loved this place, it made her feel better, it cleared her thoughts and she could relax here. Alone. Taiga knew it too, of course, but she preferred to climb up here on her own. But sharing it with Daiki felt like she showed him a part of her soul and he seemed amazed by it.

She chuckled in delight.

"What?" He asked her with a raised eyebrow. His usual frown was gone and there was a swirl of emotions in his eyes she couldn't quite grasp.

"Nothing. I'm just happy." She was smiling brightly, then her eyebrows knitted as she remembered something, "Oh, if you're thirsty, there's a spring just a bit lower behind that bend." She pointed a bit further ahead. "It goes down the other side of the mountain and joins with another... It's safe to drink from it." She almost blabbered about the whole stream's route all the way to the village. She was slightly nervous and incredibly giddy and happy. She felt like bursting, or flying, or she didn't even know.

"Really?" He'd do anything for a nice big gulp of water now. Realising his childish glee, he frowned and cleared his throat. _So she's happy…_ He was too. And he doubted he could behave normally, but he was trying to. "Yeah, right… Of course there is." He mumbled and followed the invisible path towards the water. Now, when it was pointed out to him, he could actually hear it.

Aya ran past him to drink herself. The dogs followed after her. With their thick fur, it could be dangerous if they overheated and they were Newfoundlands, they loved water.

"This place is awesome." Daiki said truthfully and sipped water from his hands. It was cold and fresh, and it tasted really good. "I never thought something like this was here."

She was smiling at him. "I love it here. This," she pointed at the view, "is just one of the reasons. There's also a natural hot spring but we'd have to take a different path."

"Seriously?" He stared at her for a moment. It was unusual for her to speak so much. He didn't mind though. He wanted to know everything.

"Yeah. It's a small paradise. There's something similar for me in France, with horses and wine and all… DON'T!" Aya raised a finger at Yui, which rolled in the water and mud and wanted to cuddle. The dog looked at her with sad puppy eyes, but stayed down.

"NO!" Daiki raised his finger at the other too. The dogs were ready to try to cuddle both humans they liked. "They're trained well, for pupps."

"They're two years old already. I wonder if they're still pupps."

"Oh, then they shouldn't be. Maybe this is their nature, but they seem to obey Kagami-san's every word. Shiro and Kurome are like them. They obey, and you expect them to be smart adults, and then they do something totally stupid." He sighed and followed back to where they could see the awesome view. "What were you supposed to look for up here?"

She followed after him, scanning their surroundings. "Well, I don't know. The birthday gifts from grandpa… it's basically treasure hunting. Ever since we were four, he's always been hiding our birthday presents and giving us some clue or clues, of where to find it. The gifts are small; books, socks, anything that can be carefully wrapped and hidden. The whole process of finding it is more fun than the gift itself. But it taught us a lot and I remember the excitement of searching for it. For example, when we were seven we got coordinates, map and compass and we had to figure it out. The gifts were at two different locations but we could look for it together." She chuckled at the memory. "I haven't really read the clues for the past three years. Taiga for six. Maybe I could go look for it now." Suddenly she blushed and looked at her feet. "Sorry… I'm rambling…"

He chuckled and ruffled her hair. "I don't mind. But that sounds like fun." Her grandparents sounded awesome. Heck, they _were_ awesome and his girlfriend was a badass. A smart and cutely nervous badass. "Could I help?" He offered, thinking about the gift he'd forgotten at home.

"If it's a poem, I doubt it. You don't know the surrounding forests. But you can join me." She smiled and sat down, leaning against a huge trunk of an old oak that was watching over the whole valley. _Calm down, stupid._ She growled inwardly at her heart. The dogs repeated her action, they were glad for the break.

Daiki did the same.

Their shoulders were touching and they were finally alone, enjoying this place and each other's presence. He'd missed her so much. And now she was his girlfriend. It was a new concept to him. He could feel he was grinning like an idiot, staring at the beautiful valley in front of them.

"So my girlfriend, huh?" He said out loud without intending to. "Tch…" He clicked his tongue and didn't dare looking at her.

"Yep." She nodded.

Encouraged by her answer and the fact she didn't tease him, he asked; "What now?"

"What _what_ now?" She asked curiously, glancing at him. She wasn't sure how the things would work out either, but she was happy. Everything seemed brighter, warmer, better.

"Tch…" He turned his head to look at her and regretted it immediately. She was so close. Those big red eyes – they were surprisingly red in this light – were staring right at him with a question mark in them. And he was forced to answer. "We're dating…" He mumbled.

"Yeah, so?" She asked, still not getting where he was heading.

He averted his eyes. "Uh… so… What changes?... How… What - what am I supposed to do?" It was rare that he felt insecure about something. Only she could make him feel strong and weak at the same time. Who else could tell him if not the girl herself? "I don't know that." He admitted. He didn't want to disappoint her; she'd had enough of that. _You haven't told her you liked her, yet…_

"What changes?" She repeated the question and looked at the valley then back at him. "Uhm… Nothing? I don't know… Weren't we sort of a couple before? I mean, now, we can spend more time together without looking for an excuse, go on some dates… I don't know. What do _you_ think should change? I just want to be with you more." Honestly, she'd never thought about dates. She loved him and she was happy to be around him just like that, without a set purpose. "…holding hands, hugging, kissing and all." She rambled out and blushed. She'd love to kiss him again. "And-"

His hand found hers, he intertwined their fingers, which stopped her rambling and she blinked at him. "You are unbelievable, you know that?" He asked and his eyes threatened to drown her.

She wouldn't mind it. She really wouldn't mind it. "Aren't you too?"

Her lips curled into a something between a smile and a smirk and he just had to lean down and taste them again. She met him half-way. Her lips were just like the other night; soft, welcoming and responsive. His heart was still not used to this rush, but he felt braver than before, which inevitably made the kiss wilder, more desperate.

Daiki was never good at voicing out his feelings and emotions; he'd act rather than talk. But he loved her, trusted her, respected her, he wanted to protect her. Maybe he wanted to convey everything through that kiss, everything he couldn't say.

And she responded to it equally. Almost like she understood his wordless confession. She shifted to be in a more comfortable position, which allowed him to cup her cheek and trace her cheekbone with his thumb.

The moment they parted to get some air, she rested her forehead against his and sighed contently. She kept her eyes closed and she turned to fully face him. She'd love to straddle him, to be really opposite him, but she didn't want to test her luck. Odds were he'd freak out.

She brought her hands to his face and traced his cheekbones, his jaw, his lips, which parted under her fingers. He closed his eyes and let her. It felt strangely good when she was touching his face. She pressed her lips against his again in a short butterfly kiss.

"I love you so much." She breathed out naturally, without thinking. It was the truth.

His eyes snapped open and he froze for a moment.

Her breath caught in her throat. She pulled away, still cupping his face. Did she do something wrong? She needed to see his expression.

It sounded so easy when she said it. His cheeks were red and even his skin tone wouldn't hide it. His expression was dumbfounded. He knew he needed to say something, or do something, or she'd totally misunderstand. A frown settled on his face. "I was supposed to say it first." He grumbled.

She blinked. "Huh?" Then she laughed quietly. Nothing was wrong, she was relieved.

"What?"

She shook her head and her eyes sparkled. He'd never seen them shining like that. "Didn't you? I'd swear I heard you say it…"

"Eh?" He was puzzled. Then a soft chuckle shook his ribcage. She was truly unbelievable and he couldn't imagine the world without her. Maybe she didn't need to hear it like that, maybe he was bad with words, but what was so hard about it anyways? If she could say it, so could he. And he felt he needed to word it. It was a commitment; he wanted for this to work out for the best and it would be unfair if he got away without actually saying it.

"I love you too." He said quietly, and his heart almost jumped out.

She leaned towards him to drown his embarrassment with another long, deep kiss. And he was more than glad, she didn't pry or stare... They'd both sweated during their uphill run, but he could only smell the usual scent of apricots and something that he could only label as 'Aya' and he really liked it.

In that kiss, was everything they had just said. When her tongue found his, he let out a surprised, but content grunt that vibrated through his chest. Their lips and tongues moved in a dance both of them instinctively knew.

His hands found her hips and ran up her waist and back. Her t-shirt rolled up slightly and he ran his fingers on the bare skin of her back. It surprised her and she hesitated for a second, but she didn't stop kissing him. She let out a quiet moan, which only encouraged him, because he certainly wasn't sure what he was doing. But damn, he was enjoying it. Her skin was soft and smooth and he could feel the firm muscles on her back and sides and he wanted to touch her more. He wanted to know every part of her, but he didn't have the courage to explore past the safe zones.

If she didn't know him, she wouldn't believe he'd never kissed or touched a girl like this before. Daiki seemed to have it all figured out, and she surely didn't protest. His calloused hands sent electricity through her whole body and she pressed against his chest. She loved his hands on her. Despite his callouses he was so gentle, it was driving her crazy. She wanted him to touch her more, to test more. She wouldn't stop him. She shifted so she could free the hand she was using as a support and she almost lost balance and fell into him, but he stabilised her and they both chuckled, which made the kiss clumsy.

From the corner of his mouth she traced his jaw and neck with butterfly kisses. A soft groan escaped his lips and Aya couldn't help a smile. So he liked it. She didn't dare driving her hands under his t-shirt, thought the temptation was strong. _When have I become so… hungry?_ She couldn't find a better word to describe the almost desperate desire to love and be loved.

Her kisses, her hands… The sensation was unlike anything he'd felt before. It was driving him crazy. She was driving him crazy; so beautiful and hot and _his._ Before he knew it, blood rushed into his crotch and he faced a problem. He clasped her hand travelling down his chest.

"Enough." He said through heavy breaths. His voice sounded strange to his own ears, deep, rich, hungry… He bent one leg closer to his chest to hide the embarrassing bulge in his shorts. He'd thought it wouldn't happen so soon. But they'd been circling around each other for so long, it wasn't that surprising. _Well, shit…_ He thought and took a deep breath. _Calm down._

Aya stopped and quickly glanced at his crotch. She felt embarrassed herself. She should've known better. But it just felt so natural, so easy to make out with him. She loved it. She loved him. Everything about him.

"Sorry."

"Sorry."

They blurted out at the same time, their faces were burning red. He didn't want her to feel bad because he stopped her so abruptly. And she felt guilty, because she should've stopped herself. She didn't want to make him feel uncomfortable or ashamed, yet a part of her was pleased by his physical reaction. She chuckled at the situation and leaned back to sit at her heels and looked away. Then she shifted and sat on the ground crossing her legs. It was considered ungirly – as Satsuki had told her – but it was comfortable for her.

"Tch, I didn't… There's no–… Shit." He swore, covering his face with one hand, trying to hide his furiously blushing face. His other arm rested on his bent leg.

She looked away to give him some negligible feeling of privacy and took a deep breath herself. "It's, it's fine. Sorry I didn't stop myself sooner. I just…" _didn't want to._ She bit her lower lip and looked everywhere but Daiki.

Honestly, she wouldn't mind taking care of what she'd caused, but he wouldn't have stopped her if he'd wanted her to. _You need to take it slower, Aya, dammit._ She cursed herself inwardly. With his confidence and teasing and kissing, she kept forgetting he'd had no previous experience and that he could be quite shy.

He peeked at her. Now that she was a meter away, he was slowly calming down. It wasn't that bad yet. "…wait you… too…?" He looked her up and down; his blush didn't seem to be going away anytime soon.

She rolled her eyes with a crooked smile. "…'f course. I'm not a saint. You just can't _see_ it." She admitted with a slight mortification, but it was only fair.

"Oh…" He looked away again. _Really?_

With a grunt she stood up. Yui and Ai followed her example; they were watching the two teenagers the whole time. It was a miracle they didn't want to join the make out session.

"I'll be back in ten minutes." She said, already decided they wouldn't test their boundaries further that day. "When I get back… could we try acting normal?"

He nodded. She already was acting normal. And he'd like those few minutes alone. And if they didn't act normal when they'd return, everyone would guess…

She went to the water spring and washed her face with the cold water. The view here was not as grand, but it was still pretty. She squatted down and hid her face in her hands. She felt she'd melt and butterflies in her stomach were untameable. A cigarette would help her to calm down quicker, but she didn't have one with her and Daiki had no idea about her bad habit. For some reason, she didn't want him to know.

After a few minutes when she returned back Daiki was on his feet, obviously calmed down and staring into the tree. He heard her and glanced at her. "What's that?" He asked pointing at a thick rope tied four times around a wide bough about three and a half meters above the ground.

She frowned. ' _Keep your eyes open.' Kei-chan said…_ "I don't know… It wasn't there when I was last here. I think…" She bit her thumb nail in thought. "Hn, only one way to find out." She started circling the tree to find a good way up.

"Is your leg fine enough?" With her running around, he'd forgotten about it.

"Yeah." She assured him. "If someone put it up there, it was Keiji. And if he could climb up…" _I can too._

"Is he your… friend?" He probed with a frown.

"He's the one who taught me how to climb trees. Helped us retaliate Kouta's pranks… So yeah, we're childhood friends."

"You seemed to handle Kouta's prank fine on your own today."

"It wasn't that easy when we were kids. And Kouta usually had Hikaru's help. Taiga didn't really count as a fellow fighter back then, he was..." She realised she probably shouldn't tell Daiki about Taiga's past weaknesses, or they could become a good teasing material for the ace. And Taiga would kill her for it. "…well, we had to join forces." She said as she was climbing up carefully. There weren't many footholds, but once she reached the first branch it was easier. "Grandpa really hated when we did pranks inside the house and we always risked it. Needless to say, the pranking stopped when Kouta unintentionally set the porch on fire. Thankfully it was only a small fire and it was stopped before spreading. We slept outside for three nights after that. And even our mom couldn't persuade Taichi-ojii-san otherwise. We totally deserved it." She nodded; she finally reached the bough with the rope and she straddled it, slowly moving towards her goal.

She was good four meters above ground but she wasn't scared the bough was as wide as a smaller pony and certainly strong enough to hold such a pony.

He laughed. "I don't want to imagine that."

"What? You've never did anything that stupid?" She asked and studied the rope. There was nothing underneath but the rest of the rope, at least 6 meters worth of it, was neatly tangled in the branches. Like a thread leading her towards something hidden higher up in the tree.

"Not me. But Kise did. He threw something into a bonfire in one of the Teiko's summer training camps. It was supposed to change the colour of the flame and make it larger. When nothing happened in a few seconds he leaned over the fire to study it and then it burst up, scorching his eyebrows and fringe… He got detention and had to wear a wig during his photoshoots."

She laughed, happy she stopped her climbing until he'd be done with the story. She could totally imagine Kise doing something so stupid to show off. "He should be glad it didn't burn his skin or something."

"It's Kise. He's a lucky bastard."

"When we're at it, where did you burn your hand?" She asked curiously.

It wasn't that obvious anymore, only the skin on the outer side of his palm had slightly different colour and the top layer of skin was peeling off. He was sure it wasn't that visible. _She probably felt it_ … He though remembering her skin under his hands and he blushed again.

"Helped out at grandma's diner and I caught a frying pan when it was falling."

She continued her climb, following the rope. "Why would you catch it if it was hot?"

"Out of reflex."

She shook her head. It was obvious. She'd done that once too and regretted it immediately. "Ha! Found it."

"What is it?"

"No idea." She was staring at the wooden box wrapped in a waxed waterproof cloth, with no obvious lid or lock. It was probably a riddle, or maybe the gift itself? _Nah, it wouldn't be so easy._ She thought, but she had to find a way to open it. "Can I throw it to you?"

"Yeah." He was looking up, through the thick branches and leaves he couldn't see he and was only guessing where she was, but once he'd see the falling box, he'd catch it.

She shifted her weight to look down; putting more weight on the branch she was standing on.

 _ **CRACK.**_

 _Whoah!_ She grabbed a hold of the branch where the box was attached, She was half hanging on the higher branch and half standing on the branch that cracked dangerously. But it didn't break. _Yet._ She couldn't put her whole weight down on that branch anymore, and she hoped it would hold until she'd get to the trunk.

"You okay?" Daiki asked and worry laced his voice. The sound was fearsome, but she didn't come crashing down. That was probably a good sign.

"Fine. Catch the box." She threw it down, without checking his position.

"Got it… What is it?" He was turning it in his hands curiously.

Aya didn't answer. She was searching for a safe route down; splitting her weight between the two branches, praying it wouldn't break completely. Another branch that could support her was about 60 cm below the one that cracked and it was only a few centimetres wide. Carefully she tiptoed closer to the trunk. The branches were sturdier there. But the branch under her feet decided to break before she could reach it.

"Shit!" She let out as she lost support from beneath her legs. It was so sudden her hand slipped too and she fell through a few branches scratching her arms and legs, until she managed to grab a hold of another one. The bark bit into her palms and she hissed at the stinging feeling.

"Oi!" Daiki avoided the falling branch and was staring at her from below. "You alive?" He asked, really worried now. If she'd hit her head...

Her feet were dangling just a few centimetres above the wide bough where the rope was firmly tied around. The rest of the rope was hanging down, coiling at Daiki's feet.

"Want some help?"

"No. I have to get down myself." She thought he could climb up to help her, but he'd probably make it worse or get hurt himself.

If she jumped from there she'd probably hit the bough. "Tch." She clicked her tongue. The fall frightened her too and she had to do something before her arms would start hurting too much. She pulled herself up and sat on the branch for a moment. "Yeah, fine." She smiled.

In another three minutes she was down the same way she climbed up. She'd slipped on a branch before, but it was the first time that one broke under her like that. It wasn't rotten, it didn't look that weak.

She stared up at the tree and wiped her dirty, bleeding hands into her pants. "Damn. That scared me."

Daiki pulled her into his arms, squeezing her tightly. If fear had some scent, he could smell it on her. "You crazy woman. Do you want to kill me?"

She stayed there for a moment and then pulled away, taking the box from his hands. She smiled at him apologetically. "Sorry? I didn't know it'd break. And nothing happened."

His stomach rumbled and Aya laughed. "I guess it's time for lunch. Come on." She cocked her head in the direction from which they came and set off.

If the uphill run was difficult, the downhill one was near impossible. There were sections where they should slow down and walk, but instead, the two idiots slid down on dry needles, leaves and dust. It was a wild and liberating feeling, filling their veins with a different kind of adrenaline than kisses. And there was no one else who would do this with him than Aya. Maybe Kise or Klahan, but not another girl.

"Holy cow!" Hanae covered her mouth when the two invaded the dining hall.

Everyone was staring at them. They were covered with dust and mud and scratched from bushes. Aya had leaves and small branches tangled in her hair – Kiku had so carefully washed that very morning. And Daiki's bottom was green from when he'd slipped down the hill. But their eyes were shining with excitement and adrenaline rush the downhill run provided.

"Where have you been?" The old woman asked.

Aya grinned and showed her the mysterious box. "By the spirit oak." She said; her grandparents knew the place well. They were the ones who named it the 'spirit oak'.

"Did the branch break?" Keiji grinned, eyeing her up and down carefully.

"Huh?" Aya turned to him. How could he know? She frowned. ' _Keep your eyes open.'_ _Maybe it wasn't just a clue, but also... a warning…?_ "Why d' you? Wait…was it _set up_ to break?"

Keiji shrugged. "We thought you already knew better than to fall for it."

Aya opened her mouth to say something, but–

"WHAT?!" Hanae roared and turned at her husband, who was slowly shuffling towards the kitchen through which he could pass and disappear outside. The scoop in her hand suddenly looked like a very dangerous weapon. "Are you trying to kill her?! Do you even know how dangerous it could've been?"

"Dear, she's like a monkey. There's no way she'd kill herself by falling off a tree. It was just a reminder to keep her alert…" He tried to defend himself.

"A reminder?!"Hanae threw her arms into the air in anger. "She had one when you were repairing that damn tree house?! I was surprised she didn't break her ribs! You reckless old man! The gift hunting is done! This is the last year."

"But dear–"

"No!"

There was a spark of annoyance and anger burning in Taichi's eyes too. But he knew there was no point in arguing further. Maybe once Hanae would cool off a little. He shuffled out of the dining room, not hungry anymore.

Aya was looking at his slouched figure guiltily. _Shit… I should've been more careful._ "I'm fine, Baa-chan, really."

"Don't try to make it better." She glared at her granddaughter. "Reckless like her father." She shook her head. "Go get changed. You're not getting lunch looking like this."

Daiki turned on his heel and went to the outside showers and Aya quickly vanished inside the house. It was the second scolding she got that day. A reminder it had been, but she should've noticed it… She was sure her grandma would be huffy 'till evening.

######

Kaito clung to her the whole afternoon practise. She decided she should go there. If grandma saw her with that box, she'd probably burn it, so Aya acted like it didn't exist. She apologised to grandpa for not cleaning up before entering the dining hall, but he just waved his hand at it. It was Keiji who had said out loud… The important thing was that Aya was safe, and that it'd been her and not Daiki who fell. If something had happened to the boy they'd be in much bigger trouble. That was a heart warming information for her, but she let it go.

Daiki hid in the gym too. He showed a very small attempt to practise and the majority of the time he was barking orders at Kano, Arai and Sakurai. It was unusual for the ace to try teaching someone.

Atsushi stopped by Aya and Kaito. "Why's Mine-chin teaching?" He asked lazily. If he remembered correctly, Aomine'd avoided practises like a plague.

"They asked him to."

"Hmmm…" His amethyst eyes narrowed as he observed them carefully. He'd never faced Aomine's streetball head on and he wondered if he could cope with it. There was no way Aomine could be better than him, right?

"Atsushi! Come on!" Tatsuya called him back and the giant complied with several complaints.

"So?" Satsuki and Hero popped out at Aya's sides with really gossipy grins. "How was yar lil' _adventure_?"

With similar expression Aya replied. "That's a secret."

"Oh, come on, Aya-chan! I want to know." Satsuki pleaded. "I need to add it into my file."

"That sounds disturbing…" Aya frowned. "All the more reason to not tell you." She caught Daiki's freaked look. He knew the girls were demanding detailed descriptions. And thinking about that, he almost got hit in the face by the ball.

"What was that?!" Ishii laughed at him. "The ace almost caught the ball with his face."

"Tche, shut up." Daiki growled and glared at Ishii.

"Makes us wonder what happened~" Imayoshi sang, joining the group.

"Okay, vultures." Katsunori put his hands on Hero's and Satsuki's heads. "Go to your places and take notes, managers. You can gossip all you want after dinner."

"Haaaai." Hero sighed and turned to go to her place.

"Be more careful, Robin." He told her with a sigh. "We don't want any injuries here."

"Yes. I'm sorry. I really didn't notice." She mumbled looking at her feet.

At the end of the practise Masako whistled sharply and all the boys assembled around the coaches and managers.

"Tomorrow is the fourth day of the camp. The best time to have all out matches between our teams. It'll determine the form of our practises for the last three days. The matches will be three quarters long and the first match will start at 10. Yosen players will be, Murasakibara, Okamura, Lui, Muri and Suzuki. For Touou…" Masako looked at Katsunori to name his players.

"Wakamatsu, Aomine, Kano, Tada and Naito." He looked at every one of them. Kano and Naito were surprised that they'd been chosen; the rest was more or less expecting it. "We decided that we won't let all of the regulars clash in this camp. That'll be reserved for the Winter cup."

Daiki and Atsushi measured each other. They'd never faced one another in a match. They wanted to figure out who was better. But they kind of expected the coaches wouldn't allow it. And yet…

 _I won't lose._ They both thought.

######

In the evening, Aya was playing basketball with Daiki, Kano and Arai. She and Arai against Daiki and Kano. It was fun. Her two man team was losing spectacularly, and Kano hardly ever got the ball, but it didn't matter. Those matches were slow, casual. They were fooling around and no one took it seriously. It was just a nice pastime with the setting sun warming their backs. Kaito, Tatsuya and Atsushi and some others were curious observers and Keiji was scribbling something into his notebook.

She was facing Daiki, and he had to admit, she'd gotten better. And not only her. Those two as well. He couldn't take as easy as before. Her speed matched his own and she was more certain with the dribbling. She kept her distance, and tried several fakes, carefully watching his every step. Then she doubled her speed, going in one direction, making him believe that was where she wanted to go. Once he shot out after her, she reared back and he almost lost his balance.

Almost.

He blinked at her; speechless for a moment, then he smirked. _The new trick?_ "I don't fall for ankle breaks, Sweetheart."

She shrugged, like she'd expected it. She wasn't disappointed. "It was worth trying."

Daiki won.

Next match, when she did the same to Kano and he sat on the ground in disbelief. She passed by him, trying to go for a dunk, with only a tiny chance she'd get it. Daiki slapped the ball away before she could get close enough.

But Arai caught it and shot. He surprisingly made it.

Kaito cheered. He liked Daiki, but he wanted his nee-chan to win.

Tatsuya got up and walked towards them. "I see you've been playing with Zack and the rest." He praised her with a smug smile.

"Naturally, they send their regards." She smiled at him.

"Play against me." He said, staring at her with those grey eyes.

"Hmmm… How about… Me and Daiki, against you and…?"

"Atsushi?" He glanced at the giant.

"Do I have to, Muro-chin? I have the morning match tomorrow." The giant complained. He was contently munching on the cookies he'd gotten from the kid and that small shy girl. It would hurt to put them away. What if someone stole it?

"Only five minutes. You don't have to move around if you don't want to. Just guard the basket."

"Well, we're fucked." She muttered to Daiki.

He smirked, but he had to agree. He could handle Tatsuya just fine, but both of them… He wasn't sure the set up was safe for Aya. "It was your idea."

"Didn't know he'd choose Atsushi."

"Who else would he choose?" He raised his eyebrow and sighed. "Murasakibara won't actively play. Unless you provoke him, so… I'll handle the ex, you don't get trampled, Sweetheart. I've had enough seeing you in that tree."

"I can handle myself. Wouldn't hurt if you actually teamed up with me, you know."

"I don't pass." He grumbled stubbornly.

"Make an exception?" She asked with a smile. "If we win, Atsushi will play for real tomorrow."

He narrowed his eyes at her. She had a point…

"Okay, lovebirds. Are you gonna play, or what?" Tatsuya asked loudly, interrupting their strategy discussion. "Didn't know you'd listen to anyone's advice when it comes to basketball." He was purposefully looking down on Daiki, he wanted to provoke him. The two were a dangerous combination, and he hoped Daiki wouldn't agree with the teamplay, because he wouldn't handle both of them at once.

Tatsuya had the first ball. And since they were playing on one basket, the only thing he needed to do was pass to Atsushi. Well, it wasn't as easy as Tatsuya anticipated.

Daiki was guarding him tightly, and more than see, he could feel Aya was paying careful attention to any slip he might make. And Atsushi wouldn't help him with this. Daiki was reacting to his fakes, as if he was reading them. The ace's focus was tremendous and Tatsuya had a hard time coping with it. It was different than the other day. And Aya knew those fakes, she could fall for them, true, but she knew them.

Tatsuya needed to either pass, or score, because sooner or later the two would steal from him. They were like vultures. No, like hungry wolves.

Tatsuya was forced to shoot.

Daiki wasn't sure if it was a normal three pointer or the mirage shoot. But somehow he stopped it. Aya caught the ball and headed towards the basket. She had no chance against Atsushi, so she passed back to Daiki. It was a good, clean pass.

Daiki smirked. That was his girlfriend. He wanted to dunk, but Atsushi was already there.

"You won't Mine-chin." He drawled and jumped.

"I will." He smirked and changed the route of the shot. It hit the board at a weird angle; it circled the hoop and tipped inside.

Atsushi glared at Daiki. That shouldn't have gone in.

"Agai–"

"I've got it!" Keiji shouted suddenly. And looked at Aya with excitement. "I've got it! Security meeting in the tree house in ten minutes! You!" He pointed at Daiki. "You come too." He ordered and took off. After Aya's fall (which literally was his fault) he wouldn't let her climb up the usual way.

"What was that?" Daiki looked at her puzzled.

"Security meeting in ten minutes." She shrugged with a smile. "I'll go get the box. Keiji might now how to crack it." She jogged towards the house.

"I guess I can go finish my cookies, then?" Atsushi asked. He was displeased by Daiki's mid-air manoeuvrability. He decided he'd play as real as he could without hurting anyone. Against Mine-chin, he couldn't hold back that much.

"And me?" Kaito asked. Sadness and disappointment were obvious in his voice. He knew he'd gotten scared of that height, but… He wanted to see the tree house from the inside too. He felt forgotten.

Daiki crouched down to the boy. "You will get there soon, kid. Your sis' is figuring a way to get you there safely. Just wait a bit longer, okay?" Why was he consoling the kid?

"How about we play guitar?" Tatsuya proposed. He had no idea why he was helping them either. "Did you learn something new?"

The boy nodded.

"Then teach me." Tatsuya smiled and outstretched his hand to him. Kaito took it and started describing the song with his usual cheerfulness.

######

"You forgot about the kid." Daiki scolded her with a frown, but he didn't sound annoyed at all. He was waiting for her under the tree house, knowing that Keiji was up there, but wouldn't tell him how to get up. _What a prick._

"No. I left him with you and Tatsuya. I've already explained it to Kaito."

"He still felt left out."

She sighed. "I know. Sorry. I didn't want to deal with his tears or puppy eyes. I can't resist them." She admitted. "I knew you'd handle him well."

"Wanna come up or what?" Keiji's head appeared over the railing.

"Throw us the ladder." Aya demanded.

"Hmmmm… I wonder." The boy was grinning at them from above.

"I'm still pissed off that you tried to kill me." She warned him. "Don't make it worse."

"It wasn't that bad." Keiji protested.

"Aiba Keiji!"

"Gee'. Hai, hai." He disappeared. There was a sound of a door opening, and then a square opened up at the bottom of the tree house. The ladder rattled down as it was uncoiling. The opening in the floor looked like a small tunnel.

"Is that a double floor?" Daiki's jaw almost hit the ground. It was like a well protected fort build in a tree.

Aya nodded. "The double floor wasn't there before and someone had to throw down the ladder, but we wanted to change it and changing just the door opening wouldn't do it… No one would want to the door to open up underneath them. Now, both of those 'doors' open outwards. And the ladder is coiled in the space between."

"So you can open the bottom 'door' from here?"

"Technically, yes. There is a long pole with a hook hidden somewhere here, and the ladder falls down once it's opened. We came up with it during the repairs. It's safer. I hope you don't mind the rope ladder." She said, already holding onto one rung.

"Not at all." He watched her climbing up and once she got there, he followed in suit. He was up in no time.

"Someone else has good muscle and coordination." Keiji praised him. "I bet you can climb trees just as well."

Daiki shrugged. "I try." He muttered and then looked around him.

They were on the deck; the front of the tree house with railing running around. It was wide enough for him to stick his legs out and lay down, and he wouldn't hit his head against the walls, or rather the sliding door that formed the whole front wall. And it was good five meters long. Like a balcony. The sliding door was wide open and there were mosquito nets covering the space.

"Come on." Aya probed him and move the nets to get inside.

"Whoa." He breathed out.

The space was much bigger than his room. And it had two storeys. Two wide branches were naturally passing through the opposite side of the tree house. There were supporting beams and six sleeping nets were hanging between them. And there was a flat ladder leading to the "second" floor. It was right under the roof and it covered only half the whole space. It was low and even Aya would have to crawl there.

There were several bookshelves – full and three massive wooden chests. A small square table was set in the middle with sitting cushions and there were colourful lamps hanging haphazardly around the room. They didn't seem to run on electricity.

The room had one huge and two smaller windows. They had shutters, but now they were covered with paper that let the natural light through. The orange light passing through those windows gave the room a special atmosphere. The dust particles were dancing in the light and the whole thing seemed really old. But very warm and cosy.

"It's awesome, right?" Keiji asked with his eyes sparkling. He was officially given the role of the tree house protector and repairer. "Now, sit." He ushered them and fished out three glasses and juice from one chest.

Daiki assumed that chest was his. Then he turned on several lights – they were surprisingly bright for something that didn't run on electricity.

And after that, Keiji presented them the plan of the lift. He had a detailed drawing with all cogs and the whole mechanism, using a removable winch with special ending like a key. The winch would be hidden inside the tree house and the whole lift could be run only form the house, not from the ground. The lift was basically one huge wooden box, and he'd already found a bough strong enough to make it work. He was so smug about it and he said it so cheerfully, that both of them were sure it'd work.

"Awesome." Aya said. "How long until you can build it?"

"Two days?" Keiji shrugged. "The winch has to be long enough so you could use it too. Then it should be possible to pull up a person up to… 100 kg, I guess."

"You guess?" Daiki asked with a raised eyebrow."

"Well, it's not certain. I did my calculation right, but there's always something that might go wrong. The box itself will be some 30kg. I'll recalculate it once I have all the parts ready."

"You'll need our help setting it?" Aya asked, she could wait.

"Of course, and I'd need you for the trial ride unless you want to use Kaito." He glanced at her.

"No. I'll do it."

"With a safety rope, if something goes wrong."

"Naturally." She agreed with a frown and Daiki wondered if there were some plans that had gone wrong. And if, he probably didn't want to know.

They talked a bit about their childish chase games and pranks they pulled. And the mysterious box, but Keiji refused to give her a hint. They told Daiki everything they knew about their tree house. It was an amazing thing, and the ace felt welcomed in their secret base.

Keiji yawned and glanced at his watch. It was past ten. "I should go. Ma will be worried."

"Don't you basically live here?" Aya chuckled.

"I promised to be home tonight. Besides," he grinned, "I should leave you to your business, right?" She exchanged glances with Daiki and they both blushed. Keiji laughed. "I knew it."

"Well, we'll go too." She decided. "You need to secure the ladder and climb down. I've had enough of adrenaline rush today."

"Sorry 'bout that." He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "I really thought you'd notice."

"Whatever, just don't do it again. It scared me there." She admitted. "And I don't need to be scared when tree climbing. It doesn't help."

"Yeah… I promise I won't. I got serious scolding from Hanae-baa-chan too. I really meant no harm."

She stared at him for a moment, and then she sighed and got up, turning off the lights inside. Keiji quickly packed the glasses and remaining juice into a bag and passed it to Aya. "Could you take it down?" He asked and turned on one light on the outside.

But it was Daiki who took it from him. "Yeah."

Keiji grinned at him. "You've found yourself a good guy, Robin."

"I know." She smiled at Daiki, who suddenly pretended he wasn't there, and shut the door. Then she threw her legs over the gap and found the ladder. She was down in no time.

Daiki jumped half-way down soon after.

They waited until Keiji got down safely too. Daiki wondered how he could find his way in the darkness. The guy was truly interesting. Their ways parted in the middle of the meadow. Keiji went to take the car and Daiki escorted Aya to the main house. But she didn't go in right away.

"I hope tomorrow's match will be okay." She said with a slight worry.

"Why wouldn't it be?"

"It's Atsushi against you. I can't help but feel uneasy."

"I won't lose." He assured her.

"That's not it. Just don't hurt yourself, 'kay?"

He smiled softly and ruffled her hair. There was no point arguing. "I won't." He kissed her forehead, surprised by how natural it came to him, when they'd had a really embarrassing situation before.

She nodded and stood on her tiptoes, tilting her head up, demanding a kiss on the lips. He leaned down for a swift kiss, they were outside and the grandfather might kill him for this after all. But he could get used to this.

"Good night." She smiled and kissed him once more.

"Good night."

She took the bag from him and vanished into the house.

* * *

 **A/N:** Maybe I got a bit carried away with the prank and the tree house, but... I liked writing about it. And some fluff - I hope I'm still within the rating (?). Anyways, I hope no one was too OOC. :)  
Next chapter will be a showdown between Daiki and Atsushi, I wonder how that will go... And someone else will appear...

Let me know what you think and remember, reviews are appreciated but never necessary.

S.


	47. Chapter 47: Guests

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone who followed, favourited and reviewed! It makes me very happy.

I'm sorry, I'm posting the new chapter a bit late (two days is not that much), but I really wanted to wait for my both beta readers to go through the chapter, point out some things... You know, I didn't want to post a half-assed chater just to keep my schedule. I was still editing some parts yesterday. And the chapter got long again...

Anyways, enough of that.

Enjoy!

* * *

 _The fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storm terrible, but they have never found these dangers sufficient reason for remaining ashore. –_ _ **Vincent Van Gogh**_

 _Strong people make as many mistakes as weak people. The difference is that strong people admit their mistakes, laugh at them, learn from them. That is how they become strong. –_ _ **Richard J. Needham**_

 _Every team deals with obstacles throughout the course of the season, and it's as a unit that they need to be worked through. Injuries are part of the game, just like facing tough teams on the road or having one of your best players get into foul trouble._ – _**Scottie Pippen**_

 _But you, you're special to me. When I'm with you I feel something is just right. I believe in you. I like you. I don't want to let you go._ — _**Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood**_

 _The only way to get through life is to laugh your way through it. You either have to laugh or cry. I prefer to laugh. Crying gives me a headache._ ― _**Marjorie Pay Hinckley**_

* * *

It'd been 8 years since Haruka had come to his home country. He threaded his way out of the airport, carrying only a small handbag with necessities. He didn't want to think about meeting his children, because he didn't know how to feel. He was worried and anxious, he wanted to apologise, but he was also angry. Especially angry at himself, but it was hard to admit.

No one knew he was coming, no one was expecting him. He wanted it like that; he'd forbidden Lindsay and Gabi to warn the twins. They'd obeyed him, he knew, but still… It was lonely. It was early morning, and he easily caught a taxi. The ride through the streets of Tokyo was nostalgic. It reminded him of their departure. Many things had changed since then. Him included.

He arrived at the apartment building as the two receptionists were changing shifts. They were discussing something. He walked towards them and waited until they'd notice him. At first he wanted to demand attention but this was their territory and they'd been working here since the building was constructed. He felt a strange respect for both of these men.

"Oh," Chiba looked up first, "if it isn't Kagami Haruka-kun? Welcome home. It's been a while…" He greeted him with a smile.

"I'm home, Chiba-san. Thank you for your supervision. I believe my kids gave you much trouble."

Chiba was about to protest, when Tsubaki spoke up in his usual grumpy tone: "You didn't call in advance." His tone was scolding and he was frowning.

"It was a last minute decision." Haruka answered calmly, but the scolding surprised him. Then again, Tsubaki-san had always been a gruff, he should've expected it.

"And not a wise one."

"Oi, Tsubaki-san. Can't you a bit more friendly to the inhabitants?"

"What? They aren't home. And they didn't sign the form. Legally it's their apartment and they need to sign the written permission if we are to give the spare key to someone." Tsubaki protested. He didn't dislike Haruka; he was just really set on following the rules and well, given Haruka's often annoying calls if his kids 'behaved'… Tsubaki fancied the kids more, not that he liked them much either.

"Oh, come on. He is their father. We both know that." Chiba protested; he was like the polar opposite of his colleague. "We can surely make an exception."

"I won't, only if he comes with someone who has the key or permission."

"What?!" Haruka frowned. "You are telling me I can't go into my own house, because you don't have some permission?!" Now that was unexpected and it surely angered him. What a welcome?

"Not _some permission_. The owners' permission." Tsubaki said calmly, staring back at Haruka without flinching.

"I think –" Chiba started, but Haruka halted him with a motion of his hand.

"Fine." He retorted. "Who is _someone_ with the permission?"

"Let's see…" Tsubaki took out a thick file and put it in front of Haruka, and then he started looking for the form he wanted to find. He was doing it purposefully slowly. For no real reason, he just wanted to annoy the man. Besides, both receptionists knew who was visiting the twins often. "The apartment 148… 148… Ah… Here it is." He flipped through several signed forms. "People with free access are Harasawa Katsunori, Amane Hiroto and Amane Mayu. Limited access was granted to… Shiranui… brothers," he summed up when he saw all three Shiranui's there.

"What does that even mean?" He didn't remember there'd been such a procedure before. Sure, a visitor had to sign in, but still…

"Those with free access can come and go whenever without previous notice. We give them keys once we see their IDs, the limited access… When the twins are at home, we let them in. If they aren't home they have to let us know in advance and the twins have to okay it. And all the others have to be announced in advance or come with them. Oh…" He zoomed on another permission under the ones he'd just read to Haruka… "Free access to Aomine Daiki?" He flipped the paper around, looking for some additional info except the name, but there was none. Just the name and Taiga's signature. He looked at Chiba with a big question in his frowning eyes. "Who's that?"

"Oh, that one…" A guilty expression passed the old man's face. He didn't want to tell it to his colleague until Aya-chan filled it and signed it too.

"It's empty and Aya-chan hasn't signed it yet. Who's that?"

"That's why I haven't said anything. Taiga-kun had brought it here before he left for his camp. He said something about this being a _gift_ to Aya-chan or what… But she has to complete it."

"Aomine Daiki…" Tsubaki was thinking hard about who it could be. He was sure he'd heard the name before, but he couldn't remember.

"Who's that?" Haruka asked, obviously displeased. _So I was right about the boyfriend…_

"Oh." The receptionist remembered with a clap. "The boy who brought her home on his back when she passed out in school? The one you told me about, right? You think he'll start coming more often?"

Chiba shrugged with a furtive smile. "Taiga-kun thinks so. Well, it depends on Aya-chan too."

"Whatever. It's their business." He grumbled and took his bag. Teenage romances and juicy gossip weren't his cup of tea. "I'm going home."

"Sure. Thank you for your work." Chiba waved him goodbye and sighed. Then he looked at Haruka.

But Haruka was staring at the reception desk with an empty look in his eyes. Aya passed out? Why? How? Why didn't he know? Why she hadn't been more careful? Now she owed the guy. Who was he anyways? He'd never heard the name before… _Maybe she mentioned him in the e-mails…_ He wondered; he still hadn't found the courage to read them.

"Haruka-kun?" The old man addressed him kindly. "Is everything all right?"

He looked up, anger flashing in his eyes. "Why haven't you told me about it?" He raised his voice, overwhelmed by emotion he couldn't even describe.

"They asked us not to–"

"They asked you?! They're just kids? _**I**_ asked you to inform me!"

"Yes. They asked and we decided to listen. Because they're not kids. Not anymore. I've been watching them from the sidelines since they came." Chiba was kind, but like his gruff colleague he was immune to Haruka's anger. He was looking back at the younger man evenly. "They can take care of themselves. And besides, what would you do if you knew? What could you do? You were so far away with your business to attend to. It wouldn't do you good if you were worried about them."

There was nothing Haruka could retort. He should learn to control himself better, but when it was his children, he just couldn't.

The keys jingled against the cold glass of the reception desk. "Tsubaki-san doesn't have to know, right? But he'll be back. My shift is 12 hours, so unless you can get someone from those with permission to come and accompany you…"

"I understand. I'll leave until then." Haruka took the keys carefully, as if they could burn him. There was no way he'd ask Hiroto's or Katsunori's help. He'd ignored their calls and messages for too long. "Thank you."

The old man gave him a knowing look. "You've come here with a resolve. I'm not the one to judge."

"Ah, don't you know where they are?"

"No. I didn't ask. Aya-chan hasn't returned since she left for the Interhigh, although she should've. And Taiga-kun left in hurry. He didn't even say goodbye when he rushed out. Then he was here for around two weeks, but he was barely at home and he left again three days ago for a training camp, but he said he'd had no idea where they were going."

That made him frown even more. They'd come to L.A. after they'd rushed out, but they'd said nothing. What could've happened? He looked at Chiba again. "Do you know when they return?"

"Not a clue. But the school's starting in no time, so I believe they'll be home by then."

Haruka nodded and disappeared in the building. He took the lift which was finally working – not that he knew it'd ever been out of service – and got out on the top floor. He wondered what had changed in the apartment since he left. It'd been rented to some family before and from the bank statements he knew the twins had done some, not minor, renovations.

He turned the key in the lock and let himself in. The dark entry hall was just like he remembered it. A faint, lingering scent of coffee and some fresh clothes detergent welcomed him into the quiet, empty home.

"I'm home." He mumbled as he took off his shoes and stepped up into the corridor.

The walls were newly painted. Some of the photos hanging on the wall to his left were new, or he'd never seen them before. There were his kids, with their friends or just them. His old basketball club… next to it was a photo of Taiga and his current club. It was probably Aya who put it there, but she wasn't on the photo. He studied the boys for a moment and wondered if some of them could be the previously mentioned Aomine. Taiga's number was 10… like his. So Taiga was _really_ playing.

And then there was a photo of him. The photo had been taken by Keiko at his parents' place. The twins were around three or four years old. They were all wet and dirty from building miniature dams in the stream. He was carrying both of them on his strong shoulders and they were laughing. It tugged at his heart; not only the memory, but also the fact that this picture was still hanging on the wall here. After all… but Aya hadn't been at home since the incident, so she couldn't have taken it off…

Then he continued further to the big place of the kitchen-dining-living-room. The place was too silent and too empty. And surprisingly neat. He half expected to find Keiko in the kitchen cooking, like he'd been used to in the past. It wasn't possible. But he could almost feel her presence in the apartment. Despite that, he felt out of place and like he didn't belong there anymore. He wanted to leave, yet, he'd come with a resolve. There was no running away. Nowhere to run to.

The huge room had changed the most. The floorboards, kitchen utensils, couches, stereo, screen, library, coffee table and even plants were new. The colour combination surprised him the most; grey with white, orange and navy-blue. He wouldn't even think of such a combination, yet it suited the place. There were three more pictures in the library – even from a distance he could see Keiko's bright smile and he decided against giving it a proper look.

He studied the kitchen. A pile of schoolbooks was resting on the bar-like table with one dirty coffee cup. A math book was opened and a pen was stuck into it like a bookmark. The notebook underneath it was empty, except for some doodles around the edges. He snorted and studied it more. It was Taiga's. Then he looked up and noticed two planning calendars hanging on the wall.

Both were thematic, one basketball, one dancing. It was obvious which was whose. Both were filled with scribbles and crossed-out dates, but Aya's was visibly more filled.

He took it off the wall to have a better look. Tests, deadlines, camps, dancing practises and other events were written down in different colours. Only now he realised how many things Aya was doing. And for how long. Some days, if she managed to pull off everything she'd planned, she must've stayed up the whole night. No wonders she decided to quit working for the company; the pace would exhaust anyone. The day when she'd passed out was marked by Taiga – and his mark was crossed out by Aya. Keiko's anniversary was painted black.

The schedule of the past weeks was marked out in both of their calendars. It was packed. In Aya's there was: Interhigh – France – UK – L.A. – Dancing camp – Summer training camp (mountains) – Homework. In Taiga's: Training camp (ocean) – France – UK – L.A. – Dancing camp (?) – Training camp (mountains). He put the calendars back where they were.

He continued to check out the bedrooms. He glanced into all four – quickly hightailing from his former bedroom, because it looked the same, although it was newly painted and the bed was obviously new, but the same old model. The guestroom looked the same too.

And the kids' rooms… They were more adults' rooms than kids'.

It was like he was getting to know two strangers just by going through the place where they lived. The painful thing was that those two strangers were his kids. And he didn't know them anymore. Did they argue often? Why had they chosen different schools (he saw the different uniforms)? Could they cook? How did they spend their free time – if they had some?

Aya had a laptop and some work papers folded neatly on her desk. There was a bunch of folded clothes and her dancing shoes – for practising and competition, prepared on her bed with a bigger suitcase; she'd probably been planning to repack before leaving. But she hadn't had the time… He noticed black air Jordan's in the corner of her room. He'd never think she played basket seriously. Sure, he was aware she played from time to time for fun, but that she'd actually buy specialised shoes…

Taiga's room was a bit messy, with t-shirts thrown over his chair. Two basketballs were lying around the room, his wardrobe was half-opened – it looked like he packed in a hurry again. Basketball magazines were spread on his table. A bass guitar was resting in its stand and a cajón next to it. When…? And there was his laptop with a DVD next to it. **Seirin vs. Touou – qualifiers**. That caught Haruka's attention. Taiga had some notes scribbled down, but it was unreadable for Haruka. He was tempted to watch it.

CRASH

"AGH! Fuck!"

"Gah!" Haruka jumped away from the desk and whipped around. The person that almost caused him a heart attack. Water was pouring on the ground from a bottle Hiroto dropped.

"What the hell are you doing here?! Do you want to kill me?!" Hiroto accused him first holding a rolling pin like a weapon – he wasn't sure why he took the water bottle too though. "I was so surprised to see those foreign shoes in the hallway. I thought you were some intruder," which was a really stupid thought, given the reception system downstairs.

"I could say the same!" Haruka thundered, holding a hand over his heart. "Do you often sneak into their house when they're away?!"

"You're the one to say! You are scarce for years and now you come back?! Why bother?!" Anger bubbled in the bartender and his veins were still filled with adrenaline. He had no idea why, but he wanted to throw that rolling pin at his senpai. And hit him in the face.

"I have my reasons!"

"Pche, reasons!" Hiroto snorted and grimaced. "What reasons?! You didn't even come to my wedding! Ignored us, walked out on us! Hid behind that business of yours! Call yourself a friend or a father? You took so much from them! What else do you want?!" He shouted angrily and the hand holding the rolling pin was dangerously shaking, still ready to throw the make-shift weapon.

"To apologise!" Haruka thundered truthfully under all the accusations. "I fucked up! I know! Dammit!"

Hiroto blinked in shock, breathed out slowly through his nose and lowered his weapon. He was flabbergasted. "Chiba-san didn't warn me! That old fox… I knew something was off with him. But you? I've never thought I'd see you here." He said and bent over to pick up the bottle. "I've made a mess. What the hell…" The chuckle leaving Hiroto's lungs sounded desperate.

"Why are you here?" Haruka asked, lowering his voice to a normal volume. There was a lump in his throat; it was difficult to talk to his old friend again. And hearing all that… It much, much worse than any scolding Lindsay could've given him.

"Why, you ask…" He rolled his eyes. "Watering the plants of course. We have the key and Taiga asked us to."

It took Hiroto less than ten minutes and both men, former teammates and friends, found themselves standing on the big balcony and staring out at the street and people passing by below them.

"I didn't plan to go and meet you." Haruka said; he was calm now. Around Hiroto, he didn't feel like the big boss. And he was remembering his wife, realising his mistakes. Maybe that's why'd avoided them, so he wouldn't lose his air of superiority and oblivion he grown so used to and so fond of. It was probably the reason he'd pushed away everyone. _How stupid…_

"Trust me, I wasn't expecting it, Haruka-senpai. It's like seeing a ghost. I'm not sure if I shouldn't go get the salt." He smirked.

"You're still angry at me." He said levelly. It was surprisingly easy to accept the fact.

"You don't say. How could you guess that?" Hiroto asked sarcastically. How could Haruka be so calm? Almost resigned. Then he frowned, the former captain, the big boss, wasn't protesting. "I am. And you know why. I respected you, senpai. And you walked out on us all. We were your family too."

"You can still be… I hope…" He mumbled sadly, remembering how he'd been ignoring all the calls and e-mails. _I should really read all those e-mails._ He regretted.

"I'm not sure. It's not that simple."

"I know. But I'm allowed to try, right?"

Hiroto shrugged. "Suit yourself. We're not kids anymore, we can talk things out, but the twins…"

"Do you believe me when I say I regret it?"

He looked the man up and down. There were dark circles under Haruka's eyes, he had quite some stubble on his face and his wrinkles stood out. The big reliable captain he'd remembered looked almost fragile. "I do. You've got a lot to regret."

Haruka nodded with a grim expression. "I don't know them anymore." He admitted and sat on one chair, resting his feet against the railing and rubbing his face with a deep sigh. "And I don't know what to do."

"What?" Hiroto blinked at the older man in disbelief. What on earth had happened to him? Haruka wasn't the goofy, good-hearted and wise captain he'd known, and he wasn't even the unapproachable stone-cold big boss. Just a broken man, who desperately hoped he could mend what he'd destroyed and dreaded he couldn't. What could've happened to cause this change? "Er, I mean, you're probably right. But what… What happened?" He asked carefully. "You haven't cared for years, so why…now?"

"What did they tell you?"

"Who?"

"My kids?" He explained and frowned at the ashtray on the table, he noticed only now. It was empty, but obviously used.

"Nothing. I've never heard them complain about anything. But they didn't have to. I read the articles; I talked with Seth from time to time, your brother... Your kids didn't have to say anything. I know it isn't pretty."

Haruka sighed heavily and pulled at the medallion he'd gotten for his birthday. "I'm such a fool."

"That's an understatement." He said before he could stop himself.

Haruka cackled without a speck of humour, but his kouhai was right.

A surge of sympathy crossed Hiroto's face. That was the flicker of the old senpai he'd known and respected so many years ago. And he felt he could speak to him like before. Maybe… if Haruka really tried… The twins weren't exactly hateful. "So? What happened to change your heart? It's surely not just the old medallion."

So Haruka told him the whole story. Not just about the disastrous party, but all the things from before. He needed to get it off his chest. And Hiroto being the greatest bartender – and occasional psychologist – was probably the only person he would talk to like this. He had no idea why it was like that, but Hiroto had some weird charm that compelled people to trust him, to open up to him. And he wasn't trying to make himself look better.

He'd messed up and there was only so much he could do to make it right. And stopping blaming his children was the first step. Apologising, was the second. Because all his anger was actually aimed at him and he'd done the horrible mistake of taking it out on them and ignoring them eventually. And he could only hope the twins would somehow, slowly, miraculously, take him back like the lost dog. Because that was how he felt. Like an abandoned, old dog.

Hiroto was silent after hearing the news. He couldn't believe his ears. Then he got up.

"Hating me now?"

"No. I'm just sorry you haven't opened your eyes sooner. I'll tend to plants and leave. I'm needed at the bar. But you know where to find me."

Haruka nodded. It was the first time he'd opened up in years. Strangely, he didn't feel weak afterwards. More like, he knew what he needed to do. And drinking it down, wasn't the answer. He finally found the courage to do what he was supposed to do a long time ago; read the e-mails.

"Can you sign the permission for me to stay?"

Hiroto blinked at him. "You want to wait for them here? Are you sure it's a good idea?"

"It's a terrible idea. But I want to do it. Please, don't warn them."

"Okay." Hiroto nodded and left the balcony. "Oh… by the way, Kyou was at the bar yesterday, said he wanted to visit your parents… Maybe you could reach out to him too."

"Thank you. I'll think about it."

######

Kyou arrived at his parents' house just as the breakfast was served. He announced himself as he walked through the widely open sliding door to the dining hall.

"Tadaima."

Aya had her back to the door and at hearing the voice, she dropped the cup she was about to put in front of Daiki. The glass shattered against the hardwood floor. What was Haruka doing here? She closed her eyes, not wanting to turn around.

"Daddy!" Kaito bolted from his chair with a big happy grin on his face. "Okaerinasai!"

"Eh?" Aya turned around, to see her little brother jumping into the outstretched arms of his father, who crouched down to greet his son. She made a mistake?

Some of the guys who loved the sport enough to be aware of the past "legends" recognised Kyou and started whispering, enlightening those who weren't as informed… But Kyou didn't care. He was here only because of his little boy and his old parents.

"Ugh! You've gotten stronger in those few weeks I haven't seen ya!" Kyou chuckled as Kaito landed against his broad chest. And with his child safely in his arms he got up and looked around, smiling at all the teenagers around.

Kyou was a huge man; at least 195cm tall, broad and still very muscular. He was wearing loose linen pants in colour of sand, a simple white t-shirt, which was a bit too tight around his biceps, shoulders and chest, and moccasins. A pair of stylish sunglasses was hung at the collar of his t-shirt and he was tanned. He could be a scary hoard of muscle, but his face ruled it out. He was grinning widely and his ruby-red eyes were kind, albeit a bit mischievous, and smiling too. He kept a stubbly beard and his red and black hair was cut short at the sides, longer in the middle. It was threaded with grey and silver. With the wrinkles of laughter on his face and the slightly mischievous light in his eyes, he was very handsome and attractive. It was hard to believe he was already 46 years old.

Daiki was staring at the man and he couldn't fully suppress awe. This was one of the men he considered heroes when he was a kid. Their basketball skills were distinctive and unique, flowing and changing with the game. So this was Kagami Kyou in flesh and blood… He couldn't believe the man still looked like this in his age. But Aya's reaction worried him. She was looking towards Kyou and Kaito, so he had no idea what face she was making, but...

"Robin, you've grown so much. I've missed you! Come 'er too." With a grin and stretched his free arm so she could hug him too. It was a norm after all.

"Uhm…" She was staring at him, like he was a ghost. She knew it was Kyou, she loved Kyou, but she was still so hurt and so disappointed. And he looked so damn much like Haruka, even sounded like him. Or… he looked like what Haruka could've, if he hadn't become that ignorant and angry brick-wall. They were identical twins… And her cheek and thigh still remembered her last 'talk' with Haruka very vividly. "I'm too big for that." She grimaced apologetically and took a step back, the glass crunched under her feet. "Oh! Sorry! Your tea."

"It's fine." Daiki said with a frown when she crouched down and started collecting the shards with her hands.

"Baa-chan! Could you bring me a rag?" Aya called out.

"Sure!" Hanae shouted from the kitchen and was on her way. "What happ–Kyou?!" She gasped and dropped the rag. "What are you doing here?" She was partly glad Taichi was out with Keiji, because her husband tended to confuse the identical twins, even though they were his offspring.

He smiled at the small woman. "I'm home, mom. But why do you two look like you're seeing a ghost? I told you I'd be back for Kaito."

Hanae quickly fetched the rag and handed it to Aya, while taking the broken glass from her. Thankfully, it didn't shatter into tiny little pieces. She exchanged looks with Aya, and then she smiled.

"Sorry, Kyou, it's nothing. We just haven't expected you so soon. But I'm sure Kaito is delighted to have you back."

Kyou just shrugged and looked around, happy to see some old familiar faces. "Katt-chan,"

"Do you have to call me that, senpai?" Katsunori rolled his eyes in annoyance, but watched Aya. It seemed like Kyou was out of the picture.

"And Masa-chan, Tatsuya-kun, and hey, Kouta-kun you're here too. But… Where d' you leave Seth, Robin? He owes me a chess game."

Aya's hand froze for a second, and then she furiously wiped the floor dry. When she got up her expression was scarily stiff. She was staring at Kyou with her hard red eyes, clenching the rug in her hands. Kyou had no idea. He'd left over a year ago. He couldn't have known, yet, his question squeezed her insides. And she felt like throwing that rag into Kyou's oblivious, smiling face. _Where did I leave him indeed?_

"Aya-chan?" He raised an eyebrow in puzzlement. "Did I say something wrong? If so, I'm sorry–"

"I can't do this." She stormed out.

"Aya!" Hanae called after her.

Daiki's body rose up and followed after Aya on its own. He hated that expression on her face. When he was passing by Kyou, their eyes met and he wasn't sure what to think. The man was confused. But Daiki didn't have time for introductions. If Aya disappeared in the forest he wouldn't find her.

"What did you do to nee-chan, daddy?" Kaito asked, just as confused.

"I don't have the slightest idea…"

"Nothing." Tatsuya smiled at Kaito and hoped it was reassuring, but his fists under the table were clenched. "Your dad did nothing wrong, Kaito. Maybe he was just gone for too long. And missed out too much."

Kyou narrowed his eyes at Tatsuya and looked over his shoulder at the boy who rushed out after Aya. The look that youngster gave him was… it made a chill run down his spine. "You two–"

"Broke up last August." Tatsuya nodded.

Kyou's shoulders slumped and he sighed. _And that sneaky bartender said nothing at all, well, I didn't ask…_ "Nothing beats family drama. What did my stupid twin do now?" He asked and threaded his way to take Aomine's place, motioning for Katsunori and Kouta to join them.

Atsushi got up and left with a frown. This was none of his business. On his way he grabbed Satsuki by her collar like a kitten and dragged her away.

"Muk-kun!" She protested.

"That's not your place now, Sa-chin." He drawled and shoved her towards Kiku and Hero.

"But –"

"He's right." Kiku said with an apologetic smile. "It's a family thing."

"But Himuro-kun…"

"Muro-chin has a past with them." Atsushi nodded and squeezed himself next to Fukui.

Satsuki whimpered one more time, but gave up. Maybe this was truly none of her business. But she so wanted to know.

"I can feel something is wrong. I hoped it was nothing serious." Kyou started when he put Kaito next to him. Even if the kid wouldn't understand half of what they would discuss, he didn't want to leave him out. He didn't want to make Kaito feel like he didn't belong or couldn't know. "So? I'm listening. What happened?" His eyes hardened when he looked at Tatsuya.

Tatsuya gulped; he'd rather the earth opened up and swallowed him than telling Kyou about the articles and brake-up and all that… At least he could filter it because of Kaito. But he wondered if Kyou really knew nothing.

When Tatsuya was done, Kyou rubbed his stubble thoughtfully. He had doubted their relationship, but he also rooted for them. Still, he couldn't blame Tatsuya for backing away from it all and Aya for making her decision. He was sad his brother played his role in all that. And hurting Aya like that? And firing Seth? _What the hell? How far have you drifted, how blind have you become, brother?_

"And this summer, he wanted to try and marry her off to a Fairchild…" Kouta mused, telling them his piece of the story.

Even Katsunori's jaw dropped and he rubbed his face. "I can't believe that."

"Want to see the dress?" Kouta raised an eyebrow, keeping his voice quiet. They didn't need the boys to overhear this.

"I don't want to." Kyou said, his voice sounding almost like a growl. He had a very distinct idea what a father should be. And he'd learnt that from none other than his brother. He knew that Haruka's relationship with his kids after Keiko's death was bad, but he'd never thought it was _this_ terrible. He'd been hoping Haruka would come to his senses eventually… _I shouldn't have left…_

"And you look and sound like him." Katsunori muttered. "No wonders she ran away. You even had the guts to say 'sorry' to her that easily…"

"I've always claimed he was damaging my reputation…" He complained.

Katsunori only raised an eyebrow.

Kyou rolled his eyes and added. "…in the past few years… I've managed to do that just fine myself before…" But he could feel something was happening with Haruka. It was a faint sense of remorse that panged at the back of his head, even though _he_ wasn't regretting anything. When he focused it became more urgent and obvious. They, just like Taiga and Aya, had a very tight bond, a deep understanding even if far away. Kyou just _felt_ , he couldn't prove it, that something was changing within Haruka.

But there was so much, he couldn't choose one emotion. _Realising your mistakes, big brother?_

######

"Hey! Wait!"

But she didn't. All he saw was a flash of her red hair when she threaded her way through the thick forest. She wanted to be alone. At the same time, Daiki didn't think it was a wise course of action.

"Tch." He put in more effort and he finally managed to grab her elbow. "I said wait, dammit!"

"And I want to be alone!" She protested and tried to break free from him, but Daiki had an iron grip. The treacherous tears were welling up in her eyes, and suddenly she wasn't so sure about her words. She wasn't even sure if she was angry or sad or what.

"No you don't." He said almost softly, when seeing the tears she was fighting. He had no idea what was going through her head. But he pulled her closer and embraced her, hiding her face in his chest.

"I do…" She protested weakly again, but then she collapsed into his arms and grabbed at the t-shirt at his back. "I mistook them. I thought…I don't want to see him."

At least he knew enough already to guess. Otherwise, he would've been utterly confused. "It's not your father." He reminded her gently.

"He _looks_ and _sounds_ like him."

 _That_ he couldn't know. He hadn't seen the Kagami twins since they were 36 or so… "It's not him."

She took a deep breath, but didn't pull away from him. Daiki could really be a miraculously calming lighthouse. After a moment she shook her head, rubbing her forehead against his chest. "I'm being stupid, eh?"

"You've been hurt, Aya, you're not stupid."

"Still… I should probably apologise for overreacting. Kyou's been nothing but nice to us."

"Why'd you run then?" He asked, feeling that it was important. That he wanted to know the reason, because Kyou had truly done nothing but greeted her.

Now she pulled away to look at him. She took a step back and paced around a tree. Daiki was ready to catch her if she tried to run again, but he felt she wouldn't.

" _Where d'_ _ **I**_ _leave Seth?"_ She threw her arms in the air flaring up again. The prickling tears were not gone from her eyes. "Fuck, I'd love to know it too! He's my fault. He is gone, because he protected me. And Kyou could probably find him, or he knows where he is! There was no ongoing chess challenge the last I knew. So why ask me? With that goofy grin of his. To mock me?"

Okay, now he needed to tread carefully, because angry Aya was unpredictable Aya. And he could end up as the worst. But still, the girl valued truth, right? Daiki took a deep breath. "I don't think that was his intention." He said calmly.

That burning glare scared him a bit, but he remained acting as calm and careless as he could. It wasn't good that she was spiralling into these dark feelings. Then, an idea struck him. He raised his palms and showed them to her. "Punch."

"Huh?" She stopped her irritated pacing and stared at him. It was such an unexpected demand she momentarily forgot her name too.

"Punch. I mean it." He moved his hands up and down. "Let it out." He shrugged. "You won't be any good to them in the match if you're like this."

She raised an eyebrow. "To _us_? You meant?"

"Whatever." He avoided her look. "Come on, your brother said you could throw a good punch. Show me… If you dare." He smirked in a challenge.

And regretted it a second after when Aya's knuckles met his palm. He had to take a step back to absorb the strength she put into it. He surely hadn't expected it. And he was glad he offered his palms instead of his abs. The girl knew how to use her whole body strength, not just her shoulder. Her stance was solid, but flexible enough; she could attack as well as guard herself.

 _Where'd she learn that?_

But before he could say or ask anything another curled fist was coming, and he had to cover. And again, and again. It was something he was used to do with his dad; though usually it was him, who was punching and his dad was covering. Sometimes, he launched at her too, to force her back; he wouldn't actually hit her, but he wanted to see if she could react.

Their little sparring took on longer than he'd anticipated, but by the end, she was avoiding him and hitting his palms he set as targets with smirks. She was more focused on him and his actions than any bad feelings. His little idea was a success.

"Haaaa..." She breathed out and bent forward, catching her breath. "That was good!" She chuckled.

 _Quicksilver…_ "Mhm. But it's not the first time you've done that…"

"No it's not. But how did you come up with it?"

He scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. "My dad forces me to train or spar when I'm angry, thought it could help you too."

 _Right, he does jiu-jitsu…_ She smiled and her eyes were smiling too. "Makes sense. It's been a while since I was forced into this. So, what's your conclusion?"

"That your brother was right. You can throw a good punch." He chuckled. "Who taught you?" He asked curiously, though he could probably guess the answer. She was far from perfect, and he went easy on her, but still… If someone actually attacked her, it'd give her enough factor of surprise to get away. The person who taught her must've been crazily good if he managed to teach _this_ to a dancer.

"Seth, mostly. Tatsuya got roughed up and we got into trouble with Fairchilds when we were like 12 or something so Seth set his mind to teach us how to fight properly. Easy effective basics, nothing fancy, but I believe Tatsuya used it quite a lot."

"As long as it can protect you, it doesn't have to be fancy." He agreed. "But that guy doesn't look like he'd ever get involved in a real fight."

Aya laughed at that. "You'd be surprised, Daiki. Looks can be very deceitful. It's especially true in Tatsuya's case. And yours too!"

"Hah?!"

"You're kinder that you look, shyer than anyone would expect." Her eyes were sparkling. Their newly set relationship overruled all the stormy feelings. Love could truly be magical. "And you care a lot more than you let on. Should I continue?"

He blushed and looked away. It sounded awfully like praise and he wasn't sure how to cope with it, but it certainly flattered his ego. Although those weren't traits he put on display, it was heartwarming that _she_ noticed.

She chuckled; he really wasn't comfortable with open praise. "Anyways. Thank you for all this."

Daiki shrugged regaining his composure. "Happy to help."

She turned to head back. She wanted to be there on time to talk with the guys about the match. They only had an hour and something. But Daiki's hand catching her own stopped her. She looked up at him, "What?"

"Do we have to go back now?" He asked with a sigh. There was still enough time, and well… his eyes wandered to her lips and he looked away again. He wasn't sure he could demand a kiss after he'd stopped her like that the other day…

She intertwined her fingers with his and answered with a thoughtful expression. "No, but it'd be unwise to get you overexcited before the match."

"Tch." Disappointment passed his face, but she was probably right.

"But if it could work as an encouragement… I won't stop you." She said innocently and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. Heck, of course she'd love to use any free minute to kiss him and touch him, now that she could.

He stared at her mischievous smile with surprise, and then a confident smirk settled on his face. No, he didn't need to be nudged more than that. He pulled her towards him and leaned down to meet her inviting lips. Kissing her was surely becoming his favourite activity; true, he was still nervous, felt like his heart could jump out and butterflies in his stomach were untameable, but it was fine. It was Aya, and he loved her.

This time his hand didn't roam under her t-shirt and he stopped himself before it became too much. He didn't want to let go, but she was right; he had to focus on the match; it was Murasakibara and he couldn't wait to figure out which one of them was better.

######

The game between Touou and Yosen was a game between two completely opposite teams. One specialised on offence, the other on defence. While Aomine, Wakamatsu and Tada didn't make a big deal out of it, Kano and Naito were trembling at the thought of facing the giants from Yosen. Well, Yosen wasn't called the shield of Aegis for nothing; they looked intimidating.

"Gee', stop fretting so much. It's just a practise match." Aomine grumbled at Kano, who was furiously fidgeting and wiping his sweating hands into his shorts. "You've trained with them for days. Chill out."

"…Easier said than done. They have three players over two meters. Three. And even Muri-san is over 190cm. We're doomed." Kano protested with pale face.

"Shut up." Naito slapped the back of his head. "You're still 10cm taller than me, idiot. How am I supposed to feel?"

"Like a dwarf?" Kano tried and avoided another well aimed slap from his friend. "Still, wouldn't it be better to put Ishii in, he is taller than me."

Katsunori sighed and looked at Aya with a certain level of despair. He'd chosen this team-up because it was the second most effective after the full regulars. And he really hoped none of them would chicken out. They were good, he trusted them.

Aya shook her head and patted Kano's shoulder. "Yes, and he and Daiki would try to kill each other on court."

"It's not that bad–" Ishii started, but quickly shut his mouth when Katsunori gave him one of his sharp glares.

"It's gonna be just fine. You just need to find a way to break through their defence. Maybe you didn't get any research now, but you'll figure it out. If anything, you have quite a reliable ace."

Aomine wasn't listening anymore. He was frowning in the direction of Yosen's team. He hadn't faced Murasakibara before and he rarely faced players taller than him. If anything his opponents were of similar height. He wasn't nervous, just curious. And even if it was just a stupid practise match, he wasn't willing to lose it.

"So we just pass to him?" Naito asked sceptically.

Wakamatsu frowned at that. "Even he won't handle three guys that tall on his own…"

"Careful Kou, if he heard you, you'd argue again." Tada smirked at him. At least he felt a bit comfortable with his mark. Unlike Sakurai, he could quite easily handle Muri-san, who was only two centimetres taller than him.

The vice captain rolled his eyes. "Oi, Aomine!"

"Hm?"

"Any advice?"

"Hah? You asking _me_ for advice?"

With a huge self-denial, Wakamatsu nodded. "I'm marking him. And you've been on one team with him, no?"

"Tch. And you've trained with him for the past three days, no?" He raised an eyebrow in a mocking expression, but then, noticing coach's scowl he shrugged. "Don't let him crush you."

He frowned, what did that mean? But he knew it was the best he could get out of the arrogant ace. _Whatever…_ "Aaaargh! Let's do it!" He shouted to encourage everyone, himself included – he was about to face Murasakibara in the tip off.

"Do you have to?" Naito rolled his eyes and the boys went to line up.

Kyou was sitting on an elevated part of the gym with Kaito, Kiku and Derek, who'd returned from his short trip in Hanamaki. He had no idea how good these boys were, but he was curious. As a former nationally recognised prodigy center / power-forward himself, he could feel they were more than just good. And because of Aya, he was especially interested in Aomine.

Though she had apologised to Kyou, she was refraining to look his way. He was still eerily similar to her father. And even Derek had been confused for the first few minutes after meeting the man. She was watching Kano worriedly, the boy was too nervous that day and she feared it wouldn't do him much good.

"Would you, or should I?" Imayoshi asked Fukui and looked at the ball he was holding. The regular point guards were decided to be the referees for the game.

"Go ahead." Fukui nodded. "But throw it high enough. Atsushi tends to tip it before the ball reaches its pinnacle."

"Wouldn't that be fortunate for us~?" Imayoshi hummed with a smirk and a chill ran down Fukui's spine.

Imayoshi crouched down to use his body strength to throw the ball high enough. He prepared his ears for Wakamatsu's roar, which he knew would come.

And the ball was up.

"ORYAAAA!" Wakamatsu roared as he leapt up.

But Atsushi won the tip off easily, passing the ball to Okamura, unusually making sure his timing was right. The sneakily grinning Touou's captain made him watch his actions. He wouldn't give Imayoshi the satisfaction of losing the ball to Touou right in the beginning. But that loud center…

"Another annoying one." Atsushi muttered as he made his way under the basket he was to guard. He didn't care that his teammates were on the offence. Mine-chin would get the ball soon enough, and he would be needed.

Aomine followed Okamura. At first he was a bit wary of the bulky captain; Okamura was huge and heavy and most likely correspondingly strong. That was perfectly fit for a good center, but as Aomine quickly noticed, the bulky guy lacked speed and agility. And those were Aomine's fortes. As long as he could use that, Okamura on the offence wasn't a problem.

"Too slow." With that, Aomine snatched the ball from the opposing captain and bolted towards Yosen's basket; it wasn't all that difficult.

But it was one thing to get past the big, but rather slow Yosen guys, scoring was another matter altogether. Murasakibara was standing under his basket like a brick wall, waiting for him to come closer. Still, Aomine was determined to try it. He was far from warmed up. Maybe he would be stopped, but he wanted to test if he could dunk.

Atsushi narrowed his eyes; Mine-chin was fast and could shoot from the oddest places. But the head on attack without any tricks… He could stop that without much effort.

"You sure you're not gonna run?" Daiki asked and leaped up and forward, to use his whole weight against Atsushi.

With Mine-chin he had to jump too. "Hah?!" He slapped the ball away, but Aomine's strength surprised him.

"Aomine was stopped?"

Daiki scowled almost rolling his eyes. "I'll make the next."

Kano blinked at the ball flying past him and he quickly reached to grab it before Yosen did. "Got it!" He called, but suddenly found himself surrounded by Liu and Okamura. "Eek." He wanted to pass to Naito, but the ball got stolen by Suzuki, the substitute PG of Yosen and they went for counter attack.

Muri went for a three pointer and he made it. Although Tada tried to stop him, he was a second too late in his jump.

But Touou didn't stop to brood about it. Wakamatsu propelled the ball for a fast break. He didn't pass to anyone in particular, but he knew that someone from his team would catch it. Preferably Aomine.

Naito got it. And he was immediately marked by Suzuki, he made his way around him. Maybe he was the shortest of them all, but he was fast and his dribbling and fakes got much better. He wasn't naïve enough to go for a shot though, not with Atsushi under the basket, but Tada-senpai could very well succeed.

And he would have, if he hadn't been too hasty and eager to make it. But it was a tight miss. And Wakamatsu, knowing his best friend through and through, knew the ball would miss before Yosen's defence realised it. They didn't have time to push him off his position and he had the best timing for catching Tada's misses. With a loud roar, Wakamatsu snatched the ball from Atsushi and Okamura and threw it to Aomine, who was already leaping up to slam it in.

It was only two points, but Aomine scored back.

"I told you I'd make it." Daiki told to Atsushi with a smirk.

"Really? Do it alone then, Mine-chin." Atsushi drawled.

"Tch." Aomine clicked his tongue in annoyance and chased after the ball, leaving Atsushi standing under his basket like an overgrown scarecrow.

The first quarter then turned into Aomine running himself warm, trying to score against Murasakibara, and Murasakibara trying to guard against the ace. Both teams managed to snatch some points. And the more Wakamatsu and Murasakibara clashed for rebounds the more Atsushi got annoyed. He hated the loud and excited types like Wakamatsu.

There were two minutes of the first quarter left and the score was 15 to 17 for Yosen. It was really difficult to score. What Yosen lacked in offence, they compensated with size and what Touou lacked in defence they compensated with speed and agility. They were Aomine's team; it wasn't only the ace who was fast.

"You won't get it." Atsushi frowned at Wakamatsu after another stolen rebound. He's had enough of him.

"Huh?" Wakamatsu blinked at him. "So?" He didn't get the point.

"You won't get the ball. Don't you get it? Why don't you stop trying?"

Wakamatsu shrugged. "It's centre's job, isn't it? And I got that first one. What if I get another? If I stop trying I won't find out. Besides… It's fun."

Atsushi narrowed his eyes. He was facing another tough thickhead, who didn't know when to stop. "Is struggling fun for you?"

"No. The game is. Is it fun for you standing here alone like this?"

Atsushi didn't respond to that. He didn't like running. This was only an unimportant practise match. And if he ran around, it would mean more opportunities for Mine-chin to score.

"Whatever." Wakamatsu said and jogged to help out during their defence.

Although Aomine seemed to be handling it quite well. He was cornering Muri, who was desperately trying to shoot or pass, but couldn't find the right moment to do either. And ultimately, Muri had the ball stolen.

A few more shots were attempted, even less of them successful, but no one called a timeout. They were leaving the players to cope with the situation on their own.

Once the first of the three quarters ended, Touou was leading by 1 point. The score was 22-23.

"The longer he plays the better he's getting…" Tatsuya muttered, admiring Aomine's ability to score against Atsushi. The giant wasn't used to guard against someone like Aomine, who could shoot from the oddest positions and places, though he was doing a fairly good job so far.

"Aaah. It's Mine-chin. He has to run warm." Atsushi complained. "Can't you swap me? That center is annoying."

"No." Masako glared at him. "And if you lose, I'm confiscating your sweets stash. Don't think you can replace it here."

"But Masa-chi–"

Smack! The shinai hit his shoulder. "Don't call me that!" She growled.

Atsushi narrowed his eyes maliciously, but remained quiet. He really didn't like basketball. How could anyone take this unfair sport seriously? And seriously enough to threaten _his_ sweets stash… He glared at Touou's team taking their rest on their bench. He'd show them.

"You're doing surprisingly well." Satsuki said to them with a smile. "I would expect them to double or triple team you in the next quarter, Aomine-kun."

"Hah?" He blinked at her, then wiped his face and stared back at Atsushi sending them murderous glares. A smirk slowly formed on his lips. "What d' ya know? I might finally get entertained." He cocked his head towards the giant.

"Ow, wow… I've never though he could make a face like that." Aya commented. "How good is he on the offence?"

Satsuki's eyebrows knitted in worry. "Better than on defence."

"Interesting. Is he faster than you?" Aya asked looking at Daiki.

He shrugged. Whether Atsushi was faster or not, he didn't care, all he wanted was to have some fun. "He wasn't."

"But with his long legs, he can cover the court's distance like nothing." Satsuki added. "His wingspan is unusually wide and well… When he gets running, he is practically unstoppable. Breaking a hoop is a child's task for Muk-kun."

"How are we supposed to face that?" Kano peeped.

Aya sighed. "It's a game. And I think Daiki will be on him all the time. So don't be so scared, no one's trying to kill you. If you're this stiff you'll only make unnecessary mistakes. You're good; trust your skills, okay?"

He nodded, not meeting her burning eyes.

"And besides… short people have advantages too. Because you're shorter, they have to be more alert, keep better check on you, and bend down more. Plus it's quite hard for a growing teenager to control their strength." Aya said, remembering how Atsushi feared petting the kitty, or how Daiki thought he had hurt her during their little bed fight. "They are aware of the strength difference and most likely, you and Naito-kun are forcing them to hold back. Maybe not Okamura-senpai, but Liu-senpai and Atsushi…"

"You think Muk-kun is holding back?"

"I believe so. Maybe not consciously, but he is. Oh," she turned to everyone except Daiki, "and one more thing, If you're trying to guard them under the net, lower your centre of gravity more, otherwise they'll push you around like pesky insects." She noticed Kano taking breath to protest, but she didn't let him. "I know they're big, and you can't forget that. But if you keep trying to match their height you'll have no effect whatsoever."

"She's right." Naito frowned. Not that it would help him. He was too light and someone like Okamura or Murasakibara could probably lift him up one-handedly if they wanted to.

Fukui blew the whistle to announce the start of the next quarter.

Tada got up and sighed with an excited grin. "Let's get on with this." He slapped his hand across Wakamatsu mouth, before his friend could shout another encouragement. "Really. Don't."

Wakamatsu let out a muffled protest and complain but gave up.

The second quarter started rather calmly. Atsushi was, so far, not going offensive, but it was only a matter of seconds until he would. With Tada, Kano and Naito in the game, the Touou's teamwork was better than the regulars' and slightly better than Yosen's. Suzuki-kun wasn't a bad PG, but he didn't really have the sense for his teammates' rhythms and habits. And he could make some really unfavourable decisions to pass.

Soon enough, Aomine found himself double teamed by Okamura and Liu. He could usually cope with that without breaking much sweat, but those two were huge and knew damn well what they were doing. And that was the moment Atsushi used for his first attack to show off his full power. With Aomine in check, Wakamatsu and Tada were of no use in stopping the giant and Naito and Kano didn't even try. Daiki cursed and wiggled his way from the guards, but Atsushi was already at the basket; and going for his Thor's hammer. He was reckless, but not suicidal. He just had to score back. The hoop creaked ominously under Atsushi's weight and additional force he used, but miraculously, it didn't break.

"Throw it!" Aomine shouted at Tada who caught the ball under the basket.

"Huh? Oh!" He grabbed it and passed over the half court to him. Yosen's basket was unguarded.

"Mine-chiiin!" Atsushi sprinted over the court in a surprising speed for his huge body, but he was a second too late to stop the ace.

"Ready to face me yourself, big guy?" Daiki asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I'll crush you, even if it's you."

"Woah." Kyou was blinking at the players in disbelief. Those two were on the whole different level from their teammates. For Aomine to break from the double team, and for Atsushi to almost snap the hoop…

And then a tight game between Atsushi and Daiki started. Atsushi, despite his reflexes, couldn't quite grasp Daiki's ever-changing rhythm and those weird shots the bluenette could make. And once Atsushi went for his shots, Daiki simply couldn't reach, or if he could, he was pushed back by Atsushi's sheer strength.

"Are we even needed?" Naito wondered, not even trying to follow the ball. He'd simply be in the way.

"It always happens when two of them clash." Imayoshi sighed from the outside of the court. "At least we can see just how good they are." He was waiting for any foul play, but none had occurred so far, which was quite unusual. He'd expected Murasakibara to make some fouls, even if unintentional. But the giant was watching his actions well.

"Truly incredible… But I wonder how long they can keep it up…"

The score difference wasn't changing much. If anything it was tied and that was it.

"They're incredible." Aya breathed out, admiring them both. But she was admiring Daiki a bit more. He was coping exceptionally well with someone quite taller than him. She knew first hand it wasn't easy, but it wasn't impossible.

"It's obvious they hadn't played against each other often. If only Muk-kun could win this one…" She sighed.

"You think Daiki would take it seriously if it's just a practise match?"

"It's _his_ match, practise or not… I think he'd take it seriously. If it's them, he respects their strength. And maybe enjoys the game too."

"I still think that losing an official thing is more of a blow for someone of his calibre, who loves the sport more than anything."

The pinkette tracked Daiki with her sad eyes. "Does he really, I wonder…" She said but a small teasing smile was playing on her lips.

"He wouldn't play otherwise." Aya smiled at her encouragingly. "Besides… Even though we hone individual skills, the team's not bad at all."

Satsuki's eyes suddenly widened and she yelled: "KANO-KUN, DON'T!"

"Huh?" Aya turned her head to look at what was happening. Then her eyes widened and she wasn't sure she wanted to see the outcome.

Daiki jumped to try and stop Atsushi's one handed dunk – which he'd learned was possible, once he got the timing of his jump right. Kano, however, thought Daiki might need help, or he just reacted instinctively, no one could really tell, but he jumped up too. And using more strength than usual – given it was Atsushi – he bumped into Daiki from behind, pushing him further forward. The ace couldn't possibly avoid it mid-air. And as a consequence, Atsushi rammed into both of them, sending them down. Atsushi was so surprised he almost missed the hoop; he'd seen Mine-chin, he'd known they wouldn't collide like that, so why…? Atsushi grabbed onto the hoop as he slammed the ball in and hung there.

Daiki desperately twisted in the air so he wouldn't crush Kano with his full weight. The ball fell on them and then the hoop finally broke with a loud CRACK. Atsushi hadn't expected it (he'd tried to break it before and failed – obviously his attempt hadn't been that futile) and with a surprised grunt, he fell down. He landed on his feet weirdly and tripped over Daiki's and Kano's feet, lost his balance and fell forward. He tried to avoid the two, especially with the hoop still in his hand. He really did. It seemed like a slow motion and yet happened too fast. He saw how Mine-chin turned to his side even more and braced himself, but the other guy had probably his breath knocked out and didn't try to get out of the way.

Despite Atsushi's try, one of his forearms ended on Kano's upper torso, the other hand holding the hoop slammed against the floor a centimetre from Mine-chin's face.

Daiki's heart missed a beat when the metal ring crashed on the ground so close smashing some planks on the wooden floor of the gym. And then…

CRACK!

The sound was sickening; worse than the hoop breaking.

And then Kano roared in pain. His collarbone snapped under the pressure of Atsushi's hand.

No one cared about the game after that.

Atsushi rolled away and got up in a lightning speed, so did Daiki. He threw the hoop away and stared down at his huge hands. He'd felt the bone breaking. It was one of the worst feelings he'd felt. He injured someone during a stupid practise game. Because he went for that attack. Because he couldn't keep his balance. Because he broke another hoop. It wasn't important that he couldn't fully control the situation. Still, it was his hand doing harm.

Daiki was staring at Kano with a mixture of surprise and worry and anger. He couldn't quite comprehend the situation. He was shaken by the hoop that close to his face and he'd never seen anyone break their collarbone like that. The one who used to be always cheerful and grinning and who used pester him into playing, into 'teaching'… And now _this_ guy was so shocked and hurt he couldn't move.

Everyone clustered around Kano with worry.

The coaches, Kyou, Aya and Hero seemed to be self-collected enough to get the boy sit up and talk with him. Hero was forcing him to calm down, the pain was excruciating and she knew it was hard for him to do anything but adrenaline would soon kick in to numb it. Actually, she was surprised Kano's adrenaline hadn't kicked in yet.

Aya looked at the two aces with an unreadable expression. She was worried about how they would take it, at the same time, she knew she couldn't show it, or she'd only make it worse. It wasn't their fault. And she didn't want to yell at Kano for being stupid, because he was the one getting hurt.

Masako and Katsunori were trying to investigate what had happened, as calmly as possible, though they were really worried too.

And then something in Daiki snapped. His expression darkened.

"TCH. WHY'D YOU DO THAT?! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!" He shouted at Kano angrily.

Kano looked up at him with eyes of a frightened, injured and very guilty roe deer. "I-I'm s-s-sorry…?" He stammered out. He wasn't even sure what had happened. Was it really his fault? "I-I di-didn't…" He blinked away the tears of pain.

It only angered Daiki more. Who was he really angry at? Kano? Himself? Murasakibara? The situation? The game? He had no idea. But everything inside him was boiling. This didn't have to happen. It shouldn't have happened. Kano shouldn't have interfered with HIS game!

"DAMMIT! OF COURSE YOU DIDN'T!"

He lowered his head in shame and bit his lip, drawing blood. It helped redirect at least some of the pain. "I wanted to help." He muttered dejectedly.

"And where did it get you?! I don't need your help! Any of you!"

Katsunori looked at the ace with hard eyes, but he essentially agreed. There was nothing Kano could've done to help and the boy should've been skilled enough to know it himself. Still, Aomine's shouting wasn't helpful. "At least the two of you are fine." He said pacifyingly. Anger and blaming wouldn't solve anything.

"Tche!" He turned on his heel and stormed out of the gym.

"Great." Aya muttered. Then she clapped her hands. "He has to go to hospital. Without a question. Let's hope it won't need surgery." She looked at Derek. " _Could you please take us to the closest hospital?"_

Derek nodded.

"You're not going." Katsunori told her in a tone that didn't take any protests. "Kyou and I'll take him." He looked at his senpai.

She opened her mouth to protest, but Kyou patted her head sympathetically, ignoring the fact she tried to avoid his hand. "You're needed here more, Robin. We'll take good care of him, don't worry."

"Atsushi! Where're you going?" Masako called after Murasakibara, who was shuffling out of the gym.

He looked at her angrily, his amethyst eyes blaming her for blackmailing him into offence. "I'm done with playing. Don't try to force me next time, Masa-chin." He said in a rather dangerous tone and disappeared outside.

Kyou straightened up and looked at Masako. "Just what have you used to make him run?"

Masako blushed and averted her eyes guiltily. "His sweets' stash. Maybe it was my mistake…"

"No…" Kano huffed as the girls helped him to his feet. "I did something unnecessary." He tried to force a smile. Aomine yelling at him like that… It hurt.

"Maybe, and you're suffering because of it." Kyou said with a crooked smile. "Injuries happen. Accidents happen. You didn't mean to make a mess. It's just bad luck. Come on, let's get you x-rayed and patched up."

Kano nodded and looked away. He'd had no idea about the legendary basketball Kagami twins. Now he felt embarrassed that one of them was trying to cheer him up.

Kyou looked at the coach who would stay behind. "Masa-chan. Get the others playing on the half courts and get dad to look at the planks and the hoop, he might be able to repair it. They have to keep moving, even if they don't feel like it. The whole practise shouldn't be stopped. Someone should go after Murasakibara-kun, make sure he doesn't get lost in the forest. Robin," he sighed, "a moment, would you? Take the boy to the car, I'll catch up with you!" It was easy for him to organise people. He wasn't bossing anyone, they were simply grateful that someone took the lead in the situation.

Katsunori nodded and he started walking, accompanied by Derek and Kano. Tatsuya slipped out after them. If Atsushi would listen to anyone, it was him.

Aya followed Kyou into a corner of the gym where they'd have some privacy. Kaito joined them right away, but he wasn't listening; he was looking at the injured boy.

"What?" She asked a bit sharper than she intended. Realising that, she looked away and bit her lip.

"Robin," he let out a heavy sigh and scratched the back of his neck, "I know I look like him, we're twins. Can't help it. And I know he's hurt you in a way no father should be allowed to. But please, will you talk with me when we return?"

She sighed too. "I'll try… I'm sorry, it's just…"

"I get it; I'm not taking it personally."

"Thank you…?" She peeked at him timidly.

He chuckled heartily at that expression. It was so unusual for her and so cute. "Besides, shouldn't you go after him?"

"I'm not sure I should. There's nothing I can do or say to make him feel better."

"So you get it, don't you?"

"Huh?"

"He yelled at him, because he was worried and shocked and didn't know what else to do. And well, Kano-kun, was his name, right?, kinda caused the mess himself. I don't think he should be blamed, he did what he saw fit, but still…"

"Well, yeah. That's why I think it's for the best to leave him to cool off. It's Daiki. Short fuse and all… I've been on the receiving end once or twice too."

He raised an eyebrow; that was interesting. "And you're scared you'll find yourself there again?"

Was she? "Well, no…" she frowned, "but… What am I supposed to do?"

Kyou shrugged and looked somewhere past her. "Maybe all you need to do is be there? We men can be stupid sometimes."

"Heh, I know that."

######

Daiki didn't feel like talking with anyone, so he was looking for a refuge in the surrounding forests. But as he was passing under the tree house, Keiji's stopped him.

"Wanna come up?"

"Huh?" He looked up, to see Keiji leaning over the railing.

"I heard that outcry all the way here. What happened?"

"None of your business." The ace barked and continued in his way with no goal.

"Oya, oya… I won't pry then. Still, wanna come up? It's a good hiding place."

"Not from her."

"You think she'll come after you?"

Daiki bit his lip. He had no idea. Kano was, after all, her friend and he'd taken his frustration out on him. He wouldn't blame Aya if she was angry with him. Still, a part of him hoped she would come, though he had no idea what she could do or say. He didn't want her to say anything, he didn't want her to try comfort him, or persuade him to go back…

"Throw me the ladder." He said finally.

"No." Keiji grinned. "I have something better." He said and disappeared. In a moment he was by Daiki's side. "I'll show you our way up. You good at climbing?"

He snorted. This was surely one way to distract him. "Quite decent."

"Should be sufficient. Come."

######

"Atsushi! Wait up!" Tatsuya called after the giant, who was walking down the only road to the village. One road without any sideroads had one advantage - Atsushi couldn't get lost. But the giant ignored him, and continued pacing forward. With Atsushi's long legs, Tatsuya had to jog to catch up with him.

"Go back, Muro-chin. I wanna be alone." He drawled with a frown.

This wasn't his fault. He knew. But that helplessness, that moment he was out of control, was terrifying. Mine-chin wasn't his best friend, but he was his friend and the thought of injuring him... _How did he even avoid that hoop?_ And why it came to that?! Because an idiot without a real talent tried to 'help'. Oh, how much those players annoyed him. Trying to help, trying to shine, even though they couldn't! Endangering themselves and those around them.

"I won't leave you alone though."

Atsushi huffed and quickened his pace.

"It's not your fault."

"I know."

"So? What's the problem?"

Atsushi stopped and Tatsuya almost ran into his broad back. He turned around, really angry. "What's the problem?! It could've been Mine-chin's head that got smashed instead of those planks."

"That'd be difficult to clean up." He commented dryly before he could stop himself. These 'bad' parts of his were showing only around people he really cared about. It was a shame, but he needed to make the whole drama a little bit lighter. He wondered what went around in Aya's head. _She probably hadn't realised how serious it could've been..._

"You're terrible at comforting people."

"So I've been told. But Aomine is fine, isn't he? Nothing happened."

His amethyst eyes narrowed into slits. "To you. Certainly, nothing happened. You're safe and sound." Then the giant turned on his heel and started walking again.

"Oh, come on. You know I didn't mean it like that!" He had to jog to catch up again. "Where're you heading anyways?"

"None of your business."

"I'm gonna follow, you know."

"Suit yourself." With that Atsushi started running, stretching his long legs as much as he could. Muro-chin couldn't keep up with that, he was aware.

"Hey! Slow down!" He shouted and sprinted after him. He had no idea why he cared about Atsushi. The huge guy could take care of himself, yet he felt like a huge dog you just couldn't leave alone. "I'll buy you cake in the cafeteria!"

Atsushi didn't slow down, but he started listening. That was his destination. He needed sweets. He needed cakes. He didn't want to think about it. About how huge he was. About how easy it was to injure someone, to lose control, to slip up. That's why he'd refrained from playing offence in the first place. He feared seriously injuring strangers, and when he'd almost injured his friends… _Stop thinking!_ He growled at himself inwardly and blinked furiously, because he was actually getting teary out of frustration.

"As many cakes as you want!" Tatsuya shouted at the top of his lungs, so Atsushi would hear him over the distance that grew between them. "And I won't preach or pry!"

Atsushi slowed down a bit.

"Thank gods." He sighed in relief. Sometimes, it was difficult dealing with the overgrown kid.

"As much cake as I want?" Atsushi asked suspiciously when Tatsuya aligned with him.

"As much as you want." He nodded, really hoping that whoever worked in the cafeteria knew the Kagamis and he could put the expenses on them. Of course he'd try to pay her back, but he doubted Aya would accept it.

But Atsushi already knew Tatsuya's thinking - and his financial possibilities. With a frown he rubbed his chin. "It'll be on Aya-chin, right?"

"Huh?" Tatsuya paled. Why could Atsushi see through it? He chuckled and tried to wiggle out of it. Which only ensured Atsushi more.

"So it will." He drawled and then shrugged. He wanted the sweets, on whoever's expense. "You're the one telling her." And he decided he wouldn't eat **THAT** much.

"That I will. Promise."

#####

"Keiji!" Aya called out to him an hour later. "Have you seen Daiki?" She'd gone to fetch Taichi and she'd stayed in the gym for another mini match, thinking about everything. And when she went to search for Daiki, she couldn't find him. He could be anywhere.

Keiji's head popped up over the railing. "Why'd you ask?"

"Just answer, please."

"Maybe. Maybe not."

"Yes or no?"

"Hmmm… I'm not sure."

She rolled her eyes. "Are you enjoying it?"

"What do you want with him?"

"So you _have_ seen him."

"Haven't said that."

"I don't know, okay?"

"Don't know what?"

"…what do I want with him! I just want to _be_ with him… So… I'll ask again, and if you won't give me a proper answer, I swear I'll come up and strangle you. Have you seen him?"

"Define a proper answer."

A vein popped on her forehead. "You're dead." She growled under her breath and found her way up the tree in seconds, driven by her frustration. She'd expect answers like these from Kouta, not Keiji.

Keiji sighed and turned to the ace. "You heard her, man. She _doesn't_ know; that can mean anything, but she won't preach. I know that much. So… before she catches me, I'll make myself scarce." He winked at him and threw a rope over the railing.

When she reached the deck, she saw the rope and no Keiji. She rushed to the railing and looked over it to see him safely landing on the ground. "Hey!"

"You've found what you were looking for. Bye bye~" Keiji waved her with a grin and ran away.

"What?!" She asked no one and then she sighed and pulled up the rope. When she turned around and noticed Daiki sitting on the ground leaning against one of the beams, she almost jumped out of her skin. "Kyah!"

He made a grimace. "Didn't mean to startle you."

She crouched down and shook her head. "So you've been here the whole time?"

Daiki shrugged. "Nowhere else to go, really."

"I'm glad you didn't wander away. I hope Tatsuya's found Atsushi. I heard his sense of direction is terrible."

"He left too?" He asked in surprise, though it probably shouldn't surprise him. Then he looked at Aya warily. What was she going to say? He wasn't sure he wanted to hear it.

Aya nodded and closed the distance between them. "He said he was done playing offensive." She sighed and sat next to Daiki. "I'm not even surprised."

Other than that, she said nothing. She had no idea what to, and she doubted that asking him how he felt would do any good. She could tell he was feeling crappy, she was too. She was worrying for Kano and prayed he wouldn't need a surgery and screws to put the bone together. She was worrying about the talk she'd have to have with Kyou. She was also unbelievably relieved that Daiki didn't get injured. If the hoop had hit him… No, she couldn't even imagine it.

So they were just sitting there quietly, thinking. It was comfortable for both.

Daiki was appreciating her silent company. She was probably worried the same as him and he was wondering why she hadn't gone to the hospital with them. Then he remembered she couldn't handle hospitals. Why though? He sighed and closed his eyes. It was pointless to think. He was tired. He hadn't slept properly since they'd come. He hated sharing the room with the entire club and those few snoring bastards. And her kisses were keeping him awake too. Now it all came crashing down on him.

He turned and lay back, resting his head on her thigh. It was just like a comfortable pillow.

"Hm?" She blinked at him.

"Let me nap." He glanced at her and drawled quietly, a slight blush that was masked by his tanned skin passed his face.

"If you can relax like this… But can you move a little bit higher? The scabs are still sensitive…"

"Oh, sorry." He moved a bit higher towards her hip. "Is here fine?"

"Mhm. It's fine like this." She smiled at him and stroked his hair gently, resting her other hand on his chest. "I'm so glad you're safe." She breathed out quietly.

"Thank you." He murmured and closed his eyes enjoying the soft, comforting touch. Maybe this was all he needed. Soon he drifted off into a dreamless sleep. If he couldn't sleep around 25 other guys, he felt safe and comfortable with her. He was out cold in seconds.

"Sleep well." She said softly and brushed his cheek with her fingers. He looked so cute and peaceful when sleeping. And she was sure he needed it. So what if they missed lunch? Everyone would only talk about Kano anyways.

She closed her eyes and rested her head against the wooden beam. She was exhausted too. There was so much happening in her life that she needed to rest from it all.

If anyone saw them, they'd probably take a picture to commemorate their comfortable mid-day nap. But no one came to the tree house. No one could get there and Keiji told them that Daiki ran off and Aya went looking for him. Which meant the two could be gone for the whole day.

Chirping of a bird sitting on the railing woke her up. She rubbed her eyes and stirred, which probably disturbed Daiki enough that he rubbed his face and yawned.

When he sat up, Aya could feel her leg went numb for a moment.

"How long were we out?"

"Hm?" He was still half-asleep.

"Mmm." She shook her head. "It's nothing. Was your nap fine?"

He smirked. "Quite refreshing."

"Glad to hear I'm comfy." She chuckled, stretched and yawned. "I guess we both needed the rest."

He nodded, remembering everything again.

They remained silent for another couple of minutes, waking up from the sleepy haze.

Aya conjured some juice and small snacks from her wooden chest and offered some to Daiki. He gladly took it. And then he stared at the empty package.

There was something he wanted to tell her. But he was hesitating. He wasn't sure of her reaction… Still, he'd decided. So he took a deep breath, bracing himself for her persuasion, he knew would come. "I'll stop coming to practises completely."

"Huh?" He blinked at him, but he had his back to her.

With a frown she crawled her way over to him, to look at him, to see his expression. At first he avoided looking at her, but when he did, his eyes said it all. He was firmly set on this decision. There was a swirl of so many things, she couldn't really decipher and she couldn't claim she understood his feelings right now, but she would respect his choice. Still, there was one thing she had to try.

"Okay." She nodded. "Thanks for telling me."

His eyes narrowed. He could sense and hear some 'but' in her tone. "Okay?" He drawled.

"Okay. I'm not gonna make a big deal out of it, if that's what you've decided… But…"

"Tch."

"I am respecting your choice, but I have the right to voice my buts, okay? Just hear me out; I won't force you or blackmail you into anything. Promise."

He sighed. "Fine, I'm listening."

She was quiet for a moment, putting her 'but' into words. "If we happen to face Seirin in the Winter cup… And if we'll know about it in advance, which we will, could you, _please,_ consider coming to practises at least three weeks before that one match?"

"…"

"Just think about it and let me know, it doesn't have to be today."

He could do that at least, right? It was Tetsu… And her brother. He'd won once. But there was something persisting at the back of his mind he couldn't grasp. A vague sense of threat? Excitement? Possibly both. "…a week before." He agreed reluctantly.

"Two weeks." She knew why she'd said three in the beginning.

"One and a half." He negotiated.

"Okay." She nodded and grinned. "And one more but."

"Urgh, really?"

"Sorry, Honey-bun." She shrugged but grinned at him.

"Hey!" His silly nickname was back? He didn't like it, but it made him smile nonetheless.

She chuckled. "The other but is… I will be attending practises even if you don't. I'm the manager and I won't skip because you will. Katsu's relying on me."

"Okay." He nodded; he knew she took her responsibilities seriously. He respected that. "I don't expect you to skip."

She smiled at him and rested her chin on her knee, watching him. She really admired him. This side of him. Although he could make fun of those who took things seriously, he also deeply respected them. Because he knew what it meant. What an amazing person.

"What?"

"Nothing. Just watching."

"Why?" _Do I have something on my face? Did I drool in my sleep?_

"I want to. Can't I?" She raised an eyebrow teasingly. "Still processing that you're really my… boyfriend." The word was weird. She would definitely find a better one, but not at the moment.

A barky chuckle escaped his lungs. "Regretting your choice already?"

She blinked in surprise. "Huh? What? Why would I?"

He shrugged and looked away.

"Aomine Daiki, dammit, what happened wasn't your fault, or Atsushi's fault, or anyone's. Well, maybe Kano's own… Really. No one is to blame. Least of all you."

"I shouldn't have yelled at him…"

"You've had all rights to yell at him, actually, I was surprised no one else did. It wouldn't help, but... If you'd gotten hurt instead, I would've yelled at him." She said with a slight hint of anger in her voice. "But still... he knows you already; he won't take it that personally. And you can always apologise for yelling–"

"Hey you two!" Kyou's voice shouted from outside, interrupting their discussion. "Is it safe for me to come up?"

"You're back already?!" Aya shouted back. "Sure! Come up, if you can find the way. Or do I need to throw you a ladder?!"

"Don't underestimate the old dog!" He said laughing.

"Whatever you say…" She hummed and glanced at Daiki with 'Let's see what happens' expression.

They waited silently for couple of minutes, trying to hear any sound Kyou might make, but he was unusually silent.

"He can climb trees, right?" Daiki asked in hushed voice. It was quite a difficult climb, and Keiji made him climb up and down several times, making sure Daiki would remember the safe way up.

"Of course. They've always been athletic and could do just about anything." But she got up anyways. "But he's taking way too long."

With a sigh she walked towards the door and on the deck. The tree house was supported on three trees, and she and Keiji discovered several ways up already. All of them lead to the deck. The sliding door wasn't fully open and part of the deck was hidden from their sight.

"BAM!" Kyou jumped at her when she got close enough.

"KYAH!" She jumped backwards. "Do you want to kill me?!"

But the old man was laughing heartily, his shoulders shaking with uncontrollable laughter. "Your face was hilarious, Robin."

Aya frowned at him and crossed her arms on her chest.

Kyou really tried to straighten his face. "Okay, okay. I'm sorry. Won't do that again… But…" He started laughing again. "You should've seen yourself."

"If I had something to throw at you…" She said, but then she smiled and shook her head. "Whatever. How's Kano? You're already back? Wait, what time is it?"

He raised his hands in a defensive gesture and let himself into the house. "Prrr, Rob, one question at a time."

"Don't call me that. I don't like it when you shorten it. I'm not a guy."

" _Robin_ , sorry." He apologised in a placatory tone. "So, it's five PM already. Kano is fine. It was a clean fracture, they corrected it, he's got a sling and he shouldn't move his arm. With the pain he probably won't. It'll take around 6 weeks of healing, then some rehabs." He shrugged; he knew the process from the first hand. "Nothing out of the ordinary. But the lady nurse and the doctor were very nice to him and he is quite a charmer. I suspect he might have a crush on the nurse."

Aya chuckled, that sounded like Kano. "He doesn't have much of a choice with four younger siblings. But if he could get a crush, it's not that serious after all. It just looked so terrible."

"Looked worse than it actually was. They loaded him with painkillers and whatnot so he went to sleep right when we returned. You can talk with him later." It was for both of them. And now he was finally meeting Daiki up close. He wasn't sure he liked the wild light in the boy's eyes, but then again, there was something safe about him too. "And you're Aomine Daiki, I suppose. I heard a lot about you on our way to Hanamaki and back."

"Uh…" Surprised by the man's attention Daiki scrambled to his feet and actually bowed. "Yeah, that's me." Meeting Aya's family was stressful. He could totally see where she got her guts and personality from. Kyou appeared funny, easy-going and cheerful, but Daiki felt the edge in that somewhere.

"Oh, how rude of me!" Aya facepalmed at her own negligence. "Sorry! I should've properly introduced you."

Kyou motioned his hand and tilted his head. "Go ahead then."

She took a deep breath. "Kyou, this is Aomine Daiki, my man. Daiki, this is Kagami Kyou, my uncle. Which you both already know…" She frowned, embarrassed by the whole situation.

 _So your man, huh?_ Kyou nodded. "Well then, I'm pleased to meet you, Daiki-kun." He approached Daiki for a handshake.

"…nice to meet you too." He shook the man's big rough hand firmly. It took a lot of effort to answer like a normal person, because Kyou still had his aura of the prodigy very similar to Daiki's own, plus Kyou was a season veteran with experiences beyond Daiki's imagination. And Aya labelled him as 'her man', not a boy or a boyfriend. It made his heart jump. He liked the sound of that new label.

The boy in front of Kyou had rough hands too. Years of handling the ball. He'd seen him play and he knew the boy had hardly shown what he could really do. Wild, unpredictable, ever-changing basketball was something his former team struggled with when he and his brother were benched or couldn't play. And Daiki set his whole style a notch or two above the twins'. _The new generation is always better…_ He wanted to try playing against it.

She could feel the silent conversation going on between them and she had no idea if it was good or bad. She shifted her weight and cleared her throat.

"You wanted to talk?" She asked, looking directly at Kyou, refusing to avert her eyes again. She was stubborn. And he wouldn't have climbed into the tree house if he hadn't wanted to talk _now._

"Yes. Katt-chan, Tatsuya-kun and Kouta-kun have enlightened me earlier about some things I should've known…"

Daiki shifted on his feet, he wasn't sure he was welcomed at the moment. Should he go? "Uh, maybe I–"

" **Stay."**

They said in unison, interrupting him.

He froze on the spot. _Really?_

Kyou raised an eyebrow at her. "So he knows you that well…" He nodded approvingly.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Are you testing us?"

He shrugged with a crooked smile. "I don't know. You've changed and I've just met your _man_. I kinda rooted for Tatsuya-kun back then." He rubbed the back of his head, but he could already feel that Daiki was probably much better match for Aya than Tatsuya.

Aya sighed and shook her head. She set the small table into the middle of the room and took out three cushions to sit on. She and Daiki had had none before. "You really thought we would stay together?" She asked finally.

"Eeeeh, that's… I like him, but I guess you are too similar and too different at the same time." He gladly occupied one of the cushions and took a juice Aya poured him. "But that's not important now. I've heard their version of the story; I'd like to hear yours too."

"What's there to add?"

"What happened between you and Haruka? Tatsuya, your friends, the articles were one humongous reason for disputes, and then Seth… that was almost a year ago. But what happened _now_? Kouta-kun was unusually vague for his standards."

"The Fairchilds' party happened." She said and looked away. She felt too ashamed by the fact her own father had wanted to marry her off to that disgusting spoiled bastard. For a contract…

Kyou raised an eyebrow in question. "Kouta said the same thing. Have you two conspired?"

She shrugged. Despite all the pranks and dirty talks, Kouta's loyalty and wit were priceless. "I don't feel like sharing it."

" _Robin_ , you promised."

She sighed deeply and looked somewhere into the tree crowns surrounding the house. "I don't even want to say it. But if you insist. I'll let you guess. You can probably get his thought process right away. And maybe explain what the meaning of it all was." Her voice was bitter and resigned. She refused to cry or anything of the sort. But a dam of words broke free. Kyou was someone who would listen. Despite the resemblance, or maybe precisely because of it, she could tell him many things. He'd even allowed her to take out her anger on him in his twin's stead a couple of times. "Let's say your daughter is a publicly declared whore, you believe she's had all the experience and then there is your business partner with three sleazy, disgusting and spoiled sons, out of whom the youngest took _interest_ in the girl. You trust them and think they are actually decent. There's an engagement proposal… You want to clear your name, get rid of the girl… and there's also some good business deal in it. The girl's far away, can't voice any objections… What do you do? You agree, right?" She forced the whole thing to the back of her mind, but now the feeling of betrayal grew only stronger. Rational thinking didn't ease it in the slightest. She had thought she could let go for some reason before, but with Kyou here, it was becoming easier. She couldn't understand it.

Kyou hid his face in his palm and Daiki's jaw hit the ground. They were speechless. Kyou couldn't believe his ears and Daiki couldn't even think. His brain and heart froze at hearing that. Her father had done what?!

"Fuck…" Kyou muttered finally. "It's worse than I thought. So? How did it end?"

"What do you think? I'm here. Dating the one I love, the one I've chosen myself long before Haruka's proposal package." She addressed him by his name, not like _father._

"Well, I can see that. But what about the Fairchilds? They're not to be trifled with; you know that better than anyone." He said bitterly.

Daiki snapped his eyes at Kyou. What?

"Haruka called it off. There was no way I'd agree. Not if he was the last man on earth. I'd rather be in jail for murder than breathing the same air as Peter." She shuddered at the memory. "Taiga didn't take a step away from me at that party and well… Peter tried to totally humiliate me, but Helena, his mom, intervened and made him look like a little kid. That was actually worth going there for. True, we'll probably need to watch our backs for some time. The company… But we're relatively out of their reach here and he can handle it."

"Heh, Helena is the sanest of them. Maybe my brother has realised it too." Kyou nodded. "I'll make sure they won't have any reach here. But what was the business deal?"

"I don't know. And I don't want to know my market price. Although I believe it's not much." She bit her lip and looked at her hands.

"Aya-chan," he finally understood that feeling he was getting from Haruka. His brother had betrayed his child and he was regretting it.

"Well, when he came up with his _proposition_ I lost it, we argued… I shouted out a lot of wrongs he's done to me…" She didn't want to hear Kyou's apologies. "As for his very clear response, I ended up with a bruised face and in that atrocious glass table in the living room – at least it's finally gone. I've never liked it or that white carpet anyways."

Kyou blinked, his expression going paper white. "He hit you?"

Unconsciously she touched her abused cheek and a crooked smirk graced her lips. "Wasn't the first time. But hey, I'm the bad and useless kid. I'm just glad Taiga wasn't there to make it worse with his temper."

"If I kill my own twin, will it be like killing myself?" Kyou wondered out loud. But there was one more thing he wanted to know; "what did you use to make him call it off?"

"The company. I can take his leading position from him… with Taiga's help, and honestly, Taiga would have my back if it came down to that. And after all that, he still told me to cover the scar in the morning." She chuckled at the irony of that. When she was done with bottling it up, it was easier to set the bridge on fire. The lingering feelings she had were towards her dad, and her dad had been long gone. Haruka had no right to be called that. She needed to accept it.

"Kaa-san told me you've lost weight, no wonders…"

She rolled her eyes at that. Maybe grandma was right and she might've lost a kilo or two; she simply wasn't that hungry and she practised a lot, but it wasn't that bad. "Baa-chan is exaggerating. I've known for a long time that Haruka doesn't love me. But I was really trying to reach out, only so it would come to this… I was an idiot."

Kyou really felt like killing his own brother for all this. He also felt responsible in a way, like he should repair it, make it better. Those two were like his own, genetically, he could very well pass the paternity tests. And he'd been away for a year. He'd never thought so much could change in one measly year. Not with their family… Yet it did. "Ne, Aya-chan… I'm his twin. If I told you that he's really low right now?"

"I probably wouldn't believe you. He isn't someone who'd have a guilty conscience."

"Then how's Taiga doing right now?" It was an order. He knew she would respond automatically and then understand what he was saying to her.

"Hungry and tired." She blurted out without thinking.

"How do you know?"

She shrugged. "I do."

"I do too. One of the perks and curses of having a twin. You're always connected in a way. I'm not asking you to forgive him, but –"

"No. I'm done trying to _**understand him**_. I don't! And I won't. And why should I? To get stabbed in the back again? I'm not that strong, Kyou. My _dad_ died eight years ago with our mom. Then I had Seth I could probably call dad and he is gone too. I'm done with this."

"He's regretting it." Kyou finished his previous sentence with a hand on his chest.

"I guess it's too late." She said bitterly.

The sentence was a final. There was nothing else to add to that.

Daiki felt like he got hit by a train, it didn't make him love her less, more like he'd break a nose to the person who dared to claim her like those Fairchilds or whoever they were, had done. He had no idea what he would do. Why didn't she tell him before? What if she hadn't managed to get out of it? How would he react? He had tons of questions in his head now. And yet, the sun still shone and she still walked with her head held high, told him she loved him. And he truly believed it. If it weren't for Kyou, she'd probably never tell him this. So he wouldn't worry. He loved her too, he knew her. He'd felt there was something off, but she was genuinely happy around him, he could tell that much. And he didn't pry into it much. He wouldn't want to ruin their moments with this kind of shit either. So he didn't blame her for not telling him. He hadn't talked with her about Klahan and the youtube channel and all. And he hadn't walked in her shoes.

Maybe all she needed was to have him close. More than ever. Like he did.

"Well, let's get to something happier…" Kyou broke the silence abruptly, forcing the atmosphere to change. He was a quicksilver too. "I can try to find Seth. And if I do, I promise I'll get him back."

"If he's alive." She said dryly.

"Of course he is. That man has nine lives. I'll spread the nets. A worldwide chain of bars can be quite a good source of information."

"Good luck then. But I doubt you'll have any luck."

"Don't be pessimistic! That, and… Kaito will get a horse too. He's being trained now and should be in France by November, I guess."

"Really? So Adrien will have three subjects to try and ride."

"He's still on it?"

"Stubbornness runs in the family. What's the horse's name?"

"Kite."

After the previous discussion, she finally smiled nicely again. "It suits. They'll be inseparable."

"That's why I was planning to go to France, and stay there for some time. Kaito needs to go to school soon, and I don't want to leave him behind. And Ayame-obaa-san said we could live there for some time. I can write my book in peace there, with good wine and beautiful nature."

"Sounds like a good plan. You want him to learn French?"

"He already knows it thanks to you, but I want him to get it better. And who knows, maybe I'll find a step-mom somewhere there." He smiled and sighed. He didn't mind being a lone parent, but sometimes he missed the woman's presence in their home.

"Don't let him forget Japanese though. Oh, will you help us with the lift for Kaito? We want to get him up here tomorrow. Keiji had done a lot of preparations so…"

"Sure, are you involved in it too, Daiki-kun?"

"Hm?" A direct question shook him out of his pondering. "Oh, the lift, yeah… I was helping him a bit today."

Kyou sighed and smiled at the young man. "I hope we didn't freak you out with my brother's behaviour too much…"

"…I knew it wasn't nice… but engagement?" He looked at Aya with an unreadable expression. His eyes were like a swirling ocean in the storm and she couldn't decipher anything.

"I didn't want to ruin the moments…" She admitted. "And I could forget about it with you, so… Aaand I didn't want to freak you out."

Daiki sighed. "I already know you well enough. I wouldn't freak out. Maybe a bit… But… I've made my choice too." He shrugged and looked away with a slight blush. "And there aren't many things I take seriously."

She blushed, but smiled at him. Aomine Daiki was the most amazing, and also contradictory, person she'd ever met. Sometimes she felt she could read him like an open book and then there were times when he totally surprised her with something.

"What? You expect me to run away now? I've been thinking about all that since… Ah… It's nothing." No way would he tell her he'd gotten drunk at Hiroto's.

"Since when?"

"The bartender-san hadn't told you?"

"Hiroto? What should he tell me?"

"It's nothing."

"Daiki! Tell me."

He shook his head vehemently, like a child refusing to eat broccoli. "No."

Kyou laughed at them.

"What?" They both snapped at him.

"I totally approve. You remind me of–" He stopped. _Keiko and Haruka._ He wanted to say. Instead, he rubbed his stubble and grinned. "Anyways, I hope I don't need to give you _**the**_ talk, right? I've had enough of explaining what 'sex' is to Kaito."

Both teenagers went red. Then as quickly they lost the furious blushes. "No. You really don't."

"Awesome." The older man flung to his feet easily. "I'll leave you two. Maybe you want to talk more, or… Well… Daiki-kun. Tomorrow you will play one-on-one with me."

"What?!"

"I'm not asking you. It's a must, kid. Plus I'll show you some of her childhood photos as a reward – if I'm in a good mood afterwards. Dinner's in fifteen minutes!" He nodded and got out before the stunned youngsters could raise any objections.

* * *

 **A/N:** Phew... A lot of things happening in this one. I hope that no one was too OOC and that it was enjoyable, although I might've not given 'space' to all characters...

Let me know what you think and remember, reviews are appreciated, but never necessary.

S.


	48. Chapter 48: Dance

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone who followed, favourited and reviewed! It makes me very happy.

This time I managed to finish the chapter on time :) But honestly, I'm not sure about the title of it, so if you have any better ideas, let me know!

Enjoy!

* * *

 _Dance as the narration of a magical story; that recites on lips, illuminates imaginations and embraces the most sacred depths of souls._ ― _**Shah Asad Rizvi**_

 _Can I jump over two or three guys like I used to? No. Am I as fast as I used to be? No, but I still have the fundamentals and smarts. That's what enables me to still be a dominant player. As a kid growing up, I never skipped steps. I always worked on fundamentals because I know athleticism is fleeting._ – _**Kobe Bryant**_

 _To give anything less than your best, is to sacrifice the gift. –_ _ **Steve Prefontaine**_

 _Does she realize she looks like a sunflower, ready to rain sunlight on all who look down upon her?_ ― _**Simone Elkeles, Perfect Chemistry**_

 _When I saw you I fell in love, and you smiled because you knew. ―_ _ **Arrigo Boit**_

 _Sometimes you have to lose all you have to find out who you truly are._ ― _**Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart**_

* * *

Aya woke up surrounded by three girls squeezed in her bed. She wondered how they fitted in. Satsuki, Hero and Kiku had ambushed her in the evening, forced themselves into her room and bed and she'd had to tell them the whole story again. She hated repeating it, but… They were her best friends. And they were adamant about it. If Kiku had shared her scars, Aya had had no chance to run away from them.

She chuckled. At least she was at the edge of the bed, so she could easily roll off without waking them up. It was still too early for them to be getting up.

She walked through the quiet house to get some water and something to eat. She was hungry. The door to the dining hall was wide open and the chilly morning air was flowing into the room. In her short pyjamas, she shuddered and took Taiga's old warm hoodie hanging on a nail in the corridor. It smelled of dust and home, but she didn't mind the dusty scent at the moment. She pulled it over her head, crossed her arms over her chest to get warmer and looked around the room.

Kouta was already sitting in the kitchen, drawing something with aquarelle by the poor table lamp he'd fetched from god knew where. He had a steaming cup of coffee and a smoking cigarette resting in the ashtray next to him. He wore a hoodie too. He didn't like the cold, but he loved the fresh mountain air, so...

He raised his head and greeted her with a nod. "Nice hoodie. You had some really good company last night. I thought I'd join you, but then again..."

"Sorry, Kou, we had some serious talks."

"So I've heard." He said and dipped his head over the picture again.

"Thank you." She said with a smile.

"Hm?" This time, he didn't look at her.

"For not blabbing everything to Kyou."

He shrugged. "I thought you'd want to do that yourself."

"That's probably the only reason I like you."

"Mmmm… and I'm a marvellous prankster, artist, dancer, charmer and an awesome man in general. I know, thank you."

"Pfff…" She chuckled. "Not as awesome as Daiki."

"Geh, of course. Girls in love are a pain…" He muttered under his breath.

Still chuckling, she walked to him to look at what he was working on. "What is it?" She asked, staring at his drawing, although she already had a very good idea.

"What, you say… It's who… You know, you can really inspire people. Not just Hikaru." He shrugged again, staring at his almost finished drawing of a ballet dancer. The dancer had fiery red hair falling wildly around her face and black tutu dress. She was doing an arabesque. Her eyes were closed but her expression was sad. Tears were streaming down her cheeks as she danced.

Aya recognised herself immediately. Kouta's drawing skills were a real deal, just like Hikaru's. Though Hikaru's expertise were sketches and dresses and designs. Kouta had an exceptional talent to grasp feelings and bring his drawings to life. No matter what he drew, painted or sketched.

"Do I really _feel_ like this?" She asked with a frown, studying the drawing closely. It was an amazing piece of work.

"When you dance ballet, you really do. Sad and tragic. At least I feel that." He said with a soft smile, quite unusual for him. "But when you go Latin, you're more like this," he pulled out another drawing of her while dancing samba and it was a polar opposite of the ballet picture.

"I'm not sure if I should be flattered or creeped out by your drawings of me. Why me?"

"As I said, you have a certain spark." Honestly, he had no idea. But whenever he thought of drawing a dancer, only Aya sprang in his mind. No other dancer had caught his heart quite as much as her. It wasn't that he was in love with her, or had a crush, Aya simply had that something, a spark or charm or additional value, you came to love, or at least you were amazed by it.

"Don't show it around too much. It might be considered a bit weird…"

"And I don't care. This would be a good design for a notebook or a diary, don't you think?"

"Which one?" She asked, pointing at the pictures.

"Both."

She sighed and then laughed. "If you want to use it to make money, change the face a bit and I want 8 percent of your profit. For being the inspiration."

"Fine." He said, admiring his own work for a moment. Then, out of nowhere he asked: "Want a cigarette?" He certainly wanted another. The one in the ashtray had gone off on its own as he'd forgotten about it.

"Not really. I haven't had one for over two weeks, and… Daiki doesn't know. I don't want to be caught red handed. Not after all he's learned now."

"Meh, you're no fun." He got up and stretched. "But at least come to see Kyou's car." He grinned like a little kid.

"What have you done?"

"Naaaah, just used some sticky notes to decorate his windscreen."

She smirked and gave him a mischievous look. "Only the windscreen?"

"Huh?"

"Are there any more sticky notes at our disposal?"

He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Weeeell… It's four in the morning, and if it's the two of us… Sure, I bought tons of those last time I went to restock the food I misused. I wanted to prank Derek, but Kyou is a better victim. He can actually appreciate the effort."

"Let's finish upgrading his car's design then." She said, "You can have your cigarette while we're on it."

######

Kyou was never a morning person. He'd always suffered during morning practises, and he loved sleeping in, or just snuggling in his bed. In his parents house he was woken up much earlier than usual, but only after the boys, and Aya, had returned from their morning mountain runs and had eaten their breakfast he shuffled to the dining room to eat too.

He had no idea why everyone was giving him those weird looks and why they were sniggering behind his back.

Kaito ran inside with a huge smile, totally drenched – he'd most likely spend his time in the stream – and with shining eyes he said: "Can we take a ride in our piñata-car?"

He blinked at his son. "Uh, in what?" Everyone else in the room was shaking with silent laughter, so he narrowed his eyes.

"Our car looks like a giant piñata!" Kaito said, jumping up and down excitedly. "I want to have a ride in it. Can I steer please?"

Kyou jumped up and ran out to see his car decorated with thousands of sticky notes. "WHO – KOUTA! ROBIN! DAMN YOU, YOU LITTLE DEVILS!" He cried out desperately. It would take hours for him to take it all down. But it looked kind of awesome too.

Kaito wasn't sure if his dad was truly angry or not. So he kept watching him expectantly. Noticing that, Kyou sighed. He'd find a way they would take it all down, until then…

All the boys went out to see what the huge man would do. But to their surprise he started laughing loudly.

"Well, Kaito, let's do it. But first, we need to make a peephole, so he can see where we're going. And then we can have a ride in our new piñata tank!"

"Can I steer?" The kid pleaded again.

"Sure thing!"

"YAAAAY!"

"Kyou!" Hanae protested. "You can't do that."

"Mom, please. He'll be sitting on my knees and I'll have it under control. Dad let us steer like that too, you know."

"Oi!" Taichi jumped in. "That was supposed to be a secret."

"Oops! Sorry, dad."

Hanae narrowed her eyes at her husband and he rather hid behind Atsushi and Okamura standing close by.

"When I get back, we'll have our match, Daiki-kun!" Kyou winked at Daiki and lifted Kaito up, so the boy could reach the windscreen and unstick the small papers.

Daiki groaned. "I hoped he forgot." He muttered to Aya.

"Not a chance. He never forgets a match he's demanded." She shook her head. "But isn't he one of your childhood heroes?" She teased.

"How d' ya – Satsuki!" He snapped at the pinkette, who slid behind Tada-senpai at a lighting speed, pretending she wasn't there. "Oh, she can be such a pain in the ass!" The ace complained.

Aya laughed.

 _I need to find a frog._ He thought, already planning his revenge on Satsuki. "Are there some frogs around?" He asked.

"Huh?" Aya blinked at him. "A ton? Why?" She stared at her man with a concerned look in her eyes. _Frogs?!_

"Where?"

"Uuuuhm… by the stream and the small lake further downstream?"

He smirked deviously.

"What are you planning?" Aya asked suspiciously.

"You'll see." He shrugged. "Or hear." With that, Daiki set off to find a perfect frog or frogs to get back at Satsuki.

"If I find a frog in my bed…" She muttered threateningly. She didn't mind the slimy, jumpy creatures, she could touch them without disgust too, but she wouldn't want to find one in her bed. Really no.

######

Just before lunch everyone gathered around the outside court to watch a game between Daiki and Kyou. They hardly got to see the old legends playing as Katsunori and Masako didn't participate in practises. They were curious. Could Kyou's experience beat Daiki's wild talent? And what was Kyou's style anyways? No one watched the old games anymore.

"Who do you think will win?" was the big question running around.

"I honestly don't know. I haven't seen him playing in some time." Aya shrugged. All three girls were gathered around her and Satsuki had her notebook and pencil out to take notes. She was beyond curious, almost obsessed to see Kyou's game.

"I hope you're not underestimating me, Daiki-kun." Kyou grinned goofily at the boy. He had the ball first. But just from Daiki's relaxed stance he knew the boy was a real deal and he couldn't take it easy.

"Bring it on." The ace grumbled, focusing on every muscle in Kyou's body to be able to react in time. For a seasoned player in his mid-forties, Kyou could create tremendous pressure. Daiki knew he couldn't take it too easy, but he doubted the man had his previous speed or power. The advantage was his.

Kyou started dribbling and it looked almost lazy, but he had no intention of losing the ball. He was keeping it just out of Daiki's reach. He'd seen the boy's speed and agility. Still, he was certain he could keep the ball.

They started testing one another.

Daiki was guarding the man tightly, he wasn't willing to let him score and he wanted to steal. After all, they were playing for the first score. They danced around each other, each going for their goal.

Kyou wasn't as fast, but he didn't give Daiki any chance to steal. The man's dribbling was extraordinarily controlled, yet not predictable. Kyou was good at changing his pace too. A notch faster, a notch slower, it was hard to judge and Daiki 'stole' a thin air once or twice.

Daiki couldn't believe it. It could hardly be called a talent. The old man had fundamentals drilled down to his bone marrow; for him controlling the ball was as simple and automatic as breathing, he didn't need to think about it. And then Kyou passed him. With a tricky streetball fake, which was supposed to be his expertise. He managed to turn around and catch up though.

A second before Kyou managed to dunk Daiki slapped the ball away with his left arm; immediately frowning as a weird, strained feeling not yet painful, shot through his elbow.

They landed and Daiki stared at Kyou with wide eyes. He'd barely managed to stop him. And the man was still surprisingly strong. Well, maybe not, given his build; he was bigger and heavier than Daiki for sure.

The next ball was handled by Daiki and he found it quite difficult to shake Kyou off. It was like the man knew his moves. But it was impossible to read them, Daiki knew. _Could it be…? Only one way to test it._ Without any previous warning, he suddenly threw the ball at the basket.

Kyou jumped lightly and tipped the ball out of its course. Daiki was a prodigy. That was without a question. He had the best instincts, reaction time and he was fast, strong and young. He already had his own unique style, which was admirable. But he lacked the right motivation and someone like Kyou could see the boy had skipped too many practises for his own good. "Hmmm… Not bad." Kyou hummed. "One more?"

Daiki narrowed his eyes and nodded. He had to score first. He had to win. And this man was an actual opponent he could respect. He had to respect. It excited him. And the next game confirmed Daiki's suspicion. Kyou wasn't reading him, he was simply reacting. The man had an animal instinct and he wasn't trying to hide at all.

Three more games between the two happened. Finally, in the fifth game, Daiki managed to score. He smirked. "I win. We played for the first score."

"Really?" Kyou raised an eyebrow and smiled. "You sure I didn't let you?" He asked to tease and unsettle the boy. But he hadn't let him, he'd never let anyone score on purpose, of course, he doubted Daiki knew that. _Ah, youth…_

A puzzled expression settled on Daiki's face. _He didn't, right?_ He wasn't sure. The man was a bit slower in the last game, but… He couldn't have stopped him. Or could he? What was he thinking? "The only one, who can beat me, is me." He said finally. He won. That was what mattered.

"Interesting mantra. Maybe you're right. Your talent and skill is far above your peers. Above me too, I guess. But aren't your senses a bit dulled already? Couldn't you score sooner? Aren't you wasting your gift by holding back?" The man asked nonchalantly with a kind smile. There were many things he could learn about the person he played against. He wanted to shake the boy's world a little bit. And he felt his words were reaching home. Not that he expected Daiki to actually listen. "If you want to be a top professional and make the game your living, you still have a lot to learn, and a long way to go. We can tell you from first hand experience, right Katt-chan, Masa-chan, Robin?" He looked at all three. "Self-confidence and arrogance are separated by a very thin line, Daiki-kun. Never forget that." He stared at the boy with his burning red eyes.

With a deep frown, Daiki nodded in understanding. He wasn't sure he understood what the man wanted to convey. The questions hit home, but he denied them immediately. Still, they stored somewhere in the back of his mind.

"Aaah," Kyou stretched, "it's been a good game. I'm hungry. Do we have lunch ready yet?" He changed the topic and seemingly his whole mood and walked towards the dining hall.

Everyone slowly departed. The girls went first, to help with serving the lunch. Only Kano stayed behind. He hadn't had the chance to talk with Daiki and he suspected the ace was actually avoiding him for some reason. It saddened him, but he wanted to resolve it. In one way or another. He felt really guilty.

"Maaan, you were both so amazing. I never knew Aya-chan's family was full of prodigies."

Daiki wasn't paying him much attention and startled when Kano spoke up. He looked up and cringed inwardly when he saw Kano's arm in the sling. "Errr… Yeah…"

Kano sighed. "Look, I'm sorry."

"Huh?" Daiki blinked.

"I've done something unnecessary and I got hurt. You didn't need my help; I know that, after all, you never do." He looked at his feet. "I have no idea why I jumped, but I was stressed and scared and I wasn't thinking. I could've injured both of you too. I can't imagine what could've happened if the hoop had hit your head." He shuddered. The thought was running around in his head and it terrified him. "For that, I apologise. I'm really, truly sorry."

Daiki opened and closed his mouth. He was speechless. Why was Kano apologising? Maybe the guy had done something unnecessary, but... The only one hurt was Kano himself. Not him and not Atsushi. The giant was too tough to be physically hurt by another person anyways. And the hoop hadn't hit him – Atsushi had somehow twisted his wrist to miss him – but he doubted Atsushi'd realised his own action. Although he really didn't want to think what could've happened if it had.

"I couldn't even move out of Murasakibara's way like you." He chuckled sadly. "I guess I am a useless player after all."

"Tch. There's no such thing."

Kano raised his head, his ashamed green eyes staring at Daiki in surprise. "What?"

He rubbed the back of his neck and rolled the ball up and down his left forearm, testing how the elbow felt. It didn't hurt per se… _I just hit it…_ He felt he'd already said that to a certain shadow a long time ago. Apparently he had to repeat it again. "There's no such thing as a useless player on a team."

" _ **You**_ mean it?" Kano was close to tears. Was the Aomine Daiki actually kind to him?

"Hah?! What did that mean? You think I'm a heartless prick?"

Kano laughed quietly. "No, no, no. Not at all. You're dating Aya-chan, finally, and she'd send a heartless prick to hell. But–"

"Shut it! Whatever you want to say, don't!" He protested abruptly and loudly.

"Okay." He wanted to shrug, using both of his shoulder, just to yelp in sudden surge of pain shooting through his fracture. "Damn it, it's so inconvenient."

"Ah… Also…" Daiki looked away. "Sorry for yelling at you yesterday." _I was like a mother hen…_

"Ha?" His jaw hit the ground. "Am I dreaming, or have you just said 'sorry' to me?"

"Tch. Forget it."

"No, no. Thanks… I haven't expected it from you. But Kyou-san and the coach explained that you were probably just worried and that's why you blew up… And that I was way of line and that I should never ever do something so reckless again… I mean… I get it. Thanks. And sorry again. Really."

Daiki stared at him for a moment, assessing if everything was alright. He assumed it was, so he started walking towards the house. His stomach rumbled loudly. Catching frogs wasn't that easy. He looked over his shoulder at Kano, who seemed to be lost in his thoughts. "You comin' or not?"

"Ah" Wait up."

######

"So what's the plan?" Hero asked when all the women and adults (yes, Kouta counted too) were gathered in the kitchen and all lunches were served. It was the only time that Satsuki was allowed to step into the room.

"Tomorrow's the last half-day of practising." Katsunori nodded. Six days of practising and running around the mountains from dawn till dusk were enough in his opinion. Tomorrow, they could take it easier. Masako wanted them to practise in the afternoon too, but somehow, he managed to hush that side of hers. "They deserve some treat."

"Which is a barbecue; tons of it, given their humongous stomachs." Masako complained. "I still don't get why they should get such an expensive treat."

"Nothin' thrillin' happened yet…" Hero whined.

"Really?" Kouta raised an eyebrow, remembering her crazy chase. And her aim.

"A bucket of hodgepodge ain't gonna thrill a girl in the mornin', ya know?"

Aya smirked and staring at Kouta she proposed: "Then why don't we give them a test of courage in the forest tomorrow night? Will that be thrillin' enough for ya?"

Kouta grinned widely. He already had an idea or two how to creep everyone out.

Taichi and Hanae exchanged glances and sighed. It'd been a tradition when the national team had trained there and Aya remembered it. Sure, it was scary but fun. Yeah, they could help with it. But after every such event there were weird rumours about 'Kagami's' ghosts spreading around the village.

Hero blinked. "For real? I could go with Ken-chan?"

"If he doesn't hightail first and if you don't help with preparations. Because once you know what's prepared, it won't be so much fun." Kyou grinned widely. Oh, how he missed this tradition.

"Seriously?" Katsunori frown. "The test of courage again?"

"It's for the kids, Katt-chan, and you know it's gonna be awesome like it's always been. And now with Robin and Kouta helping out… The boys won't forget it."

Masako rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "All right. So a barbecue and the stupid test of courage. Gee' we're spoiling them."

"Masa-chan, don't be such an icy-queen. We all know you like them."

She glared at Kyou. "Shut up. I don't. They're such high-maintenance kids sometimes. And why did you have to come back now?!"

"I thought you missed me." He said ironically. "And don't be so hostile to me, after all… My kids are here." Theoretically. Kaito was eating with the boys and he counted Aya too.

Kyou gave Masako a look that made her rethink her strategy. The goofy redhead could be cunning, and true, she had been kinda pining after him two decades ago… Of course he didn't forget. Gosh, it was so embarrassing now.

"So that's the plan…" Satsuki nodded, tapping her pencil against her notebook. "Couldn't we do something tonight as well?"

"I-I-I c-could bake some-something." Kiku stuttered. There were too many new people for the timid girl and she got uncertain again. And Kyou was so huge.

"That'd be great!" Satsuki's eyes sparkled. "Could you try teaching me something? Pretty please! I promise I won't touch anything without your supervision!" She pleaded instantly after Kiku glanced at her suspiciously.

"What? Cakes?! See? You're spoiling them!" Masako pointed at Kiku and Satsuki to prove her point to Katsunori, at least. "If they relax too much tonight, they won't want to run in the morning."

"Hmmm…" Satsuki's brows knitted in though. The Yosen's coach wasn't wrong, but… "It's a camp. We should enjoy it a bit past the practises too."

Masako took a breath to protest, but she got cut off before she could even start.

"I can lead today's afternoon practise again then." Aya offered. "Or at least 90 minutes of it." Last time, Masako seemed impressed, maybe it would work.

"Hmmm… 90 minutes. Make it worth their while. Something extra difficult. I know you can do it." Yosen's coach demanded.

The redhead sighed, she didn't feel like leading a practise, but she wanted the boys to have the next half-day truly free. The lesser evil was to exhaust them today by herself. _They're gonna hate me tomorrow…_ "Sure."

"Can I join?" Kyou asked excitedly.

"If you dare, ol' man." She challenged him, but she knew he'd manage without much trouble.

Aya's stomach rumbled and she grabbed her plate. "Next planning meeting is after practise in the afternoon! I'm starving."

With that, she went out and took her seat next to Daiki and Kaito and opposite Atsushi and Tatsuya. They'd almost finished their servings and now stared at her expecting to hear some news.

"What was that about?" Daiki asked curiously.

"You'll see tomorrow. It's a surprise, I can't have it overheard."

######

Daiki spent his afternoon with Keiji, Kaito and Taichi at the tree house. They were putting up the lift Keiji had constructed. Kaito was running around them excitedly, observing their work and studying the lift itself.

Keiji explained his construction to everyone. It was a simple old technology. He'd prepared a set of cogs and tarred several ropes. The lift was just a wooden box, but the winch that was supposed to be used to pull it up was a piece he was really proud of. It was made out of hardwood and its end was carved into the shape of a snowflake which fitted right into the set of cogs perfectly. It was further hardened with iron strips to handle higher pressures.

When it was all set and ready Taichi nodded in approval. "Good thinking, my boy." He praised him, scanning the results. "But is it going to work?"

"Of course it is! I just need a volunteer for the first ride."

"You haven't forgotten any detail, right?"

"No. I hope…"

"Eeeeh?! You set it up without me?!" Aya complained from the ground when she saw the box already hanging at the deck level of the tree house. She felt disappointed that she wasn't a part of the 'building' party. The tree house was hers too. And Daiki got involved without her!

"You were taking too long, Aya-chan. We needed to finish this in daylight." Keiji shrugged looking at the sun slowly tipping closer to the horizon. The practise and the meeting they'd had afterwards took too long. He couldn't have waited or participated. Not if they wanted to get Kaito up while the kid was still there.

She huffed. "But still!"

Kyou whistled when he jogged to Aya and stared up. "I see you've made a lot of work on this."

"Without me." She grumbled.

Kyou pinched her cheek teasingly. "Oh, come on. It's a men's job. And you can be the first one trying it out. Isn't it good enough?"

Corner of her lips turned upwards. "I guess."

"So… Any volunteer?" Keiji prompted her.

"I'll do it." She raised her hand cheerfully. If she couldn't help with building it, she wanted the first ride. Kyou was right. It was good enough compensation.

With a grin Keiji let down the lift and one additional rope. "Tie it around you, in case I've forgotten something…"

"Aye, aye." She chuckled and tied the rope securely around her waist. She trusted Keiji, but falling off wasn't in her plans yet.

The ride up went smoothly. Keiji hadn't forgotten anything and she safely got off at the top. He even made a small gate in both, the lift and the tree house's railing and added a hook to keep the wooden box from moving away. So it was super easy to get from the lift onto the deck and vice versa. He made it for a kid after all.

"What?" He asked when he saw Aya's frown.

"It's way too easy to get up here now." She complained, because she liked the idea of the secret base only a few could get into.

"Not true. You can only run in from here."

"Could it take two people?"

"Let's test it." He looked at Daiki and shoved him another rope. "You two should do well enough. What's your combined weight?"

"Eerrr… You sure _**you**_ 'll hold it?" Daiki asked sceptically and glanced at the rope – he had no idea how to tie it around himself – but Keiji had to be the counter weight on the winch to pull up or let down the lift and anyone in it. The box itself was quite heavy. And he wasn't the lightest person out there.

"I'm around 60 kilos. More or less. Probably less now." Aya shrugged. "You?" She looked at Daiki curiously. She knew his shoe size, measures… but she'd never learned his weight or if she had, she'd already forgotten. Compared to her, he was heavy, she was aware of that, but… How much was it again?

"87." He grumbled and averted his eyes. He'd never thought he'd feel embarrassed when mentioning his weight. It was a lot. Given his height and musculature it was normal, but still… The number sounded scary. But hadn't he told her that already? He wasn't sure.

"You're heavier than Taiga?!" She blurted out.

He blinked at her. "Huh?!"

"Oh, uhm… Don't take it wrong. I thought he was heavier than you."

Daiki frowned and muttered something under his breath.

"Tcs, tcs, Aya-chan, you've just offended your guy."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, shut it. For the standards I am also waaay over the average weight that I should be."

Keiji laughed. "Isn't muscle always heavier? Besides… Mr. Offended Aomine here would probably have nothing to grope if you weighed any less. I still don't know how you do it… Maintaining the balance between strong and hot."

"Oi! I'm here you know?!" Daiki protested loudly. The dude commenting on his woman like this! He quickly forgot he actually liked Keiji.

But she laughed. "I'm not doing anything. It's just the way I am I guess."

"Not you too."

"Oh, Honey bun, you know we're just teasing you." She caressed his cheek with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "But it's nice you're not ignoring us."

He huffed but smiled at the end. "So, are we gonna test it, or not?"

"The rope." Aya reminded him.

He glanced at it again and frowned. "How do I tie it?"

"Oh." It never occurred to her that he might not know how to make a secure knot. "I'll show you. Give me." She reached to him and he gladly handed the rope to her. Then she turned him around and standing behind him, she tied the rope. She couldn't possibly see it, but she still managed.

Keiji nodded in approval. "I'll teach you that tomorrow." He winked at Daiki, who rolled his eyes and refused to feel embarrassed that he didn't know something. "Okay, my passengers! Hop on." He motioned his hand towards the lift and bowed. A smirk appeared on his face and he couldn't help some more teasing. "No making out while I'm letting you down! Or in the lift in general." He grinned, but this remark actually got him a slap at the back of his head from Taichi.

"You youngsters. Unbelievable!" The old man, everyone had forgotten was there, complained.

"Sorry, grandpa." Aya chuckled and kissed his cheek, which made him blush and look away. He really wasn't used to getting kissed by his grandkids. "We'll behave. I promise."

"…you'd better." He grumbled and looked away. "Get on with it!" He barked at Keiji, who was grinning like an idiot, certainly making a mental note to subtly tease his sensei in the future.

Testing the lift and showing Kaito all the perks of the tree house, they almost missed the dinner. Aya was so looking forward to her bed already. It'd been one exhausting day again. Especially the practise routine she'd put together on a very short notice. And she'd done everything with the boys, so no one could complain.

Imayoshi and some other from her club walked up to their table. "Aya-chan, we've been wondering..."

"Hm?" She raised her eyes from her food. "What about?"

The captain smiled; it made a chill run down her spine. "Well, now we all know you're a world champion in dancing. You can prepare our practises based on it, but we've never seen you dance."

"…" She stared at the captain for a moment, deciding what to say. He was right; they hadn't seen her dance although she'd swear that Imayoshi had found some videos a long time ago. "So?" She asked finally.

"So, why don't you show us? You certainly can if Shiranui-senpai is here." He looked at Kouta and held his gaze for a moment.

She raised an eyebrow. "You want me to showdance for you?"

Imayoshi shrugged. "We're interested."

"In what exactly?"

"Your dancing skills? You? Don't take me wrong, we know nothing about it, but we want to see."

"And you're already bored with playing cards." She sighed and leaned back to look at Kouta. "You up for it?"

"I've just finished my dinner." He whined, but he was smirking which meant he was more than happy to do it.

"Then work on digesting it quickly." She looked back at Imayoshi. "Okay. Give us an hour and we'll meet at the gym."

"Why not right now?"

She rolled her eyes. "Because, I want to take a shower after the whole day and we have to decide what to show you and I have to find a dress according to it." When Imayoshi raised an eyebrow she continued. "Trust me, if I showdanced in this baggy practise t-shirt you'd hardly get the right… _feeling_ from it."

"Whatever you say." He nodded. "So in an hour in the gym."

"Yeah." She nodded and once he left she sighed. They had something to talk about for the next hour.

"YAAAAY!" Before anyone could ask anything Kaito squealed and hugged her around the waist. "Nee-chan's gonna dance! Nee-chan's gonna dance!" He was so excited to see his big sister dance. He couldn't remember the last time he'd seen her.

Kyou and Katsunori were quietly excited too. Neither of them had seen her dance in quite some time. Well, videos were one thing, but seeing her for real was an experience far beyond that.

She immediately smiled and rubbed Kaito's back, hugging him back. "That's right."

Tatsuya looked at her with an unreadable expression, but he said nothing. He could tell she wasn't that much into it and he didn't want to challenge Kaito's elation. He knew the boy would probably get sad if he knew his nee-chan was tired.

"So a Ten dance?" Kouta asked when he changed his seat and sat at Aya's table.

But Aya shook her head. "More like six or seven dance. All Latin competitive, plus quickstep. And maybe something contemporary, or acro you can handle."

"You gonna change the dress?"

She shook her head. "You'll undress the layers as we go. You brother is a genius when it comes to things like these. I can start wearing three dresses, according to length and well–"

"Finally a chance to undress you! Wahoo." He clapped happily and his smirk widened when he noticed Daiki's murderous glare. "I suppose we'll be doing Ballroom Latin, or American Rhythm?"

"I've said that, no? Ballroom Latin, of course." American rhythm had a different set of dances, Kouta wasn't that familiar with. Sure, he'd learnt a lot during the camp, but it still needed a lot of polishing and she wanted to do something he was 100% certain in.

"Okay. Then starting with Pasodoble and Rumba, right?" He guessed.

"Then Samba, Cha-Cha and Jive."

"Are you putting on make-up too?"

"No. Maybe a bit, but no. You choose the music and pace you're comfortable with."

Kouta blinked at her. "Me?"

"Yeah. Just let me know." She turned to Kiku, who was silently observing and listening. "Kiku, will you braid my hair?"

"Eh? Yeah, sure. But, I'm not sure I can do it the way you want."

Aya shook her head and smiled. "I don't care. I just like when someone else does my hair before a performance." It was a whim; a strange habit and ritual of hers.

"Okay then. I'll be in your room in half an hour?" The little girl asked, already excited. She wanted to see Aya dancing seriously too.

"Mhm." She said and got up, leaving her dinner unfinished and left to her room.

Daiki stared after her leaving figure, not sure what to think. He doubted she was nervous, but she seemed to be. He wanted to see her dance again too, at the same time; he didn't like the idea of Kouta touching her or being as close as he was supposed to be.

Slowly, everyone departed and he remained there alone with Tatsuya and Atsushi, who was finishing Aya's half-eaten dinner. Hanae asked them if they could eat it, because she didn't want to throw it away or feed it to the dogs. Atsushi never said no to an opportunity to have more of some delicious homemade food. It was a rare occurrence the giant was grateful for.

"Are you gonna wait for her?" Tatsuya asked curiously.

Daiki shrugged. "I don't know." He frowned and stared at Atsushi gobbling down the food.

"I think, you should." He said with a knowing look.

"You still haven't told Aya-chin about the cakes…" Atsushi drawled out of nowhere.

Tatsuya blinked at him and chuckled sheepishly. "I will. Later on."

"Hmmm… is she going to be okay?" The giant asked, surprising everyone with his up to point observation.

Daiki stared at the giant for a moment. "Why'd you ask that?" Atsushi wasn't his best friend, and he could rarely read him. Actually he agreed with Satsuki that sometimes Atsushi made people feel really uneasy, because despite the air of childishness, he could be very observant, sharp and even strangely empathetic.

"Mm…" He shrugged. "I don't think she was excited about this whole performance thingy."

"She'll still be perfect." Tatsuya smiled remembering those few times he'd actually went to see her compete. "Oh, good job at handling Kyou-san, by the way."

"Hm?" Daiki blinked at him. He'd almost forgotten the match altogether.

"It's not easy to score against him."

"You played against him?"

"Never once managed to score. By the book basketball doesn't really work against him. No matter how perfect."

He nodded. It felt so strange when Tatsuya was… praising him? Admiring even? _What the hell…_ He didn't feel like being with the two any longer. They were both weird and difficult to read. Compared to Tatsuya, Kise could be considered a simple guy.

Not sure how or why, Daiki walked towards Aya's room. The house was surprisingly empty and quiet. Everyone was outside, enjoying the last sunrays. The only sound resonating through the whole house was music coming out of Kouta's room. Aya's door was closed and he thought he'd turn and leave. He shouldn't be there in the first place. After a moment of hesitation he rapped at the door.

"Yeah, come in." Aya called.

When he walked in, she was sitting on her bed, already dressed in two layers, while the third, which looked like a long skirt that would come over it as last was thrown over the chair. She didn't look at who came in as she was fighting with a strange wide bracelet she wanted to clasp around her scarred shoulder to cover it. The bracelet fitted the dress and it was a smart way to go about her scar. But despite being ambidextrous, there were obviously certain things she struggled with.

"Can I help you with it?" He asked.

Her head snapped up and she blinked at him in surprise. She opened her mouth and closed it. "…why…"

He didn't really wait for her permission and he sat next to her and covered her hand with his, taking the bracelet from her. "Wanted to see you before anyone else." He muttered with a slight blush. It was his intention, he realised.

She chuckled at his logic, and it pleased her more than she'd like to admit. She let go of the bracelet and let Daiki handle it. He should be able to fasten it easily. But when his fingers brushed her scar she jerked her arm away.

"Sorry…" He apologised, not sure why she'd pull away so suddenly. It couldn't possibly hurt anymore. He remembered she'd done so before too, but she hadn't minded if he touched the scar on her waist or the tiny one on her back. Why this one?

"No, I'm sorry." She said and bit her lip in a guilty grimace. "I just don't like when someone touches it. I can't really explain it."

He finally fastened the bracelet and the scar disappeared beneath it. "Tch, it's fine, don't worry 'bout it." He ruffled her hair that was still loosely cascading down her back. "Where'd you get it?" He asked quietly and calmly, trying to force the curiosity out of his voice. He was gently tracing the skin of her arm around the bracelet.

She watched his fingers with fascination. Maybe one day, she wouldn't mind Daiki touching that scar. She was silent for a moment. "…the shooting." She said finally. A small, but sad or nostalgic, smile graced her lips. "We got grazed by some stray bullets before mom shielded us. And then I kept tearing it open, clawing at it in my sleep, nightmares, every night for some time. That's why it looks the way it looks."

His fingers stopped as he processed the information. Honestly, he guessed it would be something like this the moment he'd asked. And there was nothing to say to that, so he decided to change the topic. "Do you really want to showdance for them?"

So he'd noticed she wasn't so thrilled about the idea. Still, when she'd thought about it, she realised she wanted to dance. She loved it from the bottom of her heart. So what if she was tired? She looked up at him and her smile softened and turned into the one he loved so much. "For you. And Kaito. And myself. Yes. I do. The rest is allowed to watch too, I don't mind them, that's all."

If he wasn't sitting on the bed his knees would probably buckle under her gaze. Seriously, this woman could very well drive him crazy. Slowly. While enjoying it. And she probably wasn't fully aware of it. He leaned down and pressed his forehead against hers.

"Do you even realise what you're doing to me?" He exhaled heavily.

"Do you?" She breathed out and tilted her head to steal a kiss. She wanted to, needed to.

She was so glad he'd come to see her, to unintentionally help her with the damn bracelet, saving her from explaining to Kiku why she hated people touching her scar. He didn't need the explanation. Not really.

He didn't protest. On the contrary, his lips responded to hers hungrily, yet gently. Something like: 'I don't want to push you, but if you let me, I'll devour you'. She wasn't sure if he realised it, but she didn't mind. Not at all. She loved him and it thrilled her.

And she could get lost in his kisses so easily. She didn't think about anything, just him and his soft and a bit rough lips moving with hers. With each kiss, he was getting more confident, more eager to try more, to go further. He dived his fingers into her hair and leaned forward, supporting himself on his arm.

She sighed in pleasure, which encouraged him to deepen the kiss. When he slipped his tongue in, he half expected her to hit him or something. Instead, she moaned softly and met his tongue with hers. She accepted him, letting him push her backwards. She rested her hand on top of his shoulder to support herself. She didn't want to be pushed onto the bed just yet. Her free hand ran up his chest and she caressed his neck and he let out a quiet groan as well. He liked it when she touched his neck.

He wanted to explore more than her mouth. But when he kissed her jaw, something fell on the ground.

The sound was accompanied by a freaked out:"Hiiiii!"

They were too consumed in kissing; they hadn't noticed when someone knocked and the door opened. They didn't even startle. They simply glanced at the door and the person who dared to interrupt them. Aya was half-expecting to see Kyou or Kaito or Kouta.

But thankfully, it was just Kiku.

Who was now covering her face as red as Aya's hair with both her hands and the comb she brought was lying on the ground at her feet. "S-S-Sorry." She stuttered, not sure how to speak at the moment and turned around showing them her back. Gosh this was so embarrassing. "I-I-I k-k-kn-knocked."

Aya covered her lips and glanced at Daiki with amusement shining in her eyes. The back of Kiku's neck and her ears were burning red. He grinned too. He had no idea what exactly the tiny girl saw, but it was surely hot enough. And seeing that excited light in Aya's eyes made him feel really proud of himself.

"I-I'll go." She peeped.

"No." Aya stopped her. "I'm sorry, we didn't notice you sooner. Um… I still need your help with the hair."

Kiku turned back and moved her fingers to create a gap through which she dared to glance at the couple. She quickly closed it again and crouched down. Their eyes were shining with so much excitement and lust and happiness, she had a hard time looking at them. Was this what she wanted to do with Wakamatsu-senpai? _Oh god…_

"Uhm… is she fine?" Daiki asked. He was starting to worry for that fragile thing.

"Yeah, yeah. Her imagination is just working way too fast –"

"Huh?" Kouta's head appeared in the doorframe. "You two defiling the pure little flower?" He grinned. Which made Kiku want to disappear even more.

"Might've gotten a bit carried away." Aya shrugged.

Kouta laughed. "Then it's a good thing Kiku-chan interrupted. We have 15 minutes left, Robin. Chop, chop. Aomine-kun, you don't want to get her overexcited when she's about to dance with _me._ My hands might accidentally slip where they shouldn't." He teased.

Daiki's eyes widened and then he glared at him. What was wrong with this person? He was worse than his older brother. "Don't even think about it."

Kouta just shrugged and grinned wider. "Already am." He didn't fear Daiki. Not at all. But then a shoe almost hit his face.

"Get out." Aya growled at him. "And stop thinking." She said with a warning undertone.

"Easier said than done when I'll be taking off your clothes while dancing." Another shoe flew past him and he suspected she was missing on purpose. "I won't tell you which songs I've chosen." He stuck out his tongue and retreated to his room.

"Fine!" She called out after him. "Gee', he's like a kid. Perverted overgrown kid."

"Are you going to be okay?" Kiku asked, finally taking her hands off her face.

"Yeah. Let's do the hair."

######

She and Kouta walked into the gym together. Kyou and Kaito cheered and clapped, which made her chuckle. She was barefoot and carried her shoes. She didn't fancy walking on stilettos through the grass. She had light makeup on with eye-liner and really light shadows. The top of her dress was black, sleeveless and showed her upper back. The long Spanish dance skirt was red with a slit on her left side.

Aomine and Kiku slipped into the gym after the two, hoping no one would really pay attention. Of course Kyou narrowed his eyes at the boy, but whatever, they were young. He shouldn't care too much. He used to run after each skirt for quite some time.

Aya gave him her phone. "Take a video if you want." She noticed a big basket full of phones next to Kyou. "What's that?"

Kyou shrugged. "Just a precaution."

She snorted and leaned down to put on her shoes. "Thank you then."

"Music." Kouta handed his phone to Kyou too. "I see you found good speakers." He nodded in approval. "Please go from 1 to 6. And we'll decide on the 7th as we get to it. Or if we get to it."

"Okay."

Daiki and Kiku made their way to the rest of the team. The 'core' of both teams was bunched up around Kyou and Katsunori and Masako. Aya's grandparents were a bit further, but they were interested as well. Without internet access, they hardly ever got the chance to see Aya dancing.

Daiki looked at her with a smile, which didn't go unnoticed and Satsuki and Hero simpered, nudging each other with their elbows. Good that Daiki didn't see it, or the prank he had ready for Satsuki would get much, much worse.

Kouta offered her a hand. Taking a deep breath, she cleared her mind off everything and prepared herself for the dance she was about to perform. Only then she slipped her hand into Kouta's and let him lead her to the middle of the gym.

"Are you gonna explain to them?" He asked when they stood at their spot.

"No."

"And the first dance is the Pasodoble!" Kyou announced with a proud grin and hit the play button.

Honestly, he had no idea what to expect. The two started facing opposite directions. Aya made two and a half steps backwards, but they didn't bump into each other. They were levelled up. That in itself must've taken a lot of practise.

The music was slow in the beginning, and then it paced up. The whole dance seemed like they were challenging each other and proving their worth. As if saying 'I won't touch you, I won't let you lead, unless I'm sure you can do it'. Aya took total advantage of the long skirt. And once Kouta kneeled down, with one leg bent forward and she did something like a backward handstand, but her only supports were her shoulder on Kouta's thigh and her legs bend past his shoulder, some boys doubted she had a normal spine.

When the song neared the end, Aya ended up lying on the ground. But at the very end Kouta 'resurrected' her, all the while pulling the long skirt off her, which revealed the black asymmetric one reaching Aya's right knee. Really, no one had an idea how they could miss the underlying skirt.

They walked one round, while Kaito clapped his soul out. And Kouta threw the bundled skirt to Daiki with a victorious smirk. The ace scoffed. But he was mesmerised by her. And if it was possible he fell for her all the more. This was his woman. His. And she was the most beautiful and talented creature out there. Seeing her dancing in front of him and feeling the raw energy was much better than seeing some video.

Their Rumba made him feel jealous and hot. And he wasn't sure he wouldn't kill Kouta in his sleep for touching her like that. Although Kouta's hands never slipped where they shouldn't like he'd teased before.

This time, at the end of the dance he grabbed the front of Aya's dress and pulled it off. It looked as if she shed her skin. The last layer was a short fringe dress, dark as night, which was showing her perfect legs completely, with the remnants of scabs she didn't care to hide.

Kyou gave them ten seconds to catch their breaths before the Samba. He knew that even if Rumba was slower dance, it was all the harder. He watched the scabs with a frown. "Those from my brother?" He asked darkly looking at Daiki.

That was the first time Daiki felt intimidated by Kyou. "Yeah. I thought it wasn't that big…" He muttered.

Kyou blinked at him. "You mean you haven't seen it yet?"

"Huh?" Daiki blinked and then, realising what Kyou was suggesting, he blushed and shook his head. "'f course not." He grumbled.

"Hmmm… Good boy." Kyou praised him like a dog and grinned widely.

Daiki rolled his eyes and focused on the dancers.

They were ready.

And so was Kyou, the next song was again, slow in the beginning, which allowed the two to set up a story. But once it the rhythm blasted someone actually whistled, completely consumed by the energy and excitement the two were radiating.

Daiki could once again barely see what Aya's legs were doing. She was unbelievably fast and for a second he actually admired Kouta for keeping up with her. Because he was working out just as much as Aya. When he compared it with what he'd seen her do with Hikaru, he could tell that Hikaru had just rode on her coattails and let her do all the hard work, but Kouta… Kouta was competing with her, trying to keep up. And he was managing.

Kyou was playing a narrator, introducing the dances but never telling anything to it. The boys probably wouldn't get the differences anyways; he knew that some of them were musically and rhythmically deaf. And those who weren't could see it themselves.

Their cha-cha was… It was breathtaking. Kouta probably chose the best of the best choreographies he knew. At the beginning, Aya played a baba yaga casting a spell. A very hot baba yaga casting a spell. It was amazing how for a moment she looked like her back was bent and twisted as if she was an old witch. And everything in those high shoes. And despite the shoes, her heels barely ever touched the ground.

After that, Kyou gave them a longer break, but they didn't seem tired. Aya was smiling brightly. She loved dancing. She lived for it. She was made for it. It was so obvious now. Those who wanted to protest or somehow downgrade her just couldn't. Something about her captivated them too. Whether it was her undeniable love for the sport, or the skill she showed, or the experience they'd had with her during their practises, they had no idea.

The jive confused them even more as her legs were everywhere and she bent her upper body backwards so much they wondered if her spine was made out of rubber. Then she was almost parallel with the ground and the only thing keeping her from falling was Kouta.

They were simply amazing. Kyou took a record of it all. He would definitely send it to his stupid brother. Someday. His daughter was the most talented and beautiful dancer he'd seen. Well, so was Keiko, but Aya was different. Livelier. Happier. More energetic.

He wasn't surprised that this girl won 8 consecutive world championships and god knew how many other competitions. He had no idea. It was hard to keep track of all the events she participated in those eight years, hoarding points and building her career, her name. Out of her parents' shadows. Something Haruka hadn't realised.

In the quickstep she showed them it was possible to levitate above the ground. Or at least they could hardly see their feet ever touching the ground and they seemed to move across the gym at an amazing speed, all the while keeping their frames. It was different, stiffer than the flowing Latin dances they'd seen before, but not less amazing.

After that, everyone cheered. And Aya couldn't quite believe it. She bowed with Kouta and her smile shone brightly. She was happy; especially when she saw the pride, love and fascination in Daiki's eyes and all the adoration on Kaito's face. Kyou, Katsu and her grandparents… They were the real people she danced for. As long as they were amazed, she was satisfied.

She was like a ball of light shining so brightly, they hardly ever saw anyone like that. Kagami Aya was a genius. All the more that she never rubbed it in their faces. Until now they'd had no idea who she was, or how good she was, or how enchanting she could be.

Tada leaned towards her – with the heels he didn't have lean so much – and whispered to her only: "After this, I might rethink my preferences. You were amazing."

She looked up at him when he straightened up and she used his shoulder as a support to answer him in the same way: "Thank you, senpai. But you know it doesn't work like that."

He smiled and shrugged. He knew. But his eyes locked with Kouta's for a moment, and he had an idea who might've interested him slightly more than the beautiful girl. The dreadlocks' guy smiled and winked at him. And Tada was 80% sure where he'd spend the night. Or with whom.

Hero took off her imaginary hat and bowed to Aya. "Hats off, Booby-chan. I absolutely love ya!" Then the midget ran around Aya twice. And then, from behind she cupped Aya's breasts boldly. "Amazin'."

"Hey!" The redhead slapped her hands away and turned around acting offended. "What are you doing?"

Fukui facepalmed and pretended that _that_ was not his girlfriend.

"What is the dress made off?! How can it keep _that_ in?! No bra, no back straps! What magic is this?"

Aya and Kouta started laughing. "Hikaru's magic."

"What did you win the camp's 'contemporary choreography' competition with?" Kyou asked curiously.

"How'd you know we won?"

"Because it's you?" He raised an eyebrow and chuckled, ruffling her hair – which wasn't easy given she had a tight braid.

She shrugged. "That's for some other day. We've shown you enough. And I don't want to bring back any memories…" She added glancing at Tatsuya. She couldn't help it; they had made the choreography together, without thinking about anyone. But once it was done, she couldn't help but associate it with Tatsuya.

"Hm?" He blinked at her, but she shook her head.

"It's nothing."

"Okay!" Kyou clapped. "Anyone want to hear stories about the creatures that live here with us?" He asked eerily.

She rolled her eyes. This was the preparation for the test of courage. He'd freak them out the day ahead… She had to answer a thousand different questions, but she didn't mind. She knew Daiki would wait for her.

Once she was done, and the boys were captivated by Kyou's ghost stories – Kaito included; she wondered if the kid wasn't scared afterwards – she walked towards Daiki who seemed ready to cover his ears and run out.

"You don't like ghost stories?"

He shook his head vehemently. "No thank you."

"Me neither. I have enough with my nightmares as it is. Let's go." She had her phone and shoes in her hand.

He nodded and took her hand. "I see we won't be the only ones." He cocked his head towards Tada and Kouta. "Uhmmm… If Tada's with him… Does it mean…" He hummed quietly, certain realisation hitting him.

"Yes. And you'll keep your mouth shut, Honey bun." She winked at him. "And those two are cute too. I wonder how that will go on." She glanced at Kiku, curled up at Wakamatsu's side, obviously looking for a shelter scared of Kyou's stories. The old man had a talent to freak people out.

"No way…" He muttered, staring at the two and already forgetting about Tada and Kouta. That was none of his business and it was far beyond his understanding. "But he's so damn annoying."

"I'd say he's exactly what Kiku needs." Aya smiled and pulled him towards the exit. "But I wonder if she'll trust him enough with certain things…"

"Will you ever tell me what you find so special about the girl?"

When they got out Aya unclasped the bracelet and rubbed her scar. _He should know._ "She was bullied quite brutally, Daiki. What I have," she tapped at the scar, "she has tenfold. And she's fighting with her demons every single day she looks into the mirror. So I want to protect her and I really do wish her happiness and nothing less. Wakamatsu-senpai… I think he isn't prejudiced, but I wonder how he'll react once he learns…"

Daiki's eyes widened and he gulped. "How bad?" He asked, anger bubbling in his veins. He didn't like timid and fearful people, but Kiku was already in his friend zone. Whether he wished it or not, she was Aya's close friend. And he hated injustice above everything. That someone could actually hurt another person like that… Leaving scars… His free fist clenched.

"Cigarette burns, cuts... I don't find it repulsive or ugly, but that's me." She shrugged.

"Tch… You think the idiot will be okay with it?"

"You are okay with me."

He narrowed his eyes at her logic, but she wasn't wrong. "Will I be finally allowed to punch him if he hurts her?" He asked with a savage grin.

"If you'll do it for Kiku, be my guest, but if you'll do it to satisfy whatever antipathy you feel towards him then no, you won't be allowed to do that."

He huffed.

"By the way, you talked with Kano?"

"Mhm. Why?"

"Glad you're on speaking terms. He apologised too, I guess?"

"Mhm. Though he didn't have to."

"Oh, he did. If he injured the two of you… No… I don't want to think about that. But don't scare me like that, okay? I can't lose you. I really can't."

He observed her expression for a moment. It warmed his heart. At the same time he couldn't imagine what he'd do if she was at his place and he helplessly watched from the sidelines. He'd probably tear off someone's head for endangering her. "…I'll try." He nodded. Then he remembered he wanted to ask her something. "What did your uncle mean by that?"

"By what?" She didn't get it. Kyou had said and done a lot of things.

"About the top professionals and stuff… He just wanted to provoke me, right?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. It's never that simple with him. By telling you that, I think, he wanted to teach you something, or give you something… To make you think about what you're doing with your skills, talent. But it's really up to you what you do with it."

"You think I'm wasting it?" There was a protective undertone in his voice and she wasn't in the mood to argue.

"I don't know, are you?" She countered his question with another question. It really wasn't up to her to decide that.

He shook his head. She wasn't picking a fight. _She rarely ever is…_ No, he wasn't in the mood for any life and mindset changing dialogues. Not tonight. He was still mesmerised by her performance and he wanted to feel that thrill a bit longer. But he knew she was there if he ever needed one. He appreciated that she wasn't forcing it. He sighed. He couldn't have found a better person to walk by his side. Then he stared at her, waiting until she'd look up at him.

"What?" She raised an eyebrow but under his hungry gaze she felt electricity run down her spine.

"You were incredible, you know that?" He said without any embarrassment. It was the truth.

Her smile widened and she really felt like she could grow wings and fly away. "Glad to hear that. Don't you want me to teach you something?" She asked impulsively. "I'd love to be led by you one day."

He stared at her for a moment. Those reddish eyes were amazingly captivating and her cheerfulness was contagious. It seemed like she had no worries in the whole world, yet he knew the opposite was true. She could convince him. She had that power over him. But he couldn't imagine he'd be able to keep up with her like that dreadlocks' idiot. And he was a lot taller than Kouta too. No… But… Maybe… Not now…

"One day…" He promised with a nod. One day, he would get past his ego and let her teach him. But not now.

She was satisfied with that. "I'll be looking forward to that." She swiftly kissed his cheek, catching him by surprise. "I'd love to call you to my room, to continue what Kiku unintentionally interrupted, but…" She pointed at the porch, where her grandfather was petting the dogs and looking their way. They couldn't possibly disappear to find a private place now.

"Tch. Seriously?" _I so wanted to do things to you…_ He thought sadly.

"You don't want to have him as an enemy."

"I don't, but…" He turned her towards him and kissed her on the lips, glancing at the old man with the corner of his eye. Taichi turned his head away, but it was too dark for Daiki to see any expression. It was stupid, like marking his territory, but he wanted to do it. In the back of his mind he really prayed he wouldn't get poisoned for this. "…they should get used to me."

She covered her face that felt unbelievably hot. She wasn't sure if she was happy or angry or if she wanted to punch him for this. It was some sort of a mixture of everything. "You're unbelievable, Aomine Daiki. Unbelievable."

"You kissed me back, Sweetheart." He smirked.

"I know. And I'm not sure if I don't hate myself for that."

"KYAAAAAHAAAAAA!" Satsuki's high pitched scream echoed through the meadow. "NOOOOO! GO AWAAAAY! KYAAAH!"

"What have you done?" Aya asked.

Daiki shrugged with a proud grin. "Frogs in her bed. And bag. And closet. And bathroom. She hates them. Serves her right."

"Why?"

"She tells you stuff. Stuff I want to tell you on my own, or I want you to figure out on your own, or I don't want you to know. I don't like that."

She sighed. Not like she didn't get it. "I'm still going to save her." Satsuki's terrified screams weren't easing up at all.

"That basically became your job the moment you joined the team."

######

Michiko was staring at the ceiling. She was thinking so much about Daiki and Aya. She couldn't sleep. Daisuke, lying next to her sighed. "What is it?"

"Nothing."

"It's never _nothing_ , Michi. What are you thinking about?"

She bit her lip and turned to her side to face her husband. "It's Daiki and Aya-chan."

"What about them?"

"Well… you think they'll come back as a couple?"

Daisuke raised an eyebrow. "I'll hit him if they don't."

"Eeeh?! Aren't you worried?"

"What about?"

"They're at a camp, in the mountains… together… alone…"

"Alone, with fifty other boys, Aya-chan's grandparents and her godfather. No, I really don't worry." He explained. "And even if they do something, I believe they are pretty much aware of how kids are made and that no, they don't want any right now."

"But they're still teenagers. Curious, daring. And Daiki is quite impulsive. I don't want him to hurt Aya-chan."

Daisuke sighed heavily. He thought Michiko was thinking something completely opposite. That she would be protecting her son from the 'bad' girl. Oh, how glad he was she wasn't one of those crazy mothers. "He won't. He might be a bit rough, but he'd never intentionally hurt anyone or anything he loves and cares about. I do trust him in this."

"You should talk with him."

"What?!"

"What what? You're his dad…"

He rubbed his face in desperation.

"Damn. At least give him some condoms."

"For a birthday present, eh?" He asked sarcastically.

She shrugged. "It's not such a bad idea."

"Michiko." He warned her.

"What?"

"That's not a birthday present."

"But you will give him some." She insisted.

"Gee', fine." He agreed, already feeling the mortification. "But don't think I'm doing it out of the goodness of my heart." He added and his eyes shone with desire as he lifted himself on his elbow.

"Really?" She glanced at him but a smile appeared on her face.

"We're not that old. And the house is empty."

"Well then, let's use the opportunity." She grinned widely and lifted herself up to kiss him.

######

Taiga's phone rang in the middle of the night, waking up everyone in his club. Half asleep he picked up.

"Huh?"

" _WHERE THE HELL IS YOUR TWIN SISTER?! I'VE BEEN TRYING TO REACH HER FOR TWO DAYS! TWO FREAKIN' DAYS! AND I COULDN'T FIND YOUR NUMBER! WHAT IDIOT WRITES THEIR NUMBER ON A PIECE OF TINY PAPER?! HAH?!"_

"EEEEH?! Yomi-chan?!" He abruptly sat up, completely awake. "What's up?! It's Suzu?! Is she all right?!"

He held the phone a bit further, in case she was still yelling her lungs out. " _OF COURSE IT'S SUZUME, DUMBASS!"_

"Aya's without signal now, so – Tell me!" He demanded a bit louder than he wanted. But he was unsettled. He needed to know.

Yomi was silent for a moment. And he feared the worst. He thought his heart would stop.

" _She's awake."_ She said finally, but she sounded really worried and sad.

"Really?!" A relieved smile broke on his face. He was so happy she was alright.

" _Don't be too happy."_ Yomi said bitterly.

"Huh?" He blinked, his smile wavering. "What is it?"

" _You need to come. I'm afraid she's giving up."_

"What do you mean?"

" _She refuses to eat. She doesn't want to see or talk to anyone. She just sits there, watching out of the window, pitying herself… And that resigned expression… I can't._ " Her voice broke. " _I don't know what to do. I'm scared I'll lose her. And I can't fucking do a thing! I'm scared to confront her. I don't know if I can… And I…"_

"You think my sister can?"

" _I can't think of anyone else."_

"We'll be there the day after tomorrow. I can't promise you more than that."

" _Thank you."_ She hung up and Taiga stared at his phone for a moment.

"What was that, Kagami-kun?" Kuroko asked.

"Gah!" He jumped from the ghostly boy. "..." Then he decided. "I need to leave." He got up to take his stuff, but Hyuuga hit his head.

"Where do you think you'd get at half past midnight, eh?"

"Errr…"

"Right there. Nowhere. If you need to leave, wait until morning." The captain said. He was curious. So curious about that phone call, but he knew the idiot wouldn't say anything.

* * *

 **A/N:** I hope you enjoyed it. The inspiration for the dancing part came from watching videos of Yulia Zagoruychenko and Riccardo Cocchi. I couldn't possibly describe it into details (as I'm simply amazed by it and I don't know much about technical parts of the dances), so I thought it was okay the way I managed.

Ah well, as always, I hope no one was OOC. :) Have a nice weekend!

Let me know what you think and remember, reviews are appreciated but never necessary.

S.


	49. Chapter 49: Tests of courage

**A/N:** Hi there! I'm sorry for the delay, but the so called "busy season" in my work is really busy and I needed to rest a bit as well. I didn't feel like staring into my computer after staring into one for 9-12 hours a day at work. :) I hope you don't mind. Plus the chapter turned out to be quite packed with events, so I needed to rethink some parts...

Here we go! Enjoy!

* * *

 _I mean, when the world comes for your children, with the knives out, it's your job to stand in the way._ ― _**Joe Hill, Horns**_

 _I believe in pink. I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in kissing, kissing a lot. I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day and I believe in miracles._ – _**Audrey Hepburn**_

 _This connection we have isn't going away, it's only getting stronger. Because the more I spend time with her, the closer I want to be._ ― _**Simone Elkeles, Perfect Chemistry**_

 _Home is where you are loved the most and act the worst._ ― _**Marjorie Pay Hinckley**_

 _Alice: This is impossible.  
The Mad Hatter: Only if you believe it is. _― _**Lewis Carroll**_

 _Life is full of happiness and tears; be strong and have faith._ – _ **Kareena Kapoor Khan**_

 _All parents damage their children. It cannot be helped. Youth, like pristine glass, absorbs the prints of its handlers. Some parents smudge, others crack, a few shatter childhoods completely into jagged little pieces, beyond repair._ ― _**Mitch Albom, The Five People You Meet in Heaven**_

 _Love and peace of mind do protect us. They allow us to overcome the problems that life hands us. They teach us to survive... to live now... to have the courage to confront each day_ _ **. – Bernie Siegel**_

* * *

When Haruka finished reading all the e-mails – he couldn't have finished it in one day, or his heart would tear apart – he closed his laptop with tears streaming down his face. He couldn't believe what an utter bastard he'd been to them. He tried to imagine their lives, all their successes he'd decided to ignore, all their mistakes he'd had no idea about, all their worries, fears, friendships, joys… He didn't know. And those e-mails only briefly brushed it. It was over 80 e-mails from Aya, and through them, he kind of learned to decipher when she was sad or happy, but that was all.

For him, it was an emotional roller coaster.

And there were no complaints, no accusations, no hatred, nothing negative. Not even in the last one. The one that hurt the most:

' _I'm done trying. Sorry and thank you for everything.'_

It was a goodbye.

And it arrived well past its due date.

If he was in her shoes, would he keep trying for that long? _Probably not…_ He'd left them when they needed him most. He hadn't trusted them, hadn't believed in them. And now, they didn't need him at all. It felt like his heart - barely surviving as it was - got squeezed so tightly it couldn't continue to pump blood through his veins. The whole company meant nothing to him at the moment. Why had he even struggled that much to build it? What was the point? At what cost? Why hadn't he realised it sooner? Where the hell had he been all those years?

He couldn't even remember properly.

And at three in the morning he got up, took his jacket and went to wander the dark streets aimlessly. He couldn't be contained in their home. He needed the air. He needed to think. To drink. He needed Hiroto to be his conscience again.

Because he knew that at the end of the day he would make his amends. In one way or another.

It was Tsubaki-san's shift. And the grumpy old man frowned as Haruka passed by him without greeting.

"Good morning to you too, Kagami-san. I see you've found a way to stay."

He looked at Tsubaki with his tired, bloodshot eyes and didn't even try to argue. "Yeah. Sorry." He said and left.

"What the…"

######

Tada steered and stretched in a bed with a yawn. He always woke up before dawn. There was supposed to be someone with him, but the bed was empty and cold. He sighed and sat up. He hadn't expected Kouta to actually stay beside him until the morning. They had clearly said it was purely physical. Still, it stung.

He'd been interacting with the strange pink haired young man ever since he'd arrived. And they got along surprisingly well. Kouta was so much more than he let on, and Shun liked he was able to see through it. But he also knew Kouta's ways. He shouldn't have been surprised.

He got up and threw some clothes on. He should sneak out of the house and take a shower before the morning runs. He wondered if the guys had noticed he hadn't spent the night there. _I've been warned. Damn… I'm an impulsive idiot._

"Whoah," he bumped into Aya when he walked out of the room. _Awesome._

"Eh? Senpai?" She blinked at him and grinned. "Well, at least someone had a pleasurable night."

He shrugged. "I guess."

"What is it?" It was unusual to see Tada-senpai... dejected? Or sad? She wasn't sure.

"It's nothing, Aya-chan." He smiled. "Why are you up so early?" He asked to change the topic. Of course, she knew what had happened there last night, and he wasn't willing to dissect his own feelings about it.

"I couldn't sleep at all. Something's off with Taiga… Ah, maybe I'm just imagining it." She waved her hand as if she was shooing away some fly. "If you're looking for Kouta, he might be in the dining hall sketching and smoking, like usual…" She smiled. Those two looked quite good together.

Tada shook his head. "I'm not. I just wanted to sneak out. Apparently I'm not good at that."

"If you say so. I'll let out the back." She shrugged and showed him a way out of the house without being seen. He didn't mind her help. After all, she'd known and kept his dirty little secret.

She leaned against the door frame and watched his leaving figure with crossed arms and a frown. She didn't like his slumped shoulders. She sighed, annoyed with Kouta's ways of dealing with things. Tada-senpai was a good guy; he deserved someone who'd take him seriously. Not an idiot like Kouta.

With that she turned on her heel and went to painfully pull at his damn pink dreadlocks for this.

As she'd expected, she found him in the dining hall slouched over his sketchbook with a piece of charcoal in his hand and a cigarette in his mouth. The morning was chilly as always, but he was half-naked, wearing only his pyjama bottoms. There were several hickies on his back and shoulders.

Kouta sighed heavily and ran his hand through the dreadlocks that fell forward and covered his sketch, throwing them backwards.

"You used him." Aya accused him as she silently approached him.

"Huh?!" He startled, almost falling off the chair. "Who? What?" He was frowning at her.

"Tada-senpai, I've run into him a second ago. He looked… dejected."

Kouta blinked at her and inhaled tobacco fumes deeply. "You don't get it." He grumbled and suddenly he looked vulnerable. So unlike the prankster and pervert she knew.

She tilted her head in curiosity and sat next to him, glancing at his sketch. It was a sketch of sleeping Tada, half naked, with his musculature drawn into the smallest details. Why would he draw him?

"Why…? Do you sketch all the people you sleep with?" She asked, not sure if she should be freaked out or not.

"So dejected, huh?" He didn't answer her question. He sighed and put out the cigarette, taking out another.

She studied his expression for a moment. Was he desperate? She hadn't seen Kouta like this. Ever. "…I don't think he was dejected about what you did… more like… I don't know."

"…that I left him alone?" He asked softly. That was probably it. Because damn, their night was amazing.

"Why?" Her tone was softer now, the original accusation gone. Kouta wasn't smug or happy. On the contrary… If she could somehow help, she would. The Shiranui's were just like her and Taiga. They only had one another, so they were used to dealing with things on their own, without worrying anyone else.

"Why…" He repeated… Honestly, he came to like the boy in this short time span, no, Shun was already a man. "I'll be leaving. Long distance relationships don't work for me, and… look at me. Broke, perverted artist with a student loan on his neck, who's freeloading at his lil' sisters house because he can't afford his own living. Better if he hates me. He can do much better than this."

She blinked in surprise. She'd never thought Kouta viewed himself like that. "Better for whom?" She asked quietly.

"I don't know. Both?" He breathed out the smoke and shook his head. "It's not like I took his virginity and threw him away, Robin, so don't blame me for using him. I've told him I wasn't looking for a relationship." He defended himself.

But he felt like shit. He'd thought it would be like so many other emotionless one-night stands he'd had in the past. He never wanted any strings and feelings attached. He feared them. But now it seemed they had formed against his will… And he couldn't get Shun out of his head. He was struggling with himself, but there was nothing he could do. After all, he had to leave eventually.

She took the cigarette out of his fingers and put it to her lips. The weird feeling she had about Taiga, and now this. She couldn't resist the temptation. Not when he was smoking in front of her. And she had no idea what to tell him. He was showing her parts of his soul she'd never seen. Sure, she knew they were there, but…

"Are you sure?" She asked.

He shook his head and took the cigarette back. "But what do I do?"

"I don't know." She shrugged. "Transfer schools? Come back home? I wouldn't mind you back in the city. The question is… What do _you_ want to do?"

"That's nice of you. But… Home? Both of them have their lives. It's not like I have a place to stay or return to in Tokyo."

"We'd figure it out. They are your brothers. They'd help. It's not a place to return to, but the people."

"They've taken care of me long enough. I don't want to bother them anymore."

"You're not a bother, stupid. And you're not alone."

He snorted. "You're the one to say that."

"Am I not exactly the one who _can_ say that?"

"It's just a fling, Robin, it'll go away. No reason to make hasty decisions because of it. I can't have a relationship. I'm not capable of that."

"Aren't you just scared of that?"

"Tche."

She raised an eyebrow at him, but her smile was kind. "Don't make hasty decisions, but… think about it. Talk with him? Really talk with him. And you'll see if it's just a fling."

"Long distance relationship?" He wondered. Maybe he could… No… not possible… He needed to have the other person close… Or he'd find someone else to keep him warm during lonely nights. And that was not a good treat to have if he wanted something real.

"It's your love life. I just want the idiot with pink dreadlocks to be happy." She grinned. "That's all."

"You are an amazing person to have in life, you know that, lil' Monkey?"

"Dunno… Am I?"

"Urgh, come 'ere." He hugged her around her shoulders and ruffled her hair creating a bird's nest on her head.

"Hey!" She protested.

"Thank you, stupid." He kissed her on top of her head.

She pushed him away and laughed. "You're stupid, stupid."

"You're still willing to help me despite that." He offered her another cigarette from his pack. He had a feeling she wouldn't refuse.

"Just like you." She took the offering with a smile. "So, what are we gonna do for the test of courage?"

"How good is your man at climbing trees?"

"Huh?"

"Don't _Huh?_ me. We'll need someone's help. And he didn't seem too willing to listen to Kyou's creepy stories yesterday. My bet is, he's easily scared–"

"No way!"

"Protest all you want, but I think it would be better if he knows what's going on and can help with scaring the others." He chuckled at her pout and added. "Propose it to him. If he agrees immediately, you'll know he's actually an overgrown scaredy cat who can't handle a few ghosts."

She glared at Kouta. _I don't like them either…_

"What? Just because he's scared of supernatural ghost-stuff doesn't mean he wouldn't protect you from it. I meant no offence. And we could really use his help. He has an amazing voice." Kouta teased her with a dreamy expression.

"Ew! Daiki's my man! Don't fantasize!"

Kouta laughed, almost choking on the tobacco fumes. "Just ask him, lil' Monkey."

"Fine, I'll ask him." She yielded with an eyeroll. And she was actually curious. Was Daiki scared of ghosts and such?

######

"Bakagami! Where are you going?!" Riko stopped him at the door, but he was already set on leaving. She knew she'd have trouble if they didn't return in full numbers and she'd need to give teachers one hell of a good reason for someone's earlier departure. They were there without adult's supervision.

"To Hanamaki and then Akita." He said in a hurry; really impatient to catch the first bus and then following train.

"Why?"

"To get Aya."

"Why do you need to get Aya-chan?" Kiyoshi asked and surprisingly he was serious. Even his goofy smile was gone. Kagami hadn't slept properly since that phone call, and he worried for him.

"Errr… because… It's a family thing." He grumbled. "So can I go?"

"NO!" Hyuuga slapped both of his hands against Taiga's cheeks. It stung like hell. "Until you tell us your whole reason, I'm not letting you go. We are the ones who'll be in trouble if you don't return with us."

"I need to go!"

"Kagami-kun." Kuroko stared at his light with unwavering eyes. "We're not your enemies."

"AARGH!" He pushed Hyuuga's hands from his face rather aggressively. "Our best friend in Akita woke up from coma! And Aya doesn't have a phone signal, so she doesn't know! We need to go there!" He shouted at them all. "Is that enough of a reason for you?!"

They all blinked at him in shock. They'd had no idea.

"Right. Thanks." He muttered, turned on his heel and left. No one tried to stop him again.

######

Satsuki refused to look at Daiki at the breakfast. Or speak to him. Or admit he existed in the same room. Those frogs had been terrible. Disgusting. Hideous. And there had been sooo many of them! She had no idea how or when he'd placed them in her room without being noticed. Or how she hadn't noticed them sooner.

If it hadn't been for Aya-chan saving her, she'd probably die surrounded by the creatures she despised the most. Yeah, she was exaggerating, but she really hated frogs.

Daiki on the other hand, seemed very pleased with himself. And for quite a lot of things. But Taichi's glare was keeping a silly grin off his face. The grandfather could be really scary and Daiki had been very daring the previous day.

The boys were watching Aya in awe, they were still very surprised and enchanted by her performance and some of them weren't sure how to behave around her now. But she behaved like usual. This was nothing out of ordinary for her. And they only had to accept it.

With a frown Daiki leaned over her and sniffed her hair.

"Huh?" She backed away a bit; she didn't expect him to do that. "What?"

"You smell of... cigarettes…?" It was a half-question. He'd gotten a whiff of something like that when she'd passed him by earlier. And he wanted to make sure. He was already used to her fresh and sweet fruity scent.

 _Fuck._ She swore inwardly. She had forgotten to wash or spray her hair with perfume. She really didn't want Daiki to find out so soon. "I discussed the secret plans with Kouta in the morning. He smokes." She shrugged.

He stared at her for a moment, obviously not buying the explanation. For some reason… Then he leaned even closer and whispered to her ear: "So if I kissed you right now you wouldn't taste like one?"

The first thought was to lie, but… No, she couldn't and wouldn't lie to him. "Probably would." She admitted and bit her lip, looking away guiltily.

He sighed and leaned back to his place. It's not like he cared about it that much. He'd seen cigarettes in her apartment before and he'd doubted they were Taiga's. And this was the first time he actually smelled cigarettes on her anyways, well except that night at Hiroto's bar, but she hadn't smoked then.

Daiki noticed how Tatsuya was looking at them. The ex knew what their quiet discussion was about and he wasn't surprised at all. He merely observed Aya carefully, trying to read her. Daiki wanted to ask 'Why?', but he was curious what Tatsuya had in mind so he waited.

"What happened?" Tatsuya asked finally.

"Taiga… Something's off. I couldn't sleep properly because of it, so I've really discussed secret plans with Kouta before dawn… He's the only person awake at such crazy early hours." She frowned. "I don't know what's up. Just that something's going on."

"Something happened to him?"

For a moment she looked at him as if ironically saying 'because _**you**_ _care'._ But then _s_ he shook her head. They might've been 'enemies', but they both still cared. In a way. "No. I don't think so. He's just unusually unsettled… Angry? I guess… Never mind, it's probably nothing serious." She was trying to push it out of her head, but it was unbelievably persistent feeling.

"Maybe you should call him." He suggested. "Your sixth sense can be scarily accurate…" And if she was worried enough to smoke…

Maybe she should… "Urgh, with this no-or-terrible signal you can catch here? Nah. But maybe I could run to the cafeteria for a minute and give him a call. Which reminds me… I haven't had a proper coffee in days." She went on, biting her thumb nail in thought.

"Muro-chin…" Atsushi drawled and gave Tatsuya a meaningful look.

"…" Tatsuya shook his head. He really didn't want to deal with this when Daiki was sitting opposite him. It was humiliating.

Aya didn't seem to notice their exchange. But Daiki did.

"What?" He asked with a raised eyebrow and his eyes travelled from one to another. It wasn't weird that Atsushi let others deal with his problems, but Tatsuya's hesitation... Or more likely his refusal to help was strange.

"No. It's nothing." Tatsuya said, avoiding Daiki's stormy eyes.

"Muro-chin… It's not _nothing_. Aya-chin will find out."

"Huh?" She raised her head and stared at both of them. "What is it? What am I going to find out?" She asked confusedly and her reddish eyes bore into Tatsuya's. She hated not knowing about something if it involved her.

He couldn't resist those eyes. "…that you have a tab to pay in the cafeteria." He blurted out without thinking about the phrasing.

She blinked in shock. For some reason she was worried for Taiga and Tatsuya said that? "Say what?!" She barked.

Tatsuya opened and closed his mouth, realising how badly that sounded. " _Uh… Sorry… Well… Errr… I promised Atsushi as much cake as he wanted after the incident in that match… And… well… I thought you'd be okay with it? I'll pay you back of course, but right now… Could you please take care of the tab for me?"_ He tried to explain quietly, switching to English, but still wishing to disappear from the surface of the earth. It was humiliating to ask his ex to pay his bill. He knew how rich she was, he hadn't minded it too much, but it was still shameful to admit he wasn't able to pay a few (a lot of) cakes Atsushi had eaten.

She stared at him with hard eyes for a moment, but then she rubbed the back of her neck. Tatsuya had always had a hard time asking for help, or money, or whatever… He preferred to get things he needed in his own way. And she didn't want to shame him further. " _Fine, I guess. I didn't know they had tabs in the cafeteria."_

"They didn't." Atsushi said. "But they do now." He didn't like English but he was improving a lot thanks to Tatsuya. And even if he refused to speak, he understood. More or less.

So did Daiki, but Tatsuya wasn't aware of that.

"Tch, _you and your charm." _She shook her head and chuckled. " _Fine. Of course. I'll take care of it. But I won't take the money back from you. "_ She had never done that before even if he owed her, and she wasn't going to start. She didn't need it; not when her account said she could buy a small town and still had enough for a lifetime. She knew Tatsuya's family wasn't at their best with money, and he needed his scholarship to afford the dorms and all, so…

" _Oh no… Please, no favours."_ Tatsuya pleaded, because favours were a different matter. And she was fond of using that form of repayment if she thought it fitted the situation.

" _Oh yes, my dear. You know me well enough to have expected it."_

He desperately looked at Atsushi, but the giant wouldn't offer any help in this situation. "You're the one who offered me cakes, Muro-chin. I even held back a bit. It's your job to deal with Aya-chin."

He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, uncovering the scar on his cheek. Everyone at this table knew about it and no one cared. " _Okay. Whatever you want. Do you at least have the slightest idea? So I can mentally prepare?"_

She shrugged. " _When do you plan to go visit your mom?"_

" _Uh… I don't know. I wasn't planning to any time soon… Why?" _He asked suspiciously. He loved his mom, really, but after the divorce she needed some alone time to figure things out on her own. She needed to rest from his father and him. And he needed to be away from that place just as much.

" _Then let me know once you decide. I think I have something in mind already."_ She noticed that he paled, so she added: " _Don't worry, you'll actually enjoy it."_

" _I'm already scared of what you'll come up with…"_

Aya grinned. " _You'll find out when it's necessary."_

" _Why can't you just forget the favours people owe you?"_

" _Then I'd be a really bad business woman, wouldn't I?"_

He chuckled at that. He really missed her. But he knew it was over already. They were back at being friends and that was all. He was slowly getting over too. "Probably."

Aya stayed behind after breakfast and didn't go to practise. She'd helped Satsuki with water bottles, but then she went back to the house to start preparing the event. Kouta and Derek went to fetch fresh meat for the barbecue. Kyou was mentally preparing Kaito to be ghost number 1.

The children's spirits in folklore could be pleasant, like Zashiki Warashi, or really scary and creepy. Of course, they wanted to scare everyone. And because they were in the mountains with plenty of owls silently hunting during nights, he'd made up a story about Tatarimokke the previous night and he'd fed it to both basketball teams.

Tatarimokke was a spirit of a dead baby or young child, inhabiting the body of an owl. The hooting was believed to be caused by the spirit of the dead baby. It usually kept close to the family they had once belonged to and didn't cause any harm. It was treated with respect and taken care of. However, there could always be a resentful and hateful spirit that could cause terrible curses. In the past it wasn't unusual that parents killed a child to reduce the number of mouths to feed and carelessly discarded the body. Those spirits could hold grudges and cause harm to any passerby crossing their area. Tatarimokke made eerie sounds, brought uneasy feelings and sometimes, fires appeared in the air around the places where they resided. And sometimes it wasn't a child's spirit inhabiting the owl but a murder victim - murdered in a particularly violent and gruesome way… Well… Kyou let his imagination loose, creating a really spooky spirit, so everyone who listened to his stories had difficulty sleeping.

But Kaito wasn't scared much. It fascinated him. And he was a kid too; if he could run around in a yukata, making scary noises and creeping the hell out of those big teenage boys, he was all in for his role. And Kyou rephrased the story especially for his son so he wouldn't be too freaked out.

With a soft smile she left them to their stories and messing around. Now was her only time to go to the village to even Tatsuya's tab and call Taiga. So she went to her room to get changed.

Someone knocked, but they didn't wait for her answer.

"Whoa, sorry." Daiki blinked and almost turned around, but… She was only in her sports bra and panties with some t-shirt in her hand. That was way too interesting for him to politely turn around. She had a flat, toned stomach, thin waist and wide hips. And her D-cups… That figure made him drool when she was dressed, and now… That was the first time he saw her in her underwear. No way would he turn around.

"You're so not. But please don't get hard over this." She pointed at her simple black sports bra and black cotton bikini panties. If she was surprised, she didn't show it and she wasn't trying to cover herself. She didn't feel any shame being in her underwear in front of him. "It's not supposed to please your eyes, it's sports' efficient."

He looked back up to her face and into her red eyes. She wasn't blushing and neither was he. Yet. "Then I wonder what you'll wear when you do want to please my eyes." He smirked.

"Probably nothing." A small blush finally reached her face and she chuckled.

"Eeerrr…" He blushed too and covered his face to hide it, which made her laugh.

"What? Don't tell me you haven't thought about it."

"Are you really provoking me right now?" He barked and his blush got deeper in colour. But he loved all this teasing and flirting.

"Nope. I need to run down to the village right now, and then I have other things to do." She said, still laughing and pulled the t-shirt she was holding over her head. "So? What is it? Why did you barge in?" She asked while picking up her shorts.

"What is going on?" He wanted to know.

"Hm?"

"All the preparations… What for?"

"Uuuhh…" _Well, Kouta asked me to tell him…_ "Do you really want to know?"

"Yeah." He nodded; he didn't mind lazing around, but he didn't want to be the last one to learn.

She sighed and decided to bet on Kouta's gut feeling. "Test of courage. It used to be a tradition of the national team when they practised here. We thought of reviving it. Do you want to help?"

"Test of courage…" He repeated and leaned against the door frame casually, watching her pull up her shorts. "Will I get to scare them?"

"Yep. If that's what you want."

"Sure. I'll help." He agreed immediately. It was a much better option than everyone learning that Aomine Daiki was scared of ghosts, which probably didn't even exist. He noticed her grin. "What?"

"Kouta said you might be scared of supernatural stuff like ghosts and such…"

"Not at all!" He protested immediately.

Aya just raised an eyebrow at him and waited for him to admit the opposite was truth.

He opened his mouth but he said nothing and covered his face in embarrassment again. "Tch, so? Ghosts are scary."

Aya chuckled, her heart warming up. He could be so damn cute. And she learnt something new about him. "I agree. That's why I've been helping to set it up since I was a kid. With my nightmares I really don't need things like horrors and tests of courage. Then again, I've seen a bunch of horrors…" _with Taiga, Tatsuya and Ray despite that._

"Why?"

"Curiosity." She laughed. "And then you want to give it another try, although you know you'll be freaked out… And sometimes it's fun to get scared with someone else, or watch someone else getting more scared than you. Taiga, for example…" Then she quickly covered her mouth. _Oh shit…_ Taiga would most certainly not appreciate this. But it was so easy to talk with Daiki! "Please don't tell him that you know…" She glanced at him guiltily.

A barky laugher escaped him. "Right… If I get a kiss."

She rolled her eyes, he'd get one anyways. "So you'll help?"

"Sure."

"Good. Anything else you wanted?" She asked.

Oh, that phrasing was asking for some teasing. He raised an eyebrow at her. "You?"

Her eyes twinkled at that and she smirked. It took her two steps to reach him and she pulled him into the room. Before he knew it, she was standing on her tiptoes and her lips found his. And no, she didn't taste like cigarette. He chuckled, which made the kiss clumsy. Neither of them minded.

Damn, he was so happy she didn't shy away from him, that she wanted to touch and kiss and that she could actually take initiative too. Wrapping his arms around her waist he pulled her against his chest and helped her to keep balance. (The height difference could be a pain in the ass in situations like these.) Her hand ran up his chest and into his hair. He could feel she was smiling against his lips too.

But then she pulled away, before it could get too steamy.

Daiki didn't seem willing to let go of her. Even if they weren't kissing, he liked holding her so close to him. Her body strangely fitted against his, and he enjoyed the proximity.

She looked at him discontentedly, not letting go either. "Although I am very comfortable now, I still need to go to that cafeteria, you know." She needed to, but she didn't really want to. Her man was freakishly tall and strong and he didn't mind supporting her. She loved being pressed against him.

"You sure about that?" He smirked at her teasingly and kissed her again.

 _Not at all…_ "Yes – I - Am." She said between the kisses. "Seriously."

He sighed. "Hai, hai." He let go, but kept staring at her.

"What?"

 _I just love you._ "Can I join you, or do you want to run alone?"

"If you want to. But if it's a race, I'll win." She challenged him.

"If you lose, I'll get more of you." He demanded.

"That's not fair. I have no real motivation to win that way!" She protested.

His surprise lasted only a second, and then he smirked widely. "I never said I was fair."

"Neither did I, so… if I win… I want you to buy me a flower. Just one."

"What?!"

"You heard. You'll probably get more of me regardless the result of the race, but… That's my condition. Are you in?"

 _A flower?_ _Me? Buying a flower?_ That seemed so surreal in his head. "Tch… yeah. I'll win."

"Good luck." She said with laughter and ran out of the room getting a head start.

"HEY!" He shouted, and didn't wait another second. He dashed after her.

Aya won.

"That was dirty! You used a shortcut!" He protested when they arrived at the cafeteria.

"You could've too. There were no rules in the first place." She chuckled and walked in to get a coffee and phone signal.

Both black dogs stayed outside, like usual. Yui and Ai were both so tired and slightly overheated from that unbelievable dash.

Daiki grumbled and complained to the dogs a bit more, petting them and getting them water. When he got over the fact he'd lost and would have to buy a flower he followed after his girlfriend. Aya had already evened the tab – and refused to tell him the amount – and checked her phones. She was staring at it in disbelief.

All the easy going, fluffy mood was gone.

She had at least fifty missed calls and messages from Yomi. Two missed calls from Haruka – four days old or so. And one message from Taiga, which said: 'I'm coming to fetch you.' Nothing else.

"Now _they_ won't pick up." She grumbled, trying to reach Taiga, and then Yomi several times while sipping her coffee.

"What is it?" Daiki asked, noticing her mood shift and sudden worry.

"Suzume woke up." She sighed in relief. "But Yomi's messages don't say anything else. She's either scolding me for not picking up and not answering or pleading me to do so… If she reached Taiga… No wonders I get these uneasy vibes from him. I wonder how she's doing."

"How does it even work?"

"Hm?"

"Those 'vibes'?"

"I've never wondered about it. I sort of know if he's okay or not."

"So let's say, can he tell if we… well…" He rubbed the back of his neck and blushed. It was probably a stupid question in the situation, but he was curious. "Eeeer…"

She laughed. "I don't think so. I have no idea when he jerks off or goes to pee or what he eats or whatever. It's just… I know if he is happy or sad, safe or not… I can't read his mind."

"I don't get it."

"And you probably never will." She said mysteriously and glancing at the cafeteria's clock she got up. It was time to head back.

######

Taiga had watched his phone vibrating on a train's tiny table. Several times. He'd wanted to give in and pick up, especially because he'd known Aya worried, but he hadn't. She should know how it felt when someone ignored you. It was childish of him. And then he regretted it, and then he got angry at himself for being an idiot.

The country behind windows was moving too slowly for his tastes. He wanted to be there already. He was irritated; tapping his fingers against his thigh, then the table in front of him. He considered calling back to Aya, but then she was unavailable again. The terrible signal at their grandparents' was infuriating.

Someone sat beside him. He didn't care much, he merely glanced at the older lady and continued in his fidgeting. The lady sitting beside him seemed to be getting more and more nervous with each time he tapped his fingers. Well, he was huge, his expression wasn't the friendliest, plus that hair colour of his... And when she actually asked to be reseated, he clicked his tongue in annoyance.

He didn't get it. All he did was worry endlessly for his best female friend. The only girl that befriended him like a normal person. She certainly didn't deserve to be in the state she was in. She couldn't give up. That was unimaginable. He rubbed his tired eyes and yawned, but he wasn't able to relax. Not in the situation.

As if it wasn't enough, his stomach rumbled. He'd forgotten to eat breakfast that morning.

"Fuck… come ooon… move faster…" He mumbled under his nose.

######

The lunch servings were small, and the boys were dejected to suddenly get so little food. But the coaches wanted to keep them hungry for the barbecue, which was being secretly prepared in the kitchen. The real grilling would start in two hours.

When Aya finished her lunch, she frowned and got up as if she was being pulled by invisible strings and walked towards the door.

"Whoa." The twins pulled the doors open at the same time and collided at the doorstep.

Taiga blinked at her, and then his face twisted into an angry grimace. "Where the hell is your phone?!" He barked at her without saying hello. He was annoyed. He had no real reason to be furious, or to take it out on her. But… She hadn't picked up. The train was too slow for his tastes. He had to walk all the way from the village here. He was worried for Suzume. He was hungry and tired because of lack of sleep he wasn't used to. He needed Aya's help. But his sister crossed his path, colliding with him with the worst possible timing. And it was easy to take his irritation out on her.

"And where was yours when I was calling you today?!" She flared up instantly, fuelled by Taiga's anger and resonating with his emotional state. "Nice to see you again too, by the way." She barked and took a step back glaring up at him. She had no freaking idea what was going on.

"I didn't want to hear your stupid excuses!" He attacked. He had ignored her on purpose to show her what it felt like. "You're the one who was supposed to tell me, not Yomi?! Dammit!"

Rationality was trying to run away from her – waving her goodbye with a vicious smile – and she was desperately trying to hold it back. She knew that fiery comeback at angry Taiga was a stupidity. That it'd only add fuel to the fire, but… she couldn't help it.

"What are you even talking about? How was I s'posed to know?! I was away! I have no signal here." Her defensively aggressive tone surprised her own ears.

"Because she's your friend! You knew you should've been available! Yomi was trying to reach you for days! Days! But you're holed up here! In the middle of nowhere!" He accused her, not noticing Taichi's glare.

Everyone was just staring at the siblings. Some boys froze with their chopsticks in front of their mouth.

"Holed up?! It's my responsibility to be here! And what about you?! Didn't Yomi have your number?! Suzu's your friend too! Don't blame me. I can't deal with everything alone!"

"Well, while you're happily fulfilling your responsibilities, your best friend is givin' up." He said venomously, not shouting at her anymore, knowing it would hurt her. But he didn't care at the moment.

It served like a slap. "Then why the fuck have you come here?!" She shouted at him and threw her hands up in a furious gesture. His words hurt. A lot. "You should've been with her now!"

"Because _you_ have to talk with her!"

"Oh? Me?!" She rested her hands on her hips. "Why so?"

Taiga opened his mouth to retort, but there was nothing biting and malicious enough to say. He needed Aya, because he didn't have the courage to face his best bedridden friend alone. "Because someone needs to knock some sense into her!" …was what Yomi had said…

"Really? Then why don't you do it alone then? Huh?!" She jabbed her finger into his chest. "I'll tell you why! Because you're scared! Scared of facing her. Scared she'll hate you. And I'm the only one you know who's stupid enough to make her best friend hate her if it helps. So that you can once again be the good one, while I'll be the bitch of the day!"

"…" He didn't have an answer to that. Aya was right. And because of that it hurt all the more.

She took a deep breath, realising they were making a show for everyone. Taiga hurt her. Suzume's state worried her, but she wasn't really surprised. Closing up, shutting everyone out, that was the first phase of Suzume's way of dealing. But Taiga hurt her. He didn't have to. He had no reason to. He just knew she could handle it and he could take it out on her. He knew she would forgive him. And she hurt him too. Because she knew he was too damn kind for his own good. She should've controlled herself; she had no idea what had ticked her off in the first place.

"You've got nothing to say?" She snorted and turned away from him. Feeling of being hurt won over the guilt she felt. "Thought so. You know what?" Her eyes rested on Kaito for a moment, and she felt sad for all this. " _Go fuck yourself."_ She said bitterly in Russian, hoping Kaito didn't understand, and stormed out of the dining room to find refuge in her room.

" _What the hell?!"_ He asked in disbelief and only then he noticed all the eyes on him. Aomine's glare was the deadliest of them all. _Oh, fuck…_ Then he noticed Kyou, who was blinking at him in shock. "You?!" Taiga pointed his finger at the man, momentarily redirecting his anger and hurt, but then he noticed Kaito, who was half-hidden behind his father, obviously frightened by his beloved older siblings fighting like that. And out of nowhere.

"Yeah, me. Kyou." He said with hard eyes, just in case Taiga still hadn't realised the difference. "And you'd better go apologise to her right now. Because you know the best how she's feeling."

"Why me?" Taiga protested stubbornly.

"Aren't you the one who brought anger through the door with you?"

"Keh." He turned on his heel and left. He wouldn't go and apologise. Not right away at least. He needed to cool off.

"Uuuh…" Kano blinked. "What the hell just happened? Weren't those two like… the ideal picture of siblings?"

Satsuki shrugged with just as surprised expression. She had no idea.

Daiki was about to get up and go after her, but Kouta grabbed his elbow. "Leave them. You don't want to get involved in their sibling fight."

"What are you talking about?"

"They'll deal with it. And they'll be fine as quickly as they argued. If you get in the middle you'll be the worst."

"He's right." Tatsuya nodded.

The ace frowned, but there was something in Tatsuya's eyes he could only label as 'personal experience'. With a sigh he leaned back against his chair. He had no idea what to do…

Heavy silence fell over all of them.

In fifteen minutes, Aya came back with a placid but a tad sad expression and her bag packed. She looked at Derek and he got up without a need for her to say anything.

" _When are we leaving, miss?"_ He asked, not using her name again. She might've been calm, but he really didn't want to piss her off or offend her in any way.

" _Tomorrow morning at six."_

" _I'll take the bag."_ He nodded and offered her help immediately.

" _Just gimme the keys."_ She raised her hand.

" _Are you sure?"_

" _Derek."_

He threw her the keys, fighting the urge to stand at attention under her look. Not an angry one, but a one saying 'don't argue, really don't'.

She caught it easily. " _Thanks."_ Then she sighed and turned to everyone. "I'm really sorry that we made a scene. Please forget about it."

"Nee-chan?" Kaito peeped, glancing at her, still half hidden behind Kyou.

"Hm?"

"Do you hate Tai-nii-chan now?"

"What?" She blinked at him and a guilty expression crossed her face. She approached them and motioned for Kaito to come to her. She crouched down to be at Kaito's eye-level and rested her hands on his shoulders. "Of course I don't. I'm sorry we frightened you with our shouting. We'll try not to do it again. Okay?"

The boy nodded, but he wasn't sure who the winner of the argument was. He didn't know which sibling he wanted to support, because he loved them both. He couldn't choose. "So… who won?"

She chuckled sadly. "No one. But we'll talk it out, I promise."

Kaito balled his fists, showing them to Aya – _fingers crossed_. He wanted to play with Tai-nii-chan, he'd waited for him the whole summer, but he didn't want to anger or sadden Aya-nee-chan. Now he knew he could play with him without any worries.

She kissed the boy's forehead. "Just don't go looking for Taiga right now, 'kay? He needs some time to cool off."

He nodded seriously and returned to his dad. She looked at Kyou and shrugged. "I'm really sorry. I didn't want to flare up."

The older man chuckled. "It's fine… Hey, what's that?" He pointed at the box she put on the ground.

"Oh… This? Our birthday gift from grandpa. I have no idea how to open it."

"That's a puzzle box. Ooooh, it's been ages since I've seen one."

"Huh? A puzzle box?" She stared at it and handed it to Kyou to have a better look at it. The box was covered with geometrical patterns of different types and colours of wood but no real picture. It was beautiful as it was, but it had no visible lock or anything like that.

"Yeah, look…" He turned the box around until he found what he wanted. There was a small hollow of a size of a geometrical pattern next to it. "You need to move the pieces until you can find a lock… It should form some picture, a hint to find the key, right?" He looked at Taichi.

The old man nodded. It took weeks to create such a box. It required a skilled craftsman with a sense for details and heavenly patience. His father had taught him and now he was teaching it to Keiji. He'd used to make boxes like that for Kyou and Haruka, to teach them patience and his boys had fun trying to solve it.

"Really?" She snatched the box and studied the hollow. It wasn't that easy to move the individual pieces, but it was possible.

"You've been too distracted to notice." The old man grinned. "When you discover the lock you should have a picture of the map to the key. It might take you a while though."

"When I discover the lock, I'll probably deal with it with a hairpin or something." She smirked and winked at her grandpa, who rather didn't want to know where she'd acquired the skill. "But thanks! It helps when I know what to do with it."

"You're welcome." Kyou showed her thumbs up.

"Hmmm… Aya-chin is a mystery…" Atsushi drawled staring after the girl's figure when she went to put her bag into the car. "Muro-chin, is she really going to apologise to that annoying thickhead?"

"I don't think so. Taiga will probably apologise first once he sees her again… They can have strange dynamics sometimes. But they are too similar and they both worry for the same person. And Aya never liked arguments."

"Hmmm…" The giant appeared to be thinking about it. Then he stared at Daiki for a while. And then he seemingly came to his conclusion: "Ah, right. She's dating Mine-chin. She has to be tolerant and resilient."

"HAH?!" Daiki glared at him. "What do you mean by that?!"

######

After she cooled off enough, she found Taiga in the tree house. She was still hurt, but she hated being like this with Taiga. And she said some pretty bad things too.

"Are you coming down for the barbecue?"

He was sitting in one of the sleeping nets, cursing himself for being an idiot. And a stubborn mule. "Offering an olive branch?" He asked and looked up at her. He pinched the bridge of his nose and groaned; the tone he'd just used was more biting than he'd wanted.

"Want me to ignore you?" She raised an eyebrow, expecting some fiery comeback again.

He sighed. "I'd deserve that."

She blinked at him in surprise. Taiga usually needed a bit more time to calm down than her.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said all that… I just… I'm worried. And… scared… You were essentially right. I don't know what to do. I wanna be there, but I don't… I'm angry at myself for that and… It's… I'm sorry, sis'."

She smiled kindly. "Well, you shouldn't have said all that, but…" Yeah, she knew her twin all too well. "I'm sorry too. I've said some bad things too. Maybe, if I'd hit you first, we wouldn't have escalated it like that."

"Do it next time…" He hung his head down again. "I didn't mean to scare Kaito. I haven't seen him for so long… Damn… I didn't know they'd be here."

She sat next to him, trying not to flip them over, and bumped into his shoulder. "Kaito wants to play with you. So I suggest you go and apologise to him, then hug him really tight and then do whatever he wants to. And eat something. You must be hungry too."

"…when do you plan to leave?"

"Tomorrow morning. I need to think about what to do a bit, and well… Suzu needs some time too. You know how she works. Besides, there's a test of courage tonight. We can't miss that. She is up, and she will be well, we can take one more night for ourselves and try to have fun."

"What? You revived that?" Taiga shuddered. "I'm not going through it."

"Visiting Suzu will probably be scarier."

"Are you really planning to make her hate you?"

"I hope it won't come to that, but… I'll do whatever's needed?" Aya shrugged. "I'm certainly not going to pity her. She is strong enough to get on her feet again. It'll take a lot of time, but she can't dwell in self-pity. It never helped anyone. She is in the situation she's in. We can't change it. It's terrible, but I'm not letting her fall further."

"It's worse than ours was…" He reminded her. They'd lost their mother, got injured, but… Suzume lost her possible future, her father, everything she'd been.

"You're forgetting one thing: she's stronger than us."

######

The barbecue started and they were all lured outside, driven by the beautiful scent of grilled meat and fish. There were four huge grills, ran by Taichi, Hanae, Hero and Kiku. The huge guys were trying to avoid Kiku's grill, knowing the girl could still get scared, but Wakamatsu was keeping close to her like a guard dog.

Kaito and Taiga were vividly discussing over their food. Kyou was discussing with Derek, getting to finally know the young driver. Kouta was keeping aside, not really interacting with anyone; he was thinking about Aya's advice. The dogs were running around, gobbling up everything that fell to the ground, but never stealing food from tables or someone's plate.

Everyone seemed happy. The meat was rich, tender and perfectly seasoned. Hanae made fitting salads, but they also grilled vegetables. The boys were unbelievably content with this sort of treat after the torturous week of practising.

Aya was sitting on the porch, further away from everyone. She had some meat and grilled corn on her plate, but she was eating it slowly without a real appetite. As much as she wanted to enjoy the moment with everyone, she couldn't stop thinking about Suzume. She wanted to go there already, but she knew it was best to wait until morning.

"Is everything okay?" Daiki asked her, sitting down next to her, with a plate full of meat and grilled vegetables he snatched from one of the grills. He wanted to be with her, yet he didn't want to push her too much. But he really didn't like when she was sitting alone.

She smiled at him, but it didn't reach her eyes. "With Taiga, yes. With Suzu… I don't know." She sighed. "I want to see her. Hug her. Tell her that everything will be okay, eventually."

"You will."

"I'm afraid she won't really listen." She muttered and rested her head against Daiki's shoulder. "I wouldn't… Didn't… Just how do I approach her?"

"You'll figure it out." He kissed the top of her head gently – hoping no one saw his display of affection and gentleness – but not worrying about it too much. _Because you can do anything you set your mind to._

That small gesture so full of love, trust and support… He believed in her. And it was an unbelievably powerful emotion. It almost overwhelmed her to tears. She had to blink several times.

"…want me to come with you?" He asked impulsively.

"I'd love that, but…" She shook her head. "I don't think that's a good idea. Suzu isn't that social in the first place, and right now… I won't do that to her. And you and Taiga in one car for three hours? No thank you."

"Ah, right… Him…" He blinked and had to agree that he shouldn't go. Although he wanted to be there for her, this was not his place to intervene. "I can scare the shit out of him tonight though, right?" He changed the topic, hoping to make her feel a little better.

"Sure. He deserves it for starting that argument."

######

After the sunset, the meadow was illuminated by numerous torches. And because it was full moon, no one was allowed a flashlight when going into the forest. They could head in in groups of three, two or alone. The first boys going decided to go alone – they weren't scaredy cats, right? – but after hearing several terrified screams and cries of the 'brave ones', and the entire eerie atmosphere that ruled the forest once the meadow disappeared from their sight, persuaded the rest of them to go in in pairs or groups of three.

The path they had to take was marked by phosphorescent blue-ish something, no one wanted to know how Kouta made it, or what it was. The air cooled and a low mist settled just above the ground, covering rocks and roots, which threatened to trip the boys. That in itself was worrying enough. And the forest was very lively on a night like this. Small rodents and owls came out to feed or hunt. A fox appeared here and there.

City boys were not really used to all the sounds of the night forest. Wandering around without anyone jumping at them was creepy enough. After Kyou's stories, they were jumpy at every louder sound or any twig cracking under their feet. And Kouta made sure he spread several traps and scary props. As if roots, rocks and hollows weren't traps enough.

In one area with huge tree crowns and thick undergrowth, he spread out a net, blocking out the moonlight while it still looked like branches and leaves. That was Daiki's station. He was hidden in the tree, scaring passers-by from behind either by letting out a low, blood freezing growl, or just telling them something random. He could make his voice sound really scary if he wanted. And in the atmosphere it didn't really matter. The huge shadow with a voice like that appearing out of nowhere freaked everyone.

And after that, when Kaito showed up as the final point… Everyone ran. Shouting and screaming. They ran back to the house to the safety of the lights. They didn't recognise the kid in those clothes and face paint…

"Are you scared, Shoichi-kun?" Kouta asked the captain from behind.

Imayoshi shuddered, but refused to admit it. "Not at all, senpai." He was smirking, hiding the fact that he wasn't really fond of going into that darkness. "Do you want to join us?" He motioned to his two companions – Susa and Tada.

"Groups of three are maximum." Kouta said with a sigh. "But I think this could be an exception. I know the whole path after all." He grinned; he could fuel their fear more if he walked with them. "What do you say, Lil' Monkey?"

Aya only heard the last question. She was heading to Kiku, to make sure that she and Wakamatsu stayed together the whole path. She was considering tying them together with a rope or something… "Hm?" She blinked at Kouta. The usual answer would be 'yeah, you're right', but with Kouta she couldn't say that.

"Do you think I could join this group?" He cocked his head towards the boys.

She stared at him for a moment. Then at Tada. And then she pushed Kouta towards the group. "You _have to_ join this group." She winked at him and continued her way.

"I thought she didn't particularly like you, senpai." Imayoshi stared at him with raised eyebrow.

"A lot of people think that, Shoichi-kun. But we're much closer than we let on. She's like my lil' sister, so… Ah, let's go! It's our turn!" He ushered the group towards the dark forest – with Imayoshi in lead.

"Why am I the first?" He asked desperately.

"Because you're the captain, of course." Tada said with a smirk and pushed Imayoshi's back.

"I don't want him at my rear." The captain protested, pointing at Kouta, who grinned widely.

"He's at _my_ rear. That's fine, or isn't it, captain?" Tada teased him with a half-smirk, but his eyes were sad.

 _Hmmm…_ Detail, which Imayoshi noticed. "If you think so… Okay, let's get this over with!"

With Imayoshi at the front, they followed in one row with Tada and Kouta at the rear. They entered the dark forest. Kouta used it and creeped up on Tada, hugging the taller boy from behind and pulling him back, so the distance between them and the rest would get wider.

"What is it?" Tada asked and his voice sounded colder than he intended.

Kouta sighed and pressed his forehead against Tada's back. "I need to talk with you, Shun. Really talk with you."

He blinked in surprise. He wanted to cover Kouta's hand with his own, but he didn't. He felt hurt. And he wasn't in a mood for anything with Kouta. "What about?"

"Us? Look, I'm sorry for leaving in the morning…" He said quietly.

But Tada wiggled his way out of Kouta's reach. "Let's go. I don't need Imayoshi's teasing."

It took a lot of effort for Kouta to keep his sudden sadness in check. "You're right. Let's go." He headed after Susa and Imayoshi first. He didn't want to follow the young man anymore. And he knew the path by heart. With him in lead they could catch up in no time.

"But I will hear you out after this, senpai." Shun added.

Kouta smiled. "Don't call me senpai. That's not my name."

 _Whatever you say…_ Tada thought with a small smile. Could he hope for something? He thought he shouldn't, because he was realising the differences between them, but still… There was something about Kouta he'd really come to like.

The two boys didn't even realise that Tada and Kouta were gone for a few seconds. They were too preoccupied by going forward.

"What was that?" Kouta asked suddenly.

"Hm?" Imayoshi turned around. "Stop scaring us."

"I'm not. I swear I've heard something right now. Listen." Inwardly, he was laughing his ass off. There was a small transmitter and speaker hidden in a tree. Kyou was monitoring the area and playing the sounds.

They stopped and listened. And really. Soon they heard childish voices, laughter, chanting. Quiet at first, but gradually increasing in volume.

"Let's get out of here." Imayoshi said and started walking forward, where the forest seemed even darker. But he tripped on something and fell down. Under his hands was something soft and mushy. It was hidden in the mist. But then lights appeared in the trees and he saw the skeleton filled with something red, sticky and disgusting. "Gah!" He jumped to his feet and bumped into Tada.

"Whoah, careful, captain."

An owl hooted. All four looked up. It was sitting on a low branch, looking down at them with its huge eyes. It tilted its head and hooted again. It was an eerie sound. Kouta wouldn't have planned this better. And it creeped him out as well. The huge bird silently flew off and disappeared in the night.

Imayoshi'd had enough. He pushed Susa in front of him and forced them to move – almost run – just to get away. And they had no idea what was expecting them ahead…

Totally pale and scared to death they ran out back to the safety of the meadow.

"What the hell was that?!" Imayoshi shouted at Kouta. "Do you want to kill us?"

"Wasn't that Aomine?" Susa pointed out. He was scared, but he could still think clearly.

"Huh?"

He shrugged. "He is nowhere here, so…"

"No way. Aomine's too lazy to do something like that." Tada refused the option, but he wondered about it too.

"What was that kid anyways?"

"But Kaito of course." Kouta started laughing. "Oh, Shoichi-kun, it's so good to see you freaked out."

Out of all the boys, only Atsushi seemed totally unfazed and unimpressed. He walked through the entire path eating his sweets, while calming down Tatsuya and Liu. The giant had no idea what was supposed to be scary there. The sounds were obviously artificial, the 'corpse' on the ground might've freaked Tatsuya, it was gruesome, but not that scary. In the darkest part, he recognised Daiki and greeted him casually. And then in the Kaito's area which was the scariest one, he praised the boy for the fancy yukata and performance, giving him one of his treats. He liked the kid. The boy was so shocked he thanked him and took the offered chocolate bar.

"What are your nerves made of?" Tatsuya asked in disbelief once they got out of there.

Atsushi shrugged. "Was that supposed to be scary?"

"Yes!" Liu was shaking with fear. He was quite superstitious and hated ghosts and such.

The giant shrugged. He considered different things scary, not this. "Kai-chin had a great costume."

Tatsuya sighed; his huge friend could be unbelievable at times. "What scares you then?"

"Eeeh…" Atsushi thought about it for a moment and then he said seriously: "Thunderstorms."

Aya chuckled as she passed the group. Atsushi was a truly interesting person. But she had something to do, so she didn't stop by. She knew everything about the path, and she knew the surrounding passages through the bushes. She'd prepared it after all. And she couldn't resist the urge to try and scare Daiki. She was aware it carried certain dangers; in the real fight or flight situation, Daiki would probably choose the first, and if he didn't recognise her right away… Well… She decided it was worth the risks. And then she could join him to freak out Taiga.

She sneaked towards Daiki's station, trying to spot him in the darkness. She wasn't scared per se, but it was certainly eerie. And if she, who had helped with preparations, felt uneasy, she wasn't surprised that boys were screaming – some of them like little girls. But her man was unbelievably well conceived in the darkness. She was making sure she didn't make any sound or any fast motion–

"Ga–"

Someone suddenly grabbed her from behind and covered her mouth to muffle any possible scream. Her heart almost leapt out. At first she didn't realise who it was so she kicked around, but then a familiar chuckle sounded next to her ear.

"I thought you would try it." Daiki's husky voice was quiet but not scary anymore. "Too bad I saw you first."

She stopped fighting him and let out a relieved sigh. "How?"

He shrugged, not letting her go. "Dunno. I just saw your silhouette before you slipped into that bush and I followed." _But I had my heart in my throat too…_ He thought, resisting the urge to shake off the bad feeling like a dog. All the hooting owls and nocturnal animals creeped the hell out of him.

"Damn… Your win, Daiki." She smirked, admitting her defeat. She turned her head so she could look at him, not that she saw much.

"That I do." He hummed and she could feel his voice vibrate in his chest she was pressed against.

She loved that voice so damn much. It heated her blood and quickened her heart. And hearing, feeling it in the middle of the night, concealed in the darkness… She didn't feel the chilly air of the night anymore; only Daiki's body heat, spreading through her back and her own blood humming in her ears. _Dammit…_ Impulsively, she reached up and kissed his jaw she could reach in this weird position. If he wanted to kiss her, he'd have to lean over her.

Feeling her lips on his jaw, he wasn't sure that catching and holding her like this was a smart decision on his part. With one arm holding her firmly around her waist and the other that slipped from her lips and now rested on her chest, he could feel her heartbeat all too well. It pleased him. Without thinking he leaned down and kissed her. He wanted to. He loved kissing her.

It was a deep passionate kiss and she somehow turned in his arms, pulling him closer.

A sudden bright light interrupted them. And they glared into the light grumpily.

"Oh fuck!" Taiga covered his eyes and turned the flashlight from his phone away. He decided to go and try the test of courage as the last participant and alone. He wanted to see if it was anything similar to the ones he'd remembered from when they were kids. With his phone he cheated, but so what? Yet, he certainly hadn't expected to see his sister and Ahomine kissing like _**that**_ _!_ "Since when…?! Geez! My eyes were hurt!" He looked at them through his fingers. He really didn't like seeing his sister and his greatest rival like that. It brought back memories he wanted to forget, but he wouldn't make a scene. He shouldn't have been surprised.

With a disappointed sigh she took a step away from Daiki. When Taiga caught her like that, it was quite embarrassing. "Since a few days ago?" She said as calmly as she could, but her voice sounded too excited. "But I'm not going to apologise."

Taiga raised the flashlight again and stared at them – glared at Daiki. "Spare me the details." He grumbled. "So he was helping out after all… No one running out could say for sure." He changed the topic and tried to forget what he'd just witnessed.

"And you're cheating with the light." She accused him.

"And you're making out in the middle of the path. Trust me, you wouldn't want _me_ or anyone else walking into you in action." He said sourly and his face twisted with disgust.

"Ah… Right…" She blushed and looked away. She really wouldn't want that.

"Now I need to find Kaito and I'll be gone from here." He shuddered. Despite knowing the majority of the tricks, he didn't like tests of courage or haunted houses. And hearing the 'Tatarimokke' story from Kyou… He wasn't sure he wanted to find Kaito at all.

Aya raised an eyebrow. "You sure?"

"Why?"

"Have you seen him?" She shrugged nonchalantly. She saw him dressed up, but she didn't see the final result. Kyou didn't let anyone see Kaito before the real deal.

"No, have you?"

"Not really…" She admitted, suddenly feeling chills. The twins exchanged worried looks. It felt like someone was watching them. They instinctively made a step closer to Daiki, moving at the same time. That in itself weirded Daiki out. The ace hadn't seen the twins act in unison like that so far.

Because of the bright light of Taiga's flashlight their vision narrowed a lot, they didn't see anything outside of the circle of light. Until…

"How long do you intend to make me wait?" A calm, accusing childish voice, similar to Kaito's but not really like his, sounded from somewhere behind them.

The three were immediately grouped together, each facing a different direction.

"Is that Kaito or not?" Taiga gulped.

"Should be." She said.

"Should be?" Daiki asked her in disbelief. Could the forest be really haunted? He squeezed her hand, not sure if it was to support her, or to make him feel better.

"Should be, but I don't really want to wait until he comes out."

"Until who comes out?" The kid said, appearing soundlessly from a nearby bush.

She saw him by the corner of her eye at first. The clothes were the ones she'd seen on Kaito, so it must've been him. But Kaito was a good little actor and his face and eyes were blankly staring at them. He wore a pure white yukata that glowed slightly, making him look almost translucent. His skin was painted white and there were bloody marks and gaping wounds all over his face. The makeup was unbelievably detailed and gruesome. That face… Kyou made him almost unrecognisable.

"KYAAAAAH!" All three of them shouted and turned around bolting away, not really waiting until the ghost-Kaito spoke up again.

When they reached the safe meadow, everyone was gathered there and laughing at them.

"So you got scared too, after all, eh?" Kyou patted their backs laughing heartily. "But good job there, Daiki-kun."

Kaito emerged from the forest with a wide grin on his face. Some of the boys went silent and took a step back, hiding behind their teammates. The kid looked too eerie.

"And there's my little Tatarimokke!" Kyou stretched his arms and Kaito jumped into them happily.

"I did a good job, right?"

"The best." He laughed and kissed his son's forehead.

######

Kiku was still shaken from the spooky trail through the forest. She had no idea why she'd agreed to go. Maybe she just wanted to hold Wakamatsu's hand. He'd gotten scared too, but he'd managed to keep his facade because of her. After all, she was the scaredy cat of the Touou's basketball team. Because now she was definitely a part of the team too. Not intentionally. It just happened. And she was happy about it.

Everyone was sitting by a huge bonfire now, talking, laughing... Kaito was teasing all the boys who ran away screaming. When the kid calmed down, he, Tatsuya, Kyou and even Taiga took out guitars, a bass guitar and cajón so the night wouldn't be quiet. Kyou teased the twins with some of the songs (70's and 80's rock) they liked, especially Taiga - but almost no one here knew them. Aya huffed at that but she was smiling.

Kiku was watching everything with a soft smile of her own. When was the last time she actually enjoyed being with so many people?

"Are you okay?" Wakamatsu asked her. He was deliberately keeping close to her.

She glanced at him and smiled. "Yeah. Still a bit scared, but…"

"The kid was good." _Too good..._ He chuckled. "I wonder how Imayoshi-taichou handled it…"

"I saw his group go in with Shiranui-san, so… They probably had it even worse than us."

"Hmmm… He went with them?" He narrowed his eyes at Kouta sitting close to Shun. The two were discussing something and laughing. Wakamatsu wasn't an idiot, he knew his best friend through and through. And he was quite protective of his friends, still… This probably wasn't his business, though he would interrogate Shun later on.

"Y-yeah… Why?" The sudden change in Wakamatsu expression surprised her.

"Nah, it's fine. Do we have some more of those cookies?" He asked, finishing the last one. Kiku's homemade sweets were heavenly. He could eat it all the time.

"Mhm." She nodded and got up. "I have some more in the kitchen, I'll bring them right away."

He hoped for an answer like this. Not only because of the cookies, but also because he wanted to talk with her in private. And she didn't seem to catch that. He got up too. "I'm coming with you. You're not going alone after that spooky thing."

"No, no, you don't have to." It pleased her, but… He still had no idea about so many things… She feared he might…

"I want to." He said firmly in a tone that didn't take any protests.

He's had enough of this running in circles and getting nowhere. He liked her, even loved her. But Kiku was… She let him closer, then pushed him away. She came closer and then ran away. She let him think she liked him, then she pulled back into herself. He didn't understand. For a simple guy like Wakamatsu it was a torture. He was straightforward, but given Kiku's nature he couldn't really be like that with her. Maybe, because he was trying to take things into consideration, and didn't want to push her, they were running in circles. He didn't know anymore. And he's reached his limit. Either she'd agree on dating him, or she'll push him away for good.

She avoided his eyes but nodded. She'd have to make a revelation and a decision she feared the most.

They didn't know Aya noticed them leaving.

"I wonder how that will turn out." She nudged Daiki with her elbow.

"You'll know the moment they'll be back." He said and followed them with his gaze. "But the height difference is ridiculous."

"It's cute. And there is quite some height difference between us too."

He smirked. "Yeah, but you won't kill yourself wearing heels."

"You're mean."

He shrugged and gulped down another cookie. The tiny girl wasn't all that bad. Especially when he knew her story and where she was coming from.

* * *

The next morning, everyone was allowed to sleep in. And the only people coming to say goodbye to the twins were their family, Kouta, Keiji and Daiki. They promised Kaito and Kyou to see them during the winter break; either the twins would go to France, or Kyou would come to Japan. They took a lot of pickled food, dried fruits and herbs, and honey Hanae packed for them. And after one quick, but meaningful kiss she parted with Daiki. Taiga just rolled his eyes and muttered something like "Gross.", which earned him a good aimed jab at his ribs.

They got into the car and Derek drove away.

"Who're you messaging?" Taiga asked her curiously. They arrived at the Akita's hospital and he wanted to go right in. He didn't like this stalling. And Aya rarely played with her phone unless bored to death (which she almost never was) or having something important to deal with.

"Daiki." She said just as she pressed the send button. "I promised I'd let him know when we safely arrive. And vice versa."

He rolled his eyes in annoyance. He wanted her to be happy, really, he'd even told her to date Aomine already, but once it was the real deal… he wasn't sure he appreciated the relationship. "At least he cares." He grumbled.

"Of course he does." She smiled kindly and put the phone into her pocket. "Well, let's face the test of courage of our own."

He gave her a crooked smile and offered her his hand to hold; it was the best way to avoid any panic attacks. And Aya accepted it without any protests. Derek just watched them from behind; he would wait in the cafeteria again, but the Kagamis were fascinating.

Yomi was sitting outside Suzume's room, leaning against the wall with her eyes closed. She had dark circles under her eyes. She'd spent the last days in the hospital nonstop. Well, she'd spent almost her whole summer break there and she'd gone home only to change her clothes and bath. Suzume's grandparents visited daily too, and they spent hours by Suzume's bedside, but Yomi was almost like a nurse. Her childhood friend had returned back to her just a few months ago and she feared losing her. It was scary when Suzume was unconscious, but it was even scarier now that she was awake. One would expect it to be a good thing. With Suzume, however, it seemed like the exact opposite.

Aya glanced at Taiga worriedly. Yomi looked dead tired, like she'd reached her limits and was ready to break down. "Hey." She spoke softly to get Yomi's attention without startling her.

The girl slowly opened her eyes and stared at them with mixture of annoyance, relief and maybe hope?

"Took you long enough." She muttered with a deep sigh.

Aya crouched down in front of Yomi and took the girls hands. Yomi was her friend too. "What's going on?"

"She's been up for five days I guess." Her voice was weak and resigned. "I didn't call right away because it was too… I didn't think it was right and then I forgot. And then I couldn't reach you… Fuck." She hung her head down again.

"Tell me." Aya demanded softly, but firmly. She needed to know what she was getting herself into.

"Go and see for yourself." Yomi pointed at the door in front of them. The window's blinds were down so no one could see inside. "I've never seen a living person so… dead… before. And trust me, I've seen my mom disappearing from our sight and dying for about a year."

Aya pinched the bridge of her nose. "That's what I feared…" Then she slapped her hands against her thighs and got up. "Let's go in then."

"Are you coming with us?" Taiga asked the girl.

Yomi shook her head. "I can't look at her, when she's like that. I can't."

Taiga wanted to say something, but Aya caught his forearm and shook her head. Yomi had all rights to feel that way. Unlike them, she was there all the time and she could be tired, discouraged and sad.

When they walked into the room and the door closed with a soft click, Aya blinked. It was dark inside. The blinds on the window were down and letting only a small amount of light inside. Enough to see, but it was a depressing shadow in the room. Suzume was sitting in the bed, staring dead ahead. She looked gaunt, pale; her beautiful long hair was shaggy and tangled. She still had an external fixation device on her legs. And she didn't even raise her gaze to acknowledge their arrival.

Taiga exhaled sharply. He'd never seen Suzume like that. She looked almost like a living corpse. That's when she looked up at them and Taiga understood what Yomi had meant. Suzume's silvery grey eyes, once so lively, were empty without any spark or will to live.

Soft music was playing in the background. Probably Yomi's choice. There was some food on a night table, which she obviously didn't touch and some IV nutrition was dripping to her vein. The air was still, thick and heavy. The smell of disinfectant and well… a sick person was filling the room. Obviously no one bothered to open the window and let the fresh air in. Or maybe Suzume protested…

The twins were shocked.

Aya felt her heart breaking and she felt like crying. Seeing her best friend wrecked like this, it was… But then the redhead braced herself and clapped sharply, shoeing the pity away. She wouldn't pity her. No. Suzume didn't deserve that. Not from her.

"Good to see you alive and well!" She walked towards the window energetically, ignoring how Suzume jerked at the sharp sound. "How can you sit in the dark room like this?! Geez', girl! No wonder you look like a ghost." Her voice was loud, slightly accusing, but friendly and as cheerful as Aya could manage. She rolled the blinds up and opened the window. "You need sun and fresh air."

Suzume shaded her eyes at the sudden bright sunlight entering the room. She looked away from it. The flashes of the accident were replaying in her head when seeing the cerulean sky. She remembered the whole thing very clearly. It felt like a slow motion. She'd rather forget it all. All the gruesome details, the excruciating pain, the blood, the groans of her dad, who got hit by few of the steel rods, some of which pierced the seat stopping just centimetres from her own body – he didn't hold on until the help arrived. And then the silence. When everything went silent... even the forest around them quieted. She couldn't stand the silence anymore. She feared it.

She'd heard the prognosis. She believed it was highly improbable she'd ever enjoy a walk outside. So looking at people walking by, at the trees and sky… It was unbearable for the injured girl. And if she couldn't play volleyball anymore, heck if she found out she couldn't walk again, what was the point of being there? Of trying? Even if she ended in the wheelchair, what would she do? Her grandparent's house wasn't suitable for someone with a disability like that. She'd only be a bother to everyone. She should've just died with her parents.

Why the hell was everyone so caring? All the pity, all the worries… All the time they spent by her bedside – she heard them even if she was unconscious. She just couldn't answer. And when she woke up, she didn't feel like answering. Why couldn't they just leave her alone? She wanted to be left alone. She'd become useless.

And why did these two come again? Like they had no better ways to spend their time… Something in Aya's 'greeting' made her want to retort impulsively. But she decided to ignore her. Maybe they'd leave soon, if she ignored them.

Taiga, maybe.

But Aya would have none of that. "So, what about homework? Wanna do it together?" She asked something Suzume didn't even think about.

A small spark appeared in Suzume's eyes, but it vanished just as quickly.

"What?" Taiga looked at Aya as if she was crazy.

"What what? If she doesn't want to repeat the first year – which would be really unfortunate as she's already repeated the first year of her middle school – she needs to do all her homework and take all the exams from here. It's not impossible. And we didn't even start with ours, so… it'd be a win win."

"Speak for yourself. I've started."

"And have you finished it?"

He rubbed the back of his neck. "Nah…"

School was the last thing Suzume wanted to think about. "Get out." She rasped emotionlessly. "And close the window."

"No can do." Aya said, staring at Suzume with a burning challenge. She needed to spark something in the girl. Something other than self-pity and resignation. Anger. Annoyance. Anything else. "Unless you can get up and shove us out." It was rude. Really, really rude and mean. Aya knew. And regretted it so hard, but she had to say it.

"Oi!" Taiga glared at her, trying to rein her in– which she knew would happen.

"I don't want you here." Suzume said hollowly again. She wasn't sure why she was talking with them after ignoring everyone else. Her voice sounded weird to her own ears as she hadn't heard it for weeks. How could those two get her to respond was beyond her. But Aya's lack of empathy made her blood start to bubble. Slowly, quietly. The redhead could be many things, Suzume knew, but she'd never once been on the receiving end of Aya's real meanness. "So get out." She repeated her demand.

"No." Aya said and sat down on the chair next to Suzume's bed. "Not unless I see some determination in those dead eyes."

"Aya!"

She glared at her brother. "Shut it. I'm not talking with you."

He opened his mouth and stared at her. _What's gotten into her?!_

"Get out." Suzume said louder, frowning at her fiery friend. The redhead didn't understand. She could never understand!

"Why?"

"I don't want to see you."

"Why?"

Suzume opened and closed her mouth. Aya was unbelievably persistent.

"I'm not leaving you drown yourself in sorrow and self pity and all this ' _I'd be better off dead'_ attitude that reeks from you, my love."

Suzume cringed.

"No one wants you dead, stupid." Aya said in a softer voice. "So get it through that thick skull of yours."

That was the breaking point. Everyone was tiptoeing around her. Walking on eggshells. Except the redhead. Suzume liked tiptoeing more. That way, if they weren't asking, she didn't need to think so much about what to answer. She didn't want to dissect her feelings with anyone. Yes, she felt like shit! Useless! Broken! What was the point of saying it? They must've known. But…

"I do!" She turned to Aya and snapped at her. Finally there was some light in those dead eyes. "I'm done! My life is done! You don't get it! You'd feel the same if you were in my skin!"

"What exactly is 'done'?" Aya asked challengingly. Suzume always, always bottled up what she felt. That was how she'd been brought up by her mother: 'shut up', 'smile', 'keep up', 'don't complain', 'don't show your real feelings'… With the twins' influence it was getting better, but Aya hated it nonetheless. And she knew Suzume so well she could tell when the girl needed provocation to let the volcano of bottled up emotions erupt.

"My legs! They are useless! Literally, useless! I won't walk! I'd rather be dead."

"Not true. You will walk again. I know you will."

"You know nothing, Aya! What's the point if I can't play again! I don't want to be dependent on someone for the rest of my life! You'd feel the same if you were here!" She pointed at the bed.

"Maybe. But I'm not. And if I were, you'd be there doing the exact same thing I am doing. I can't let you give up. I won't. There's a cat you need to take care of. There are your grandparents, and Yomi, and us. You are loved and needed, you stupid idiot! And you survived a–"

"He didn't! Daddy died!" Tears sprang to her eyes. After days of not being able to cry. All the anger, all the frustration and sadness were suddenly bubbling up. She furiously wiped her eyes. She hated crying. And it was Aya's fault. She glared at the redhead with hostility. "She wanted us all dead!"

"What?" Aya blinked.

Suzume didn't want to tell it to anyone. Ever. But there was no stopping now. Tears streamed down her face as she kept wiping them. "It was mother who steered the car into the opposite direction! To prove some point! To scare us! I don't fucking know what went on in her insane head!" She remembered the fear… Her dad who tried to pull the car back… How they accelerated… and then that turn where the truck came from. The poor driver couldn't have seen them; he couldn't have even hit the brakes. It was a second. One fucking second that cost them lives…

And she finally cried. Letting out everything.

That's when Aya got up and walked up to Suzume. She sat on the side of her bed and pulled the tall girl into her arms.

Suzume was surprised at first and she froze. But then she leaned into Aya. The wound on her left side hurt when she moved but she ignored it. She'd felt much worse pain than that. And those arms were so warm, so welcoming, and so loving. And they were safe. She sobbed and cried.

Taiga couldn't watch. He couldn't believe his ears. What happened to Suzu… He knew his sister was silently crying too. And he just… He left the room. Outside he leaned against the door and slid down. What his sister did. He could've never done. He didn't have it in him to be mean and rude and… towards someone so… Even if he guessed he should be.

Yomi was immediately at his side. "Are you okay?"

"Huh?"

"You look like you've seen a ghost."

"I may as well have…" He muttered and rubbed his eyes before he'd cry in front of this girl.

"What were they arguing about? I heard them shout… but… you did nothing! Is Suzu… Is she gonna be okay?" She asked worriedly, chewing her lip. She couldn't believe the redhead would be so insensitive. If she'd known she wouldn't have let her in.

"You heard and did nothing too." He reminded her flatly. "And I think she'll be fine… Once she cries her soul out."

"What?! Suzu's crying?!" Yomi hadn't seen the girl cry in… years…

"Just leave them. Once we leave it'll be your duty to make sure she fights. No matter the circumstances."

"You want me to argue with her?" She stared at him in disbelief. How could she? Suzume was suffering, she couldn't possibly…

"You've been best friends and worst rivals for years. Don't tell me you're scared to challenge and provoke her. She doesn't need us tiptoeing. She needs us to pull her back on her feet again… And my crazy sister is probably the only one with the guts to grab Suzume's hand and start. But we need to help too."

"Well… that's… but she's… Suzu's legs…"

"Will heal. And she needs to start believing that too."

"And if they don't?"

"They will." He said with certainty. "I know they will. And maybe she'll play volleyball again one day."

Aya walked out in an hour. After Suzume cried herself to sleep. Her eyes were red from crying, but her gaze was firm and cheerful. She felt dead exhausted, being an emotional support and sponge for all the bad feelings wasn't easy, but she wouldn't leave. Not for long. Still, she needed a cigarette and she needed to be alone for a few minutes to process all that. She felt guilty for being a bitch but it served its purpose.

"How is she?" Taiga asked.

"Sleeping." Aya said and sat down leaning against the wall opposite the two. "I need to go out for a moment. But you can go in if you want."

Taiga nodded. "Will you be able to return here on your own?"

"I'll call you to come get me, 'kay?"

"How long are you staying?" Yomi blurted out. She didn't want them to come, kick Suzume out of her lethargy and then disappear just like that, leaving all the work on her.

"We'll probably take the flight tomorrow evening."

"Can't you stay 'till the end of the holiday?" She pleaded. "I… I'm scared."

"Of what?"

"That's she'll fall back there again."

"She probably will. The whole process of healing and rehabilitations won't be easy, but… You can't walk on eggshells. She doesn't need that. This big softie can tell you, while I go pull myself together." She winked at them and walked down the hallway.

She didn't have cigarettes. But she bought some in the buffet. No one asked her ID, and she was glad for that. She walked outside and sat down. Last time, there was Mayu with her and it looked like it'd rain. Now she was alone and the sky was bright.

She suddenly felt so empty and lonely. But it was fine. She lit up the cigarette and inhaled deeply. She would be fine.

In the evening they visited Suzume's grandparents and Dorian. The atmosphere was heavy with worry, but the older couple welcomed them warmly despite that. After dinner they went to the guest room and felt like passing out, but Yomi climbed over the balconies and they spent the whole night talking. About Suzume, mostly. And the different experiences they had with their best friend, the different sides they'd seen of her. Then Aya stopped it, saying that Suzume was not dead and she ordered lights out.

* * *

The next day they brought homework to Suzume. The bedridden girl glared at Aya for that, but she actually took it. She even ate her breakfast for the first time. Then she demanded one of the nurses to wash her hair somehow, which surprised the lady, but with some effort and joined forces of the nurse, Aya and Yomi, they managed.

For the first time, Suzume actually laughed at the struggle they had with the simple task. She regretted it immediately when she felt her stitched side stretch. Suzume's laugher sounded like bells, it was beautiful and the nurse blinked in surprise. She didn't think that this girl would ever smile again. Yet…

All four of them joined forces on Suzume's homework. Even Yomi, who was still a middle school student. The twins took pictures of that so they could copy it at home – the homework was the same after all.

"Hey! You're profiting on a sick person." Suzume protested.

"And the sick person can't get up and snatch it from us, so shush. We helped too."

Suzume shook her head. "You're terrible."

"I know. Hello, Kagami Terrible here." She bowed and grinned. "But you love me anyways."

"I might reconsider that, meanie."

"Is it Meanie, or Terrible now? Make up your mind! You're getting me confused." She joked.

Yomi laughed loudly at that. The other three joining her soon. They didn't know the grandparents were standing outside and heard all that. Saeru covered her mouth and tears of joy sprang up. The twins were like a blessing. They alone couldn't bring Suzume to smile. They couldn't bring her to even look at them. Yet those two… in a day… A day… There were things they didn't know about their granddaughter, she'd only ever visited them sporadically and she was usually introverted around them…

When the twins were leaving and saying goodbye, Suzume hugged them tight. "Thank you."

"I expect you to come to Taiga's winter cup finals. On your own two legs, my love. So work on that." Aya said with a smile, and she meant it.

"I'll do what I can." Suzume grinned. "And if I come in a wheelchair, you'll take care of me."

"Without a single complaint. We'll have one hell of a ride on that." Aya grinned and kissed Suzume's forehead. "But you were meant to fly, not to be grounded. So I know you'll come on your own two feet."

######

"Kagami-san!" Someone called after them when they were about to leave the hospital. "Wait up!"

The twins turned to see a doctor quickly walking towards them. "What is it?"

He bowed deeply. "Thank you!"

"Hm?" Aya blinked at him. What was he talking about?

"Ah, sorry! I'm Nakahara Taiki. I'm… Well, I work in the children's department, but I visited Moriyama-san a lot. Thank you for helping her."

Aya chuckled. The doctor seemed to be one of those kind doctors who couldn't help but empathise with all of their patients. "She's our family. Oh… Are there some fees her grandparents will need to pay?"

"Eeeer…"

She and Taiga exchanged glances. _If Suzu finds out, she'll kill us._ They both thought. But they could sweet-talk the grandparents to keep it secret.

######

Daiki received a message from Aya in the late evening. There was a picture delivered. The twins and two other girls. He suspected that the one in the middle was Suzume. He could see struggle in the girl's expression, but there was also determination and a small smile. Surprisingly he thought Aya looked more exhausted than the patient, despite her smile. The message was simple:

'Heading home from the airport. See you tomorrow? I need a recharge.'

He smiled softly. It didn't surprise him. The redhead had unimaginably turbulent summer behind her. Of course she was tired. He quickly typed back his answer:

'Sure. When? Where?'

"An official date with Aya-chan? Finally!" Michiko's voice coming from behind startled him and he dropped the phone.

"Dammit!" He swore. "Don't read my messages from behind!" He frowned at her angrily.

"Language! Sorry, sorry! I'm just so happy you have such a fine girlfriend." She smiled angelically. "You should give her the gift you'd forgotten to take to the camp."

He shook his head. "Not tomorrow. It's waited until now; it can wait a bit longer."

"Hmmm… If you say so. Did Dad talk with you?"

"Yeah, sure, we talked about the camp. Why?"

Her eyes narrowed. "Just the camp?"

"…" That confused him. "Well… and the dogs… what else?"

"Nah, it's nothing." _Oh, you old fox avoiding your promises…_

######

When Aya had sent the message to Daiki, she had no idea how on point it would be. There was one more surprise waiting for her at home. And when she spotted Haruka sitting in _her_ kitchen reading one of _her_ business magazines, she wasn't sure if she should cry or laugh or go crazy.

Both twins were frozen on spot staring at their father making himself at home. No one had warned them. Even Derek was not sure what to do.

"Welcome back." Haruka said, trying to sound as placid as he could. He had no idea what to expect, his hands were sweating and his stomach turning. He hadn't expected them to just appear… Then again… _What did you expect, idiot? A written warning?_

"I'm not doing this." She said bluntly.

"Aya, I… I want to talk." He faltered.

"Well I don't." She said harshly. "Now if you excuse me. _Derek, come, I'll show you the guest room you can use while you're here._ " She turned on her heel and stomped away – Derek following at her tow. She was too emotionally drained, shocked and tired to argue or deal with him in any way. She didn't feel like leaving her home either. It was _her_ home. Not his. She wouldn't vacate her territory because of him. But she didn't want to see him either. So she retreated to her room.

Taiga stared at Haruka a bit longer. "You shouldn't be here." He said seriously and he meant it.

The steel and hostility in his son's eyes surprised him. Taiga was always the kinder, softer kid… But... He was a young man now. And he had clearly chosen who he was protecting. How much had he grown up? "I want to talk with her… With both of you."

"Well, you chose a shitty timing for whatever you need."

Haruka clenched his teeth to suppress his anger. He deserved this. He knew he did. "There's never a shitty timing to apologise."

Taiga's eyes almost fell out. Then he laughed. "You? Apologising? Hilarious. I bet you don't even know what you're apologising for. You just need her to work again."

"Taiga, watch the tone." He raised his voice slightly, he wouldn't tolerate – That victorious look on Taiga's face stopped him. No, he wasn't there to yell at them, he wasn't there to make them obedient like dogs. He wanted his kids back. He wanted to change. But it was one big test of his courage and determination. And it would take a lot of work to persuade them he was worth the second chance. _Or the millionth chance…_ He thought desperately.

"Yes, sir. Whatever you say, sir." He saluted with scorn on his face. He wanted to hurt him. It was wrong, but he wanted to. After all the drama around Suzume, and Aya dating Daiki, and meeting – and ignoring – Tatsuya again and the lack of basketball skill he still felt… He needed to vent his frustration somewhere. "You're not welcomed here." Then he turned and left to his room.

 _I'm aware of that…_ Haruka closed his eyes and forced himself to calm down again.

When Aya passed through the room to hit the bathroom, she didn't even look his way.

He accepted that. He was a stranger in the house of his children. Right now, he'd accept anything from them, no matter how much it hurt his pride, his ego, his heart. If he wanted his millionth chance, he'd have to put up with that. And hope, and pray it would get better. With time. Admitting that, realising that, he regretted everything all the more…

* * *

 **A/N:** That's that for now. I hope no one was OOC, the WakaKiku part was left as a bit of a cliffhanger, but I want to get to it in their own story (once I finally get to continue it).

I'll try to have the next chapter done on time (in two weeks), but if I don't, please have patience with me and believe that I am working on it.

Sometimes I find songs that inspire some characters, so if you're interested, Suzume's songs for this chapter would be "Fly" and "Warrior" from Avril Lavigne (I discovered it by chance and I just loved the lyrics).

Let me know what you think and remember, reviews are appreciated, but never necessary.

S.


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